V&A Shortlists Designs For Major Expansion

South Kensington's Victoria & Albert Museum has released images of the seven shortlisted designs for its planned new gallery extension.

The project involves building on the disused boilerhouse that takes up the V&A's western flank. The site was chosen for development in the 1990s, and a competition won by Daniel Libeskind, which involved building a daring, deconstructed gallery nicknamed the Spiral; the project eventually fell afoul of budgetary concerns and was scrapped in 2004.

After running a series of design studies last year, the museum has nevertheless decided to revisit the space. The brief calls for an underground gallery, which will house the museum's temporary exhibitions, a ground-level courtyard that sits within the building's existing fabric, and a new entrance onto Exhibition Road through the existing Aston Webb screen.

A winner will be announced at the end of March, and the designs are on display in the V&A's Sackler Centre until 3 April.

See more images of the shortlisted entries at Building Design.