The Photographers' Gallery reopens in London

After almost two years of intense building work, The Photographers' Gallery is ready to celebrate its newly renovated and extended HQ at the crossroads of Soho and Oxford Street in London.
The existing brick and steel-frame warehouse building, accessed via the serene Ramilles Street, a few steps down from the bustle of Oxford Street, was redesigned by award-winning Irish architects O'Donnell + Tuomey. The architects extended it upwards and sideways to create much needed, high quality and airy display areas for what is now the largest gallery in London dedicated to photography. The extension also helps support the building's load in a more efficient way.
The new parts are visible, dark-rendered and jut slightly forward towards the street. Towards the top of the building, three levels of clean, minimal, high-ceilinged galleries make for an ideal exhibition space. Beneath these is an office level and a large education and events room (which will include a camera obscura). The ground level hosts a café, while a generous cut of the ground floor slab gives access to a bookshop and print sales area in the basement.
Wood details - such as the untreated hardwood timber façade elements and the oak flooring - are carefully placed throughout, as are a series of large openings that bring in plenty of light. Those openings span floor to ceiling and offer carefully framed views out towards the surrounding urban landscape. In contrast, apart from those few periscope-like openings, the gallery rooms feature no windows, allowing for the very best climate controlled exhibition display halls.
Meanwhile, plans for exhibitions to spill out on the street and take over the nearby building's back walls are in development, with new work being commissioned for an outdoors program. The Gallery is also hoping to get the street pedestrianised in the near future. 'The whole ambience will change,' says director Brett Rogers.
Officially opening on the 19th May with a spectacular exhibition of celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky's large-format industrial landscape work, titled 'Oil', The Photographers' Gallery is our new favourite cultural destination in Central London.
Architects O'Donnell + Tuomey have extended the building upwards and sideways to create more much-needed exhibition space
Atop the building are three levels of clean, minimal and high-ceilinged exhibition space
Wood details - such as the untreated hardwood timber façade elements and the oak flooring - are carefully placed throughout...
... as are a series of large openings that bring in plenty of light
The extend Photographers' Gallery reopens with a spectacular exhibition of celebrated Canadian series of large-format industrial landscape work, titled 'Oil'. Pictured is 'Shipbreaking #13, Chittagong, Bangladesh', 2000. Courtesy of Nicholas Metivier, Toronto / Flowers, London
'Highway #1, Intersection 105 & 110, Los Angeles, California, USA,' by Edward Burtynsky, 2003.
'Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA', by Edward Burtynsky, 2008.
'Alberta Oil Sands #2, Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada', by Edward Burtynsky, 2007.
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Prodrive updates its sleek racing simulator with new craft and fresh tech
Race at home in style with the latest version of Prodrive’s racing simulator, now equipped with Bang & Olufsen sound
-
A local architect’s guide to Joshua Tree
Mirtilla Alliata di Montereale shares her favourite things to do to slow down, look closely, and discover Joshua Tree through a more intentional lens
-
Art meets perfume in cross-disciplinary fragrance series Nez 1+1
Talents from film and fragrance come together to create Ansongo, the latest scent resulting from a creative matchmaking project by perfume revue Nez
-
Leila Bartell’s cloudscapes are breezily distorted, a response to an evermore digital world
‘Memory Fields’ is the London-based artist’s solo exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery (until 25 July 2025)
-
A bespoke 40m mixed-media dragon is the centrepiece of Glastonbury’s new chill-out area
New for 2025 is Dragon's Tail – a space to offer some calm within Glastonbury’s late-night area with artwork by Edgar Phillips at its heart
-
Emerging artist Kasia Wozniak’s traditional photography techniques make for ethereal images
Wozniak’s photographs, taken with a 19th-century Gandolfi camera, are currently on show at Incubator, London
-
Vincent Van Gogh and Anselm Kiefer are in rich and intimate dialogue at the Royal Academy of Arts
German artist Anselm Kiefer has paid tribute to Van Gogh throughout his career. When their work is viewed together, a rich relationship is revealed
-
Alice Adams, Louise Bourgeois, and Eva Hesse delve into art’s ‘uckiness’ at The Courtauld
New exhibition ‘Abstract Erotic’ (until 14 September 2025) sees artists experiment with the grotesque
-
Get lost in Megan Rooney’s abstract, emotional paintings
The artist finds worlds in yellow and blue at Thaddaeus Ropac London
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
It was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
London calling! Artists celebrate the city at Saatchi Yates
London has long been an inspiration for both superstar artists and newer talent. Saatchi Yates gathers some of the best