Lunar Garden

Explorer Tom V&A Dundee seems to lean towards the River Tay as if it wants a closer look at the water. Kengo Kuma designed its layered walls with Scotland's cliffs in mind, and the museum opened in 2018 as a new home for stories about design. Start outside and walk around it: the building is already making its argument before you reach the first display. Inside, the Scottish Design Galleries show that design is much more than chairs and pretty patterns. You can move from fashion and furniture to engineering, games and healthcare, all shaped by choices somebody had to make. One extraordinary centrepiece is Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Oak Room, originally made for a Glasgow tearoom in 1907. It was saved in pieces and rebuilt here, a room that has effectively travelled across Scotland and through time to get its walls back. Imagine being told to put that flat-pack job together without the instructions. The museum also changes its temporary exhibitions, so a return visit need not feel like a repeat. Its riverside setting reconnects the centre of Dundee with a waterfront once used by docks and trade. Look back from the Tay and the building's bold shape makes a little more sense: it is meant to belong to this edge of land, not float above it like a trophy. The permanent Scottish galleries are free, while some changing exhibitions need a ticket. Check the current programme before travelling, especially if one show brought you here. Give yourself time for the objects and for the building; at Dundee, the case around the collection is one of the most interesting exhibits.