The new building, by John Pawson and OMA, replaces the museum?s old space near the Thames River It?s been just over four years since ground broke on the London Design Museum?s? new Kensington High Street address, but the institution?s new home has been ten years in the making.

Photo by Gareth Gardner
A view of the grand stair in the new Design Museum entry

Sites at the Tate, the V&A, Kings Cross and even a possible spot just down the road from its former home in Shad Thames all failed to make the grade. Then, serendipitously, a largely forgotten Grade II-listed cultural exhibition and conference center built in the 1960s became available.
Now with its public opening just days away (on Thursday, November 24), the former Commonwealth Institute?s £83 million (about $102 million) makeover is finally complete?an occasion that the Design Museum?s 85 year-old founder, Sir Terence Conran, describes as ?the most important moment in my career in design?so far.? Set back from the road and flanked by a complex of three OMA-designed orthogonal residential blocks and a public plaza with fountains, the modernist building?s structural refurbishment was worked on by a duo of architectural heavyweights?OMA and Allies and Morrison, alongside Arup.
Over the course of four years, the original concrete floors were removed, the blue glazed facade was replaced to comply with today?s building standards, and the basement was excavated to increase the available...