V&A Accessible Exhibition Design

The DisOrdinary Architecture Project was commissioned by the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in-house exhibition design team to support their exhibition design development for a show called Design and Disability, curated by Natalie Kane and Reuben Liebeskind, opening 7th June 2025 at V&A South Kensington. As the curators say, this is meant to be “both a celebration and a call to action” that starts from disability as a positive design generator and showcases disabled, Deaf, and neurodiverse people and communities as central creators of products and spaces. 

The in-house exhibition design team were keen to make the show itself as accessible as possible, going beyond compliance to make a space that truly welcomes diverse bodies and minds. Through a series of 5 two-hour workshops, led by Mandy Redvers-Rowe with Jos Boys, we worked together through different aspects of the design development process – key issues and opportunities; navigating space and content; engaging with the work; and accessible information.  For each session we were joined by a guest disabled creative to bring a variety of lived experiences and perspectives to the project. The workshops included visits to an existing gallery and show, experiential activities and discussion. 

“Huge thanks to yourself, Mandy and your team. Each workshop has really shaped the decisions we have been making and hope to put forward.”

Sam Brown, V&A