Museums and galleries worldwide are revolutionizing the traditional visitor experience by opening their storage facilities to the public, creating a new model that allows for self-curated journeys through vast collections. This emerging trend represents a significant departure from the carefully orchestrated exhibitions that have long defined museum visits, where curators guide audiences through handpicked works arranged to tell specific narratives.
Traditionally, museum storage areas have been kept separate from public spaces, often housed within the same buildings but under strictly controlled access, or frequently stored off-site in dedicated facilities like the Louvre Conservation Centre. These spaces have operated as highly controlled environments, not only restricting access but also maintaining precise climate conditions, humidity levels, archival organization, handling protocols, and conservation procedures. The secrecy surrounding storage areas stemmed from concerns about theft and the potential disruption of the spatial, environmental, and organizational requirements necessary for proper archival maintenance.
However, this paradigm is gradually shifting as institutions recognize the value of making their broader collections accessible to the public. Smaller galleries and storage facilities have begun experimenting with integrated storage-display models to maximize space efficiency while revealing more of their holdings. Some art and model repositories have periodically opened their storage areas, allowing visitors to experience what lies "behind the archive." This movement has gained significant momentum with the recent opening of two major storage-as-museum projects: the V&A East Storehouse and the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen.
At smaller scales, innovative projects are demonstrating the feasibility of combining storage and display functions. The Hong Kong Art Storage by penda exemplifies this approach within a compact 2,000-square-foot space in a commercial tower. The design thoughtfully integrates storage, back-of-house operations, gallery space, viewing areas, lounge facilities, and ancillary functions through a deployable system. When closed, a copper-finished rectangular volume functions as an art object within the gallery. When opened, it reveals slide-out art storage for viewing, a well-appointed lounge with leather-padded furniture, and wall paneling that contrasts with the copper cladding.
The Archi Depot Museum in Tokyo has been pioneering the "archival as exhibition" concept for nearly a decade, first showcased at the 2015 Triennale di Milano and established as a permanent Tokyo venue in 2016. This facility operates as a climate-controlled architectural model storage facility combined with a museum, where architecture practices pay to store their process and presentation models while the public pays to view them. Industrial shelving and carefully organized cataloguing systems create a warehouse-gallery environment where visitors are immersed in the working memory of architectural practices, encountering study models, alternatives, fragments, and final presentations rather than following a single, authored narrative.
Larger institutions are now embracing this model on a grander scale. The Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen by MVRDV, opened in 2021, represents an ambitious and comprehensive articulation of "storage as exhibition." Occupying roughly 150,000 square feet and housing more than 150,000 objects, the depot was conceived so that virtually every piece is accessible to the public. The architects describe it as "a sturdy engine room," offering a fundamentally new kind of museum experience. The building's glass-mirrored exterior serves as an apt metaphor, with its presence literally composed of its surroundings while the depot's identity is formed by the breadth of artifacts and the people who encounter them.
The V&A East Storehouse by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, which opened earlier this year, represents another major milestone in this movement. Similar in scale at just over 160,000 square feet but vastly larger in holdings—containing more than 250,000 objects, 350,000 books, and 1,000 archives—it repurposes the 2012 London Olympics Media and Broadcast Centre through adaptive reuse. An interconnected atrium provides elevated vantage points over carefully arranged artifacts, producing an intentionally overwhelming panorama of material culture. The Storehouse functions alongside the main V&A museum while breaking from the hermetic model of storage by inviting the public into a rationally ordered archive.
This emerging typology creates an interesting parallel with dining experiences. Traditional museum exhibitions—highly prepared, tightly curated, and refined—resemble a sushi omakase, where the chef composes a precise sequence for diners. Storage-as-display is more akin to an all-you-can-eat buffet: the entire spread is visible, and the experience depends on how each visitor navigates the abundance of choices available to them.
The shift toward open storage models offers multiple benefits for both institutions and visitors. For museums, activating a greater share of their collections can engage wider audiences, support revenue generation, and spark new conversations, fresh research directions, and attention for works that might otherwise remain overlooked. The model also democratizes the museum experience by allowing visitors to assemble their own narratives rather than following professionally crafted interpretive paths. Additionally, it creates valuable feedback loops across digital platforms and social media, helping institutions gauge public interest and refine future exhibitions to better serve their communities.
As this trend continues to develop, thoughtful implementation will be crucial to its success. Effective wayfinding systems, comprehensive metadata, search capabilities, study tables, educational programming, and conservation viewing windows can help transform potential information overload into opportunities for cultural literacy and discovery. This approach doesn't replace the traditional curatorial "chef" but adds another model of engagement and reflection, potentially enlarging the public's conversation with art and culture while providing institutions with new ways to listen and respond to their audiences' interests and needs.
