I visited Dundee at dusk on my last trip to St Andrews two years ago and saw the construction work underway for the new V&A Dundee design museum on the waterfront as I crossed the Tay Bridge so on my recent return trip I was keen to get back and photograph the new building, which is now complete.

I arrived on a rather dreary (or is that dreich?) afternoon and under a leaden sky V&A Dundee looked almost monochrome, but was no less impressive in the gloomy light.  However, I’d come mainly to get some images of it at dusk as the lights came on, so I took the opportunity to head inside and visit the Scottish Design Galleries and enjoy the equally imposing interior space.  The building is an impressive work of design in its own right, by the award-winning Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.

As dusk fell my images took on a cool blue tone from the darkening sky and the lighting started to add a touch of warmth.

There’s a walkway (also a cycle path) through the middle of the building leading to the riverside with great views of the Tay Bridge.  Actually, the Tay Bridge features inside the building too as the view of it fits neatly into the narrow windows between the concrete slabs.

The new museum is right next door to a more established Dundee museum – Discovery Point and the RRS Discovery, and the pool between them provides plenty of scope for photographing reflections!

All in all it’s a very impressive modern building.  Entry to the museum and the Scottish Design Galleries is free (some temporary exhibitions are charged) but even if you’re not going to see an exhibition it’s a great place to just go and sit for a while, so I think Kengo Kuma’s intention of providing “a living room for the city” has paid off!

Find out more about V&A Dundee at www.vam.ac.uk/dundee.

There are more images from the shoot in the Scotland gallery on my website.