V&A Entrance

Nex was shortlisted to design a new entrance for the V&A on Cromwell Road, within the Grade I listed grand hall. Aston Webb’s entrance was not designed for current visitor numbers, security checks or contemporary standards of access and environmental protection. The brief sought an entrance that could withstand constant use, offer better resistance to cold, draughts and traffic pollution, and protect the hall's stonework from everyday wear.

Our proposal is a tall glass box, rising to the cornice of the entablature, revealing the clerestory windows above the doors. Its sides and roof, made of cast and plate glass, are self-supporting, with only isolated connections to the surrounding stonework. By day, they filter daylight, and by night, they are uplit from the floor. The front face is transparent, made from low-reflectance, low-iron glass, with one door motorised for universal access. The design drew on glass-making techniques in the V&A's own glass galleries and makers such as Lalique, to be developed with the museum's glass specialists.

Beyond the gateway, an entrance hall lit from its edges opens clear sightlines to the galleries on either side, and a security check splits into two smaller desks flanking a clear central route, directing visitors easily. The route continues to the central dome, reimagined as the point of orientation: a lighting ring at the base of the dome would mark a changing display from the current exhibition. Below, a long ticketing table, approachable from every side, lets staff move around it rather than stand behind a counter. Around the walls, interactive niches let visitors trace routes through the collection arranged by subject, material or period, and send the map result to their phone or print it to take through the museum.