The long-awaited David Bowie Centre is to open this weekend at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s new storage site in east London, the V&A East Storehouse.

Designed by the London-based architecture studio IDK, the centre was created to house the late singer’s archive of more than 90,000 items, including handwritten lyrics, costumes, instruments, album artwork, photography and sketches spanning six decades.

The centre is a working archive and collections store with reading areas and a study room. Around 200 highlights from the archive can be seen across nine rotating mini-displays that spotlight key moments across Bowie’s career, influences and collaborations.

Some of the displays have been created by guest curators, including US musician Nile Rodgers and rock band The Last Dinner Party.

Items never displayed before include The Spectator, an unrealised musical Bowie was working on until his death in 2016, and musical instruments such as a Ziggy Stardust-era guitar.

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The central space includes a dedicated area for exploring the archive further, where visitors can look through curated topic-boxes housing reproductions of archival material.  

Hanging overhead, visitors can see 20 of Bowie’s most iconic fashion and costumes in storage bags, from Freddie Burretti’s Ziggy Stardust looks to the singer’s 1992 Thierry Mugler wedding suit.

Bowie’s archive is also available to access via the East Storehouse’s Order an Object service, which allows visitors to book a one-on-one appointment any artefact on the site seven days a week.

The most popular object on the service is a frockcoat designed by Alexander McQueen and David Bowie for the singer’s 50th birthday concert in 1997.  

“Bowie was a pioneering multi-disciplinary creative – musician, actor, writer, performer and cultural icon – working in a way many young creatives move fluidly across disciplines today,” said V&A East curator Madeleine Haddon.

“He was fascinated by the modern musical form and the 18th century as a threshold of modernity, shaped by the Enlightenment, advances in the arts, science, and philosophy.

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“His plans for The Spectator, among other creative projects that can be seen across the displays, reveal his continual drive to experiment with boundary-pushing ideas and creative forms throughout his life and career, as well as his meticulous creative process, which visitors can delve into throughout his archive and across the David Bowie Centre’s opening displays.” 

Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, said: “One of the greatest performers, musicians, artists and innovators of all time, David Bowie’s impact continues to reverberate nearly a decade after his death – while his influence on design and visual culture and his inspiration on creatives today is unmatched.

“We are thrilled to care for Bowie’s incredible archive, revealing new insights into his creativity and legacy, and open it up for everyone at V&A East Storehouse, in dialogue with the V&A’s collection spanning 5,000 years of art, design, and performance.”

Commenting on LinkedIn, V&A deputy director Tim Reeve said the David Bowie Centre was “arguably the most starry” part of the V&A’s collection and praised its “elegant, imaginative and intimate design” by IDK.

The centre is free to visit by appointment, with tickets released every six weeks. The rest of the East Storehouse can be visited for free without a ticket.

The V&A acquired the David Bowie Archive in 2023 with support from the David Bowie Estate, Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group.

The East Storehouse opened in May in the first phase of the V&A’s expansion into east London. More than 200,000 people have visited the site since then, a figure that equates to around 20 years' worth of visitation to the V&A’s previous storage facility, Blythe House.

The V&A East Museum, which will have a focus on contemporary culture, is due to open in spring 2026.