New Design Museum, Second Floor. John Pawson Ltd Image by Alex Morris Visualisation

Although 2014 has just started, we already have news for 2015. Next year the Design Museum will relocate from its current home at Shad Thames, by Tower Bridge, to the former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington High Street, west London.

Leading designer John Pawson will redesign the interior and architect Rem Koolhaus of OMA will design the residential development for the site. Once complete, the new Design Museum will be a world leading venue with two temporary exhibition spaces, free access to its permanent collection display, learning spaces, design workshops, a specialist design library, an auditorium, a museum shop, a café and restaurant.

Joining the V&A, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Royal College of Art and the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington’s cultural quarter, the move will not only provide the Design Museum with three times more space but also bring a new lease of life to the famous London landmark, the former Commonwealth Institute. A Grade 2* listed building, it was designed in the 1960s by Sir Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall and Lord Cunliffe. The Commonwealth Institute closed in 2002 and since then the building has lain dormant.

Being the world’s leading museum devoted to architecture and contemporary design, the Design Museum was opened in 1989 by Sir Terence Conran. It celebrates all form of design, including fashion, product and graphic design and has hosted exhibitions showcasing some of the most important pioneers of design including Paul Smith, Zaha Hadid, Jonathan Ive, Charles and Ray Eames, Christian Louboutin and Dieter Rams.