Fears that the spectacular new V&A Museum in Dundee cannot be delivered within its £45 million budget were dismissed yesterday by Kengo Kuma, the Japanese architect behind the dramatic design of the building.
“In the 20th century, projects like this could go over budget, but that is not possible in the 21st century when everyone is watching the cost,” he said in a lecture at Dundee University.
Mike Galloway, the director of development at Dundee City Council, was equally emphatic that the funding package would be completed in time for construction to begin in the autumn of 2012. He said more than two-thirds of the funding was in place, with £10m left to be found from private donations and benefactors.
The museum will be the focal point of the redevelopment of the city’s waterfront, the latest in a string of art galleries and museums designed to replicate the “Bilbao effect” – so-called after the Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Gehry made the Spanish city an international tourist destination. Glasgow is hoping for something similar from the Riverside Museum designed by Zaha Hadid, due to open next month as a replacement for the Transport Museum.
Kuma added: “The museum is becoming the living room of the city. It is no longer somewhere people just go to look at exhibits in glass cases.
“The cafe and the restaurant are just as important … The restaurant will be open at night and people can look out over the River Tay.”
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