V&A Dundee has an opening date

V&A Dundee, the much-anticipated new museum designed by celebrated Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, has an opening date: doors will open to the public this autumn, on Saturday 15 September. Also announced is that the museum's inaugural exhibition will be Ocean Liners: Speed & Style, which will "reimagine the golden age of ocean travel."

The aim of this new £80.1m museum, reads the press release, is to “allow people to experience the remarkable story of design past, present and future, and the vital contribution design makes to all our lives”. The V&A’s permanent collection will tell the story of Scotland’s design heritage and feature around 300 exhibits drawn from the collections of the V&A, as well as from museums and private collections across Scotland and the world, covering everything from architecture to ceramics, fashion to videogame design.

V&A Dundee will also feature at its heart Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Oak Room. Originally designed for Miss Cranston’s Ingram Street tearooms in Glasgow in 1907, Mackintosh’s design has been in storage for five decades, but is being moved to the V&A to be reassembled, fully restored and preserved for future generations.

The museum will also include learning spaces to accommodate visitors of all ages and backgrounds to learn from and participate in design creativity; a design residency studio where designers will share work-in-progress with visitors; a multi-purpose auditorium for conferences, design jams and community events, and a restaurant with views from its open terrace over RRS Discovery and the River Tay.

“V&A Dundee brings something new to Scotland,” says Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee. “It is the country’s first museum dedicated to design, which visitors will be able to experience and get involved with in very many ways. Particularly important is that the new museum enables major V&A exhibitions to be seen more widely by more people across the UK.”