Latest news with #OlympicPark
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kate Middleton Has 'Great Passion and Interest' on Solo Museum Visit
Kate Middleton stepped out solo today to highlight the importance of creativity. The Princess of Wales visited the V&A East Storehouse, a new museum that has opened in east London offering the public the chance to get 'closer than ever before' to objects in the V&A collection. Despite advice on the V&A East Storehouse website that visitors may want to 'avoid stilettos or kitten heels' because of the metal grid flooring, Kate managed fine in her black stilettos, which she paired with a smart blue suit. The museum offers people the chance to see behind the scenes by removing glass and barriers and allowing the public to see staff at work. 'It was about celebrating the opening of the Storehouse and it was about our royal patron championing what we're doing here in terms of art and design and creativity and getting young people involved in the creative industry, and celebrating the breadth and enormity of the collection,' V&A Director Tristram Hunt told T&C afterwards. 'Her royal highness was really interested, and knowledgeable, particularly around textiles, around some of the woven silk material from William Morris, looking at some of the wallpapers. She's got both great passion and interest in material culture so for her I think it was also a really enjoyable visit.' The V&A East Storehouse opened on May 31. It is located in Stratford on the site of the London 2012 Olympic Park which is now a thriving shopping and recreational area. Kate's appearance is her first public outing since May 20 when she and William attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Before that, on May 13, she presented the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design in central London. She is expected to be at Trooping the Colour this Saturday in her role as ceremonial Colonel of the Irish Guards. The Princess became patron of the V&A in 2018, with her patronage announced not long before her third child, Prince Louis, was born. In 2023, she visited the Young V&A in Bethnal Green which is specifically designed for children. You Might Also Like 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game
The Independent
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
The new museum where touching items is allowed
The V&A East Storehouse, a new concept from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), has opened in London's Olympic Park, offering public access to its storage facilities. The Storehouse spans 16,000 square meters and contains over 250,000 objects, 350,000 books, and 1,000 archives, representing "5,000 years of creativity," according to Kate Parsons, the museum's director of collection care and access. A key feature is the "Order an Object" service, allowing visitors to book appointments to view and handle specific items, such as a Vivienne Westwood sweater or a Balenciaga gown. Designed by Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, the Storehouse also displays large-scale items, including a Mughal colonnade and a Frank Lloyd Wright office, and will soon house the David Bowie Center in September. The Storehouse aims to increase transparency by openly discussing the provenance of its collections, ensuring equitable access for researchers and the public, as emphasized by senior curator Georgia Haseldine.
CBC
4 days ago
- Sport
- CBC
Food truck fever at the Big O is back with 2-day First Fridays — but vendors want more
Food trucks are once again gathering at Montreal's Olympic Park for First Fridays this summer and the event now includes Saturdays too. But vendors say the city's current rules still make operating a food truck difficult.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mayfair's Grosvenor Square to close for more than a year for 'radical' garden makeover
One of the West End's biggest green open spaces is to be shut for more than a year from next week as work starts on a massive overhaul. Mayfair's Grosvenor Square, a green oasis used by thousands of office workers, residents and visitors, will be shut for what landlords describe as 'the largest private investment in public green space in the West End for a generation.' The 'radical reimagining' of central London's second largest square - after Lincoln's Inn Fields - follows designs from London architecture practice Tonkin Liu. The square will close on Sunday 8th June for work to begin on Monday 9th June. The work is expected to take around 13 months to complete with a reopening in summer 2026. The project forms part of the vision of aristocratic landowner Grosvenor - the Duke of Westminster's family business - to 'reanimate' the elite neighbourhood by drawing in more local Londoners and visitors. There has also been concern about the lack of biodiversity in the square, which is dominated by grassy lawns and London Plane trees It is the fourth redesign of the square in its 300-year history and is said to 'pay homage to the original 1720s design', reinstating an oval shaped lawn, framed by a new footpath and a surrounding woodland garden. The redesigns will feature around 70,000 new plants, 44 new trees, new wetlands and c. 80,000 new bulbs, increasing planting from 140 m sq to 8,000 m sq, creating a haven for wildlife and new habitats. The transformation is being led by horticulturalist Professor Nigel Dunnett, known for urban green projects, including the Tower of London Superbloom and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. He will be working along side ecologist Gary Grant and BDP Architects. The address has long links with the USA dating back to 1785 when John Adams, the first US Ambassador lived on the Square. This connection continued through the Second World War, where it was home to General Eisenhower's HQ, becoming known as 'Little America' due to the thousands of US military personnel working in nearby offices. In 1960, the US opened its first purpose-built embassy building, designed by modernist architect Eero Saarinen, at the west side of the square. With its distinctive gilded eagle on the roof, the building became a Cold War landmark, hosting generations of diplomats and playing a key role in U.S.-U.K. relations until it relocated to Nine Elms in 2018. It was the scene of clashes between anti-Vietnam demonstrators and the police in 1968. The former embassy building is reopening as the Chancery Rosewood hotel in September. The Square features memorials to Franklin D Roosevelt, the Eagle Squadrons and a garden of remembrance commemorating the 67 British victims of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Over 7,000 people fed into the designs, which included a public vote to select flowers for the garden. Responding to this, primroses, bluebells and honeysuckle will feature prominently as part of the 80,000 new bulbs set for the square, creating a 'carpet of colour' for months throughout the year. The redevelopment includes a new education building, where programmes funded by The Westminster Foundation will offer opportunities for children and adults to learn about biodiversity, the environment, climate change and the square's history. Providing further community benefits, a new kiosk serving refreshments, public toilets and 300 additional places to sit will be provided. There will also be additional CCTV and new lighting installed that will enable the square to provide a safe environment and the square to stay open later into the evening. Earlier and even more radical plans for the revamp included a cavernous subterranean water garden up to 50 metres across. The Duke of Westminster said: 'Our ambition is for Grosvenor Square to once again become a treasured green space for everyone to enjoy and where people of all ages can reconnect with nature in the heart of the city. Building on its long history, this revitalisation will breathe new life into the square for current and future generations. From increasing biodiversity to creating new opportunities for learning and education, the transformation has been shaped by the thousands who shared their ideas and voted on the design. We're deeply grateful for the community's support.' James Raynor, CEO, Grosvenor Property UK said: 'Grosvenor Square will be one of the world's most outstanding and innovative urban green spaces, responding to the climate emergency whilst inspiring joy, delight and wonder.' 'This voluntary investment for the benefit of the public epitomises our unique role as custodians and long-term stewards of Mayfair. It is testament to our commitment to placemaking, environmental leadership and community engagement, and will ensure Mayfair remains a pre-eminent place to visit, live and work.' Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:'As the world's first National Park City, it's great that a new green haven is being created in Grosvenor Square in the centre of London where wildlife will be able to thrive. 'This private investment is fully aligned with our ambitious London Growth Plan and will lead to a transformation that will blend beauty and biodiversity to create a place for visitors and residents to reconnect with nature. 'I look forward to seeing the transformation of Grosvenor Square into another of London's world-leading urban green spaces as we continue building a greener, more prosperous London for all.' Lucy Puddle, Project Director, Grosvenor said:'Our investment in Grosvenor Square epitomises our unique role as custodians and long-term stewards of Mayfair. It is testament to our commitment to placemaking, environmental leadership and community engagement, and will ensure Mayfair remains a pre-eminent place to visit, live and work, not just for this generation, but for those to come.' Nigel Dunnett, Professor of Planting Design and Urban Horticulture, University of Sheffield said: 'We are looking to set a new standard for biodiverse public spaces in the capital, bringing the exuberance of a rich natural environment into a London square in a way that hasn't been done before.' 'Through an innovative and ambitious approach to planting, we are championing sustainability and climate-adaptation, swapping low diversity amenity grassland for sparkling flowering lawns, and creating extensive areas of new woodland plantings beneath the existing London Plane trees, to create new wildlife havens and gardens that will look fantastic year-round.' Alex Clarke September 11 family member said: 'For many years, the Memorial Garden in Grosvenor Square has been a highly valued place of peace and remembrance for the families of the 67 British victims of the September 11 attacks.' 'As a family member, a passionate amateur gardener and former Grosvenor Square volunteer, I'm thrilled that the square is set to become a place of natural tranquillity. Its rich landscape and birdsong will enhance the memorial's setting and offer a calming retreat from the hubbub of daily life.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘We want people to feel like they're trespassing': Inside the V&A's latest venture
From the outside, it's a big-box building in the former Olympic Park. Inside, it is something else entirely: an enormous, kaleidoscopic cabinet of wonders, crossed with an Amazon warehouse. V&A East Storehouse in Stratford is the new home for the national collection of prized clutter. Tier upon tier of shelving groaning with objects seemingly in no particular order, from enormous antique armoires to couture gowns to a child's rocking horse to Keith Moon's drum kit. A week before opening, over three floors ascending to the roof and a fourth working floor beneath a glass mezzanine, museum workers scuttle around carrying boxes and wrestling with wrapping materials. It looks like a Richard Scarry illustration come to life. When Storehouse opens this Saturday the public will be free to wander around via glass walkways. Staff will go about their duties in full view. And anyone can get closer to the collection via an online Order an Object service. This place holds 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 special archives. Make an appointment to view up to five items, seven days a week, 363 days a year, for free. 'It's our workshop, it's where we safeguard everything, and it's a deliberately public space,' says Tim Reeve, the deputy director of the V&A who is leading the project. 'You don't even need a membership card.' It is, he says, a museum turned inside out. 'We wanted people to feel like they're trespassing. Am I allowed here? That feeling of joy, seeing behind the curtain….' The 16,000 square-metre building is a retrofit of the former London 2012 Olympics media centre and the work of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, US architects of the smash-hit High Line public park in Manhattan. 'Rather than try to organise the V&A collection into taxonomies, we thought we would lean into the delirium of it,' says Elizabeth Diller, the architect behind the transformation. She cites the cabinet of curiosities as the model, a term first coined in Renaissance Europe to describe a private collection of treasures and a forerunner to the museum, and which these days refers to a hotchpotch of collected artefacts. Since the V&A's 1852 founding as the Museum of Manufactures, Prince Albert's pet project, its collections have grown to 'span over 5,000 years of human creativity' – and will keep growing. It's one of the world's biggest museums of decorative arts and design, custodian of everything from a 3,000-year-old Shang Dynasty jade ceremonial blade to David Bowie's costumes and ephemera (his archives will be accessible from September via a dedicated study room). Besides South Kensington, which displays 60,000 objects and draws three million visitors a year, more V&A outposts have arrived in recent decades, including V&A Dundee and a refreshed Young V&A (formerly the Museum of Childhood). View this post on Instagram A post shared by V&A East (@vam_east) Still there was not enough space. Government plans to sell the overflowing Blythe House, the V&A's former shared storage facility in west London, were announced in 2015 after which DCMS gave the V&A £63m towards a new one. More money was raised through private philanthropy. The storehouse may also help counter another problem: transparency. Museums are under pressure to reveal what they keep stashed away amid rows about restitution. By letting the public behind the scenes to see how the V&A protects, stores and catalogues objects, it makes itself less open to criticism. Visitors are not entirely abandoned to the packing cases: there are rebuilt architectural fragments to explore, bite-sized curated displays and suggested tour routes. Order an Object opened on May 12 and curators are fielding requests from researchers, students, designers, entrepreneurs and people who simply enjoy looking at beautiful things. What, I ask, is the most-requested item to date? 'A Balenciaga gown,' says Director of Collections Kate Parsons. 'We're expecting its visitors may be fashion students, but we won't know until they come.' What I ordered at the V&A Storehouse Designer boots These wet-look knee-length boots were made by the Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto in 1971. This is no ordinary footwear: the boots were part of Yamamoto's 'Kansai in London' collection, which brought Japanese avant-garde design to the UK, wowed Bowie and Elton John and changed the direction of fashion for the new decade. Parsons takes the boots out of their box and allows me to handle them. They are tiny and cut delicately, the heels and calves shaped with precision. Close up, with their three-inch platform soles wrapped in electric-blue satin, their visual impact is much clearer. The boots borrow from ancient Japanese design but they are also futuristic, space-age artefacts. They would still look outrageous today. An ancient Egyptian tapestry This tapestry was hand-woven in Egypt in AD 300-600. Parsons removes its protective sheath and lays it on the table but it is too fragile to touch. At its centre is a woven vignette of a horseman in battle with another figure, surrounded by horned beasts. Around them are faint images of women with children. The legends the fragment depicts are lost to time but up close, its faded images of ancient human struggles and triumphs are extremely moving. A bass viol The V&A has a vast collection of musical instruments, so at random I choose a bass viol, made between 1648 and 1675 by the Oxford-based luthier John Baker, according to an inked label. Again it is too fragile to touch, but I peer closely at its highly polished sycamore body, its four strings knotted by human hands, its finger-worn ebony fret. According to the catalogue, the viol would have formed part of an ensemble of differently pitched viols known as a 'consort'. A Vivienne Westwood couture corset Part of the British designer's 'Cut, Slash and Pull' collection of 1990. I, too, once owned a Westwood corset (albeit from her cheaper ready-to-wear collection, black and gold with painted cherubs cavorting on the bodice), but I lent it to an acquaintance and it was never returned. Now cult items, these corsets sell for thousands of pounds. I'm struck by the ivory silk garment's diminutive size. Though it is labelled a 12, as was mine, it looks as if it would fit an actual 12-year-old. And while the corset is exquisitely cut, it was clearly worn a lot in the hedonistic 1990s – the silk is sweat-stained and its former owner's hairs are still caught in the zip. A transistor radio Arguably a proto-iPhone in that it was an early portable mass-media device. Nearly everyone had one in the 1970s, including me as a child. They sounded terrible, but they represented excitement: a broadcast from the exciting world of pop music right under my pillow. By the 1980s transistors were ousted by Sony Walkmans. I don't think I've seen one in 40 years. The V&A owns a pocket-sized Solid-state transistor manufactured by Sharp in 1970. It's a beautifully simple design, with its wheeled dials and Made in Malaysia label: all give me a Proustian rush. I'm struck by the density of its red casing, heavy and opaque, unlike modern plastics. Most Proustian of all are its vinyl case and wrist strap – perfect for dangling from a bike's handlebars. V&A East Storehouse, 2 Parkes Street, London E20, is open from May 31;
