Daylit Gallery

Daylit Gallery
Sunlight and shadows on a 16th-century wooden staircase from a townhouse in Brittany, France (Simon Sainsbury Gallery; Room 64b)[1]
BuildingVictoria and Albert Museum
LocationSouth Kensington, London
CountryUK
Coordinates51°29′48″N 00°10′15″W / 51.49667°N 0.17083°W / 51.49667; -0.17083
Areac. 220 m²[2][3]
Named forSimon Sainsbury[4]
Architects
  • McInnes Usher McKnight (MUMA)[5]
  • Julian Harrap[5]

The Daylit Gallery (The Simon Sainsbury Gallery; V&A Gallery 64B; Room 64b)[6] is an exhibition venue in London's Victoria and Albert Museum. It was created in 2009 from previously undeveloped and underutilised exterior spaces between the buildings of the museum's main South Kensington site.[4]

Location and characteristics

The Daylit Gallery is adjacent to the Wolfson Gallery (Room 64)[7] and the Robert H. Smith Gallery (Room 64a)[8] on the V&A's 1st floor, just above the large, vaulted Medieval and Renaissance galleries on the ground floor (Rooms 50a, 50b, 50c, and 50d).[9] These galleries are adjacent to the Secretariat Wing, a limited access area that occupies the museum's Southeast corner and houses its executive offices, administrative functions, and boardroom.[10][11][4]

The four-story high atrium-like volume of the gallery was created by repurposing and enclosing a large, outdoor interstitial space, and covering it with an all glass roof.[5][4] The structure "uses glass beams or 'fins' to support the glazing", the panels of which were cold bent in place to form a hyparsurface.[3][10] At its inception, the gallery was the only space in the museum entirely covered with glass.[5]

The removal of a two level Victorian marble staircase facilitated the design and addition of a new staircase and lifts—allowing for the development of a vertical "circulation hub" which joins six levels of the museum.[12][13] Passing through the Daylit Gallery and connecting it with the larger suite of Medieval and Renaissance Galleries, this circulation hub provides continuity and adds previously lacking "equality of access" throughout this zone of the V&A.[14][15][13][12][4]

  • View showing the roof structure and a glass balustrade of the "circulation hub" staircase,[15] a 13th-century bronze English church bell,[16] a remnant of the wooden façade of Sir Paul Pindar's London house (c. 1599),[17] and a plaster cast of a Donatello sculpture on an ornate pedestal.[18]
  • Opposing view showing the gallery's circulation hub staircase in front of the lightwell and lifts[14]
  • Seen at night from the circulation hub staircase[14]
  • Another view showing the Morlaix staircase in artificial light[1]
  • Morlaix staircase seen through the arched doorway of the gallery's secondary entrance

History and function

Prior to its conversion into an exhibition venue, the area now occupied by the Daylit Gallery was a utility courtyard sandwiched between different parts of the museum. It was a liminal space not originally intended for use by museum visitors or the display of works from the V&A's collection.[4]

As part of the museum's long-term "FuturePlan" redevelopment programme which began in 2001,[19] the architects McInnes Usher McKnight (MUMA) and Julian Harrap were commissioned to update and redesign this part of the museum.[13][12] The resulting project included the renovation of ten existing galleries to showcase the Medieval and Renaissance collections, as well as the design and creation of the new glass-covered Daylit Gallery (Room 64b).[4][6]

Construction, which was completed in late 2009,[19] was funded in part by the Sainsbury family, and the gallery itself is named after Simon Sainsbury.[4] Room 64b was "the first new-build public space created at the museum in over 100 years."[5]

The great height of the Daylit Gallery allows for the display of large-scale artefacts such as the partial jettied façade of a 15th-century timber-framed house that survived the Great Fire of London, and a wooden spiral staircase (known as the Morlaix staircase)[1] from a 16th-century Breton townhouse.[20][17] The gallery also contains many smaller architectural fragments, including a brick wall studded with 19th century plaster casts that were made from Salisbury Cathedral's decorative stonework (corbel heads, grotesques, mascarons, etc.), as well as other objects and curiosities in wood, bronze, wrought iron, and stone.[21][22] The display of plaster casts (most of which are found in the Cast Courts) also includes a Donatello sculpture on an ornate pedestal.[18]

The architects received a Design and Art Direction Gold Pencil award in 2010 for the "new suite of galleries to house the V&A's Medieval and Renaissance collections." The D&AD citation highlights the "Daylit Gallery and circulation hub" as criteria for the award.[14] At the 2010 World Architecture Festival awards, the gallery was named "Structural Design of the Year" for its all glass roof.[3][23]

Exhibitions and events

The museum has used the Daylit Gallery to stage temporary exhibitions during the London Design Festival (LDF),[25] screen films,[26] and to host various public and private events.[27][28] In 2010, as part of the exhibition 1:1 – Architects Build Small Spaces,[29][30] a Japanese teahouse on stilts by Terunobu Fujimori called Beetle's House was constructed in situ in the gallery,[31][32] and in 2013 an installation by the artist and designer Najla El Zein called Wind Portal that included 5,000 spinning paper windmills was commissioned by the LDF.[33]

In more recent years, special exhibitions in the space have included Plasticity by Niccolo Casas and Parley for the Oceans (2022);[34] a Mino washi paper Hana Mikoshi "flower shrine" by Hayatsu Architects (2023);[35][36][37] Communion (2024), an exploration of Ghana's culinary traditions, culture and rituals by artist-architect Giles Tettey Nartey;[38][39][40] and The Angry Summer (2026), a puppetry display by performers from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama based on Idris Davies' epic poem about the miners' strike of 1926.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "French staircase, 16th century". V&A Collections. Retrieved 6 March 2026.
  2. ^ "Plan sheet A: The Victoria and Albert Museum". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  3. ^ a b c "Victoria & Albert Museum Daylit Gallery". www.octatube.nl. Retrieved 30 March 2026.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Design Detail: Daylit Gallery, V & A Museum, MUMA and Julian Harrap Architects". Architects' Journal. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  5. ^ a b "Medieval and Renaissance, Room 64b, The Simon Sainsbury Gallery". V&A Digital Map. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  6. ^ "Medieval and Renaissance, Room 64, The Wolfson Gallery". V&A Digital Map. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Medieval and Renaissance, Room 64a, The Robert H. Smith Gallery". V&A Digital Map. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  8. ^ "Medieval & Renaissance, Room 50b, The Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery". V&A Digital Map. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  9. ^ a b "Daylit Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum". Architect Magazine. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  10. ^ "Victoria & Albert Museum Secretariat". HAT Projects. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  11. ^ a b c "Architecture news, V&A Medieval & Renaissance Galleries". www.e-architect.com. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  12. ^ a b c McClure, Rab (28 April 2011). "Detail: Daylit Gallery". Architect Magazine. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  13. ^ a b c d "Medieval and Renaissance Galleries, Victoria & Albert Museum". Design and Art Direction. Retrieved 28 March 2026.
  14. ^ a b "V&A Museum Daylit Gallery staircase glass balustrade". padsdesign.co.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
  15. ^ a b "Bronze bell from the church of St Lawrence and All Saints, Steeple-with-Stangate, Essex". V&A Collections. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  16. ^ a b c "Sir Paul Pindar's House". V&A Official Site. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  17. ^ a b c "Pedestal by Giuseppe Lelli Oronzio (from Donatello original), 3rd quarter 15th century". V&A Collections. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  18. ^ a b "FuturePlan". V&A Official Site. Retrieved 5 March 2026.
  19. ^ "Sir Paul Pindar's House". V&A Collections. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  20. ^ "Panel and framework". V&A Collections. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  21. ^ "Donatello, 3rd quarter 15th century (!9th century cast of the original)". V&A Collections. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  22. ^ "Award Winners at the 2010 World Architecture Festival". Bustler. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2026.
  23. ^ "Horse-ring". V&A Collections. Retrieved 6 March 2026.
  24. ^ Gibson, Eleanor (19 September 2017). "AAU Anastas stacks robotically cut stone blocks into tower at V&A". Dezeen. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  25. ^ a b "The Angry Summer: Puppetry in Motion". V&A Official Site. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  26. ^ "Jedd Novatt at the V&A". Waddington Custot. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  27. ^ "Friday Late: Player/Performer – Special event". V&A Official Site. Retrieved 6 March 2026.
  28. ^ Stathaki, Ellie (29 June 2010). "1:1 – Architects Build Small Spaces at the V&A". Wallpaper. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  29. ^ Glancey, Jonathan (9 June 2010). "1:1 with the V&A's Small Spaces". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  30. ^ Thomas, Abraham (27 May 2010). "Raising Terunobu Fujimori's Beetle's House". V&A Blog. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  31. ^ Etherington, Rose (15 June 2010). "1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces at the V&A". Dezeen. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  32. ^ Andrews, Kate (17 September 2013). "Wind Portal by Najla El Zein at the V&A". Dezeen. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  33. ^ "Plasticity – Special event". V&A Official Site. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  34. ^ "Hana Mikoshi – Special event". V&A Official Site. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  35. ^ Katsikopoulou, Myrto (14 September 2023). "designboom's guide to london design festival 2023: here's what not to miss". Designboom. Retrieved 28 March 2026.
  36. ^ Zilli, Enrico (18 September 2023). "London Design Festival 2023: twelve must-visit highlights". ArchiPanic. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  37. ^ "Communion". V&A Official Site. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  38. ^ "London Design Festival, nine days of ideas". IFDM. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  39. ^ "The Communion Project". Giles Tettey Nartey. Retrieved 6 March 2026.
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