V&A East Museum is a new kind of museum attracting younger and more diverse audiences. It has five floors exploring making and how creativity changes the world. The wayfinding system celebrates the museum’s extraordinarily dynamic staircase that wraps around the building... A ‘Discovery Route’ places signs at the thresholds of stairs on each level encouraging visitors to keep exploring the world of V&A East and its exhibitions.

Our brief had an amazing sustainability goal asking us to adopt circular design principles. In particular the brief asked us to take a holistic, systems thinking approach to sustainability, shifting focus from individual parts to understanding influences within the whole V&A organisation.

From the outset of the project our aim was to design-out single-use vinyl from the Museum. Our perspective was that if you walk into any museum in the world you will most likely find signage and marketing materials at every corner made out of single-use plastic vinyl. Every time a new exhibition opens or a change in programme happens the entire scheme needs to be replenished. A brand new museum deserves a brand new approach.