Design Museum
A free museum of product, industrial, graphic and architectural design, housed since 2016 in the restored former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington.
- Museum
- Price: Free
Open in A Reason to StopFree on the App Store. iPhone, iOS 26 or later.
Did you know
The museum's distinctive hyperbolic paraboloid roof was originally built in 1962 for the Commonwealth Institute, which closed in 2002 and stood empty for years before John Pawson's renovation preserved the roof while rebuilding the interior around it for the Design Museum's move from Shad Thames.
Local tip
The permanent collection on the top floor is free; only the temporary exhibitions downstairs require a ticket, so it's easy to visit without paying anything.
Finding it
- Address
- 224-238, Kensington High Street, Kensington, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Greater London, England, W8 6AG
- Nearest station
- High Street Kensington (Tube), 549 m away
Details change, so check with the place before you set off.
More places nearby
- Linley Sambourne HouseThe preserved Kensington home of Punch cartoonist Linley Sambourne, its dense Victorian interiors filled with William Morris wallpapers, stained glass and Chinese porcelain.
- Leighton HouseThe former home and studio of Victorian painter Frederic Leighton in Holland Park, built around an elaborate tiled Arab Hall inspired by his travels through the Middle East.
- Safestay London Kensington Holland ParkA hostel occupying the surviving East Wing of Holland House, a Grade I-listed Jacobean mansion set inside Holland Park itself.
- Kyoto Garden, Holland ParkA Japanese garden with a waterfall and koi pond, gifted to Holland Park by the Chamber of Commerce of Kyoto in 1991.