The V&A Museum in London has signed a collaboration deal with China to set up the country’s first major design museum in Shenzhen. Due to open end of 2016, the new museum will be designed by Tokyo architect Fumihiko Maki.

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and China Merchants Group (CMG) officially announced a pioneering collaboration on 17 June 2014 to create the first major design museum in Shenzhen’s Shekou district. The collaboration agreement between the two entities is the first one to be signed between one of the oldest and most influential companies in China and a public institution in the United Kingdom.

The museum will be jointly run by the V&A and local professionals and will boost China’s design industry and creative scene in Shenzhen.

As mentioned in the Architects Journal, the project is estimated at around GBP16 million (USD27,149,745). The museum, slated to open at the end of 2016, will be designed by Tokyo architect and 1993 Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki and his studio. The museum will be built on the grounds of the Shenzhen Sea World Cultural Arts Centre, which is currently under construction and also planned by Maki.

The V&A will play an advisory role to the Shekou Museum, helping with the development of the Shekou Museum’s own collection and providing the necessary professional training for its senior staff. A V&A senior curator will hold a three-year post as Head of the Shekou and V&A Partnership in Shenzhen.

The Shekou Museum will also be host to a dedicated V&A gallery, where the British museum will organise curated displays of its own collection and present its major exhibitions.

Read full article in Art Radar Asia

Image: 3D model rendering of the Shekou Museum in Shenzhen. © China Merchants Property Development and Maki Associates. Image courtesy V&A.