Long-term, museum and art gallery visits have been highly curated experiences. Visitors follow carefully designed routes through exhibition halls, where artworks and artifacts are selected and arranged by specific narrative logic, complemented by signs, diagrams, scene designs and meticulously controlled lighting. Even permanent exhibitions—those rarely updated—typically rely on strong curatorial concepts to guide the visitor experience.
In contrast, museum storage areas are usually separate facilities. Often located within the same building but sometimes in external specialized facilities like the Louvre Conservation Center, these spaces are strictly regulated. Beyond restricted access, they adhere to rigorous standards for climate, humidity, archival organization, operational protocols, maintenance and restoration. Traditionally kept confidential due to theft concerns and the need to protect spatial layouts and environmental conditions, storage areas primarily serve academic researchers and art professionals. The general public has rarely had full insight into an institution’s complete collection.
Emerging Trend: Storage as Exhibition Space
This paradigm is gradually shifting. In recent years, small galleries and storage facilities have experimented with integrating collection storage and display to save space and showcase more items. Some art and model repositories now regularly open their warehouses to the public, offering a glimpse “behind the archives.” The launch of two major projects—V&A East Storehouse and Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen—has deepened related discussions, giving rise to a new complementary museum type. This model preserves traditional curated exhibitions while offering visitors a more open, self-directed journey through collections.
Compact Galleries, Expandable Archives
In smaller-scale settings, the art world has tested the concept of “storage as exhibition space,” particularly in intimate, exclusive viewing contexts with less emphasis on narrative curation—often linked to art market interactions, especially in galleries. In Hong Kong, where space is limited and land prices are high, integrating storage and display functions makes practical sense.
Penda’s Hong Kong Art Storage Space demonstrates the feasibility and versatility of this integration. Occupying less than 2,000 square feet in a commercial architecture, the design uses an expandable system to combine storage, logistics, gallery space, viewing areas, lounges and auxiliary functions. In its closed state, the copper-clad rectangular structure resembles an artwork itself. When expanded, it reveals pull-out art storage racks for viewing, a fully equipped lounge with leather upholstered furniture and contrasting wall decorations, additional storage/display areas behind a second wall, and a projection screen. The layout places storage elements on both sides, immersing visitors in an elegantly decorated, reconfigurable environment adaptable to different scenarios. This flexible, expandable approach tests the “storage-to-gallery” concept without permanent commitments.
Tokyo’s Archi Depot Museum has advanced a similar concept over the past decade. Debuting as “Archi Depot Tokyo” at the 2015 Milan Triennale before opening a permanent venue in 2016, it explicitly explores the “archive as exhibition” model. Functioning as both a climate-controlled architectural model storage facility and a museum, design firms pay to store their process and exhibition models, while the public pays to visit them. Industrial shelving and organized classification systems create a warehouse-style gallery, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in design firms’ work memories—including research models, alternatives, fragments and final products—free from a single curator-led narrative. This open presentation of creativity exposes visitors to extensive information and design explorations, with interpretation largely left to the individual, paving the way for large institutions to balance storage, archival preservation and public access.
Major Museums Embrace Open Archives
Large museums have begun adopting this concept. Showcasing more collections attracts broader audiences, boosts revenue, sparks new discussions, opens research avenues and highlights overlooked works. Historically, exhibition curation has been a professional field with carefully designed artwork sequences and visitor experiences. Opening archives for more free-form exploration represents a democratizing move, enabling visitors to construct their own narratives. It also creates feedback loops on social media and other platforms, helping institutions understand public interests and optimize future exhibitions to better serve communities.
Tzannes’ 2018 Dangrove Art Space was an early large-scale experiment. Responding to a client’s request for an art storage facility supporting nearby galleries, the architect proposed a mixed-use space integrating storage with curation, conservation, research, library, workshop and exhibition functions—traditionally associated with public museums. The carefully designed circulation allows visitors to encounter displayed works and glimpse behind-the-scenes logistics. While dedicated exhibition areas and storage sequences remain distinct, the project demonstrates that storage spaces can be integral to the visitor experience, not just logistical necessities.
MVRDV’s 2021 Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen embodies the “storage as exhibition” concept on a grander scale. Covering approximately 150,000 square feet and housing over 150,000 artifacts, the depot was designed to make every collection item accessible to the public in principle. Described by the architects as “a robust dynamic core,” the building features a glass mirrored facade that serves as a metaphor: its existence is literally shaped by the surrounding environment, while the depot’s uniqueness is co-created by its extensive collections and the visitors who engage with them—fostering an unmediated, direct connection between artifacts and audiences.
A New Museum Experience
The rise of this latest trend draws an unexpected parallel to dining experiences. Traditional museum exhibitions—carefully prepared, curated and refined—resemble an omakase, with the curator as chef arranging the sequence. In contrast, the “storage as exhibition” model is akin to a tabehodai (all-you-can-eat buffet): all items are on display, and the experience depends on each visitor’s free exploration of the extensive collection. This does not replace the curator’s role but adds an alternative mode of interaction and thinking.
Equipped with thoughtful tools—wayfinding signs, metadata, search systems, research desks, lectures and conservation observation windows—open archives can transform information overload into cultural literacy and exploration joy. By expanding public dialogue with art and culture, these spaces also provide institutions with new ways to listen and respond to their communities. As this model gains traction, it redefines the museum experience, blending preservation with accessibility in innovative ways.
