"The Dancing Willows" by Helen and Hard Architects
Despite the fact that architecture shows, for even the most dedicated of aficionados, are widely recognised as the driest affairs around - packed full of abstract scale models and equally abstract scribbles – The V&A’s upcoming summer blockbuster “1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces” has, true to form, eschewed the trend, resulting in a show as delicate in approach as it is playful.
The curators commissioned 19 world-renowned architects to come up with a proposal for a “small space” to be constructed within the “landscape” of the gallery. The exhibition, which opens on June 15, will showcase each of the proposals – including, we hasten to add, a series of scale models (and scribbles) – alongside seven, fully completed projects, each of which will be dotted around the gallery.
Featuring a transparent “Inside / Outside Tree” by Japanese firm Sou Fujimoto; a folksy, fairytale inspired canopy from Helen and Hard Architects and a series of geometric “performance booths” from Brazilian firm Vazio S/A, the exhibition will encourage visitors to engage with the seven spaces on a refreshingly tactile level. So it’s basically a playground, for adults, in a priceless building, filled with priceless artifacts. Waiting, accident, happen, to.
“1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces” opens to the public at The V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL on June 15 - August 30.
Terunobu Fujimori Architects
"Spiral Booths" by Vazio S/A Architects
"In Between Architecture" by Studio Mumbai
