A new home for the home of design: London's Design Museum introduces Kensington base

The building, which was once the Commonwealth Institute, has been overhauled by design practice OMA in partnership with Allies & Morrison. The exterior has been fully restored, and the interior is clad in timber and flooded with light.

Designed by John Pawson, the museum’s new home is set to be “the world's leading institution dedicated to contemporary design and architecture”, something I believe only further adds to the wealth of creativity on our doorsteps.

The re-opening of the Design Museum reminds us of the sheer amount of free creative resource available to us in the UK’s major cities and towns. In London, museums and galleries such as the V&A, Tate Britain and Tate Modern are inspiring spaces available to anyone and everyone. And outside of the larger galleries, designers are more exposed than ever to innovative window displays, street art and pop up exhibitions.

The museum opens with two exhibitions, Fear and Love: Reactions to a Complex World (24 November 2016 – 23 April 2017), and Beazley Designs of the Year (24 November 2016 – 19 February 2017).

Fear and Love presents eleven installations by some of the most innovative and thought-provoking designers and architects working today. The newly commissioned works are said to explore a "spectrum of issues that define our time, including networked sexuality, sentient robots, slow fashion and settled nomads".

The exhibition shows how design is deeply connected not just to commerce and culture, but to urgent underlying issues – issues that inspire fear and love. Expect works by OMA, Hussein Chalayan, Kenya Hara and Neri Oxman.

For Beazley Designs of the Year, you can enjoy the Design Museum's annual exhibition and awards celebrating the world's best designs with nominees including the last David Bowie album cover, a robot surgeon and a drinkable book. There are 70 nominations in total, covering six categories including architecture, digital, fashion, graphics, product and transport.

Discover more about these exhibitions and the new Design Museum in Kensington at designmuseum.org.