Introductory talk outlining the curatorial vision for the Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined exhibition and revealing some of the process
of its creation.
Introductory talk outlining the curatorial vision for the Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined exhibition and revealing some of the process
of its creation.
Exhibition catalogue including an essay by Philip Ursprung and interviews with each of the architects,
Grafton Architects, Diébédo Francis Kéré, Kengo Kuma, Li Xiaodong, Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Álvaro
Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura.
In preparation for the Sensing Spaces exhibition I visited Pezo Von Ellrichshausen, in Chile who took me to see Casa Poli, the house that gave them international renown.
It feels almost heroic – man and nature, united in ambition. However, the greatest surprise came from spending time within it. To describe its interior as a perimeter space between two walls, containing stairs, service and storage belies its magic. Large windows penetrate the walls and the depth is used to really grab hold of the view and bring it inside. An interior is created that has an expansive character. The walls enclose a volume, not rooms. It thus evokes a feeling of a world neither inside nor out. Light moves through the house like another occupant, bringing warm colour to one corner, bright outlines to another, animating the house on a minute-by-minute basis.
Read the original article at royalacademy.org
Spending some time with the Chilean architects who ‘consider’ rather than ‘design’.
I could see how their ethos and approach to architecture was reflected in their buildings. Together they bring an innate understanding of how people will respond and feel in a space and marry it with an absolute belief in an aesthetically pure architecture.
I was really struck by how coherent and certain their buildings are. Their own house and studio, Casa Cien, stands upright – almost like a small monument – in a suburb, nestled into the foothills on edge of the industrial town of Concepción. A plinth with tower atop, it is a bold object that is starkly different from all the houses that surround it and is in no way apologetic about the fact.
Read the full article at royalacademy.org
The UK Pavilion – nicknamed ‘Dandelion’ by the Chinese people – was designed by Thomas Heatherwick. Over the 6 month period of the Expo it was visited by almost 8m people, winning the Expo’s Gold Medal for design and the RIBA’s Lubetkin Prize. Written by Kate Goodwin, Drue Heinz Curator of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the book shows the development from competition stage to finished pavilion, uncovering the roots of Thomas Heatherwick’s idea. The book is written in English and Mandarin.
Image credit: Itsnicethat.com