'Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined', en la Royal Academy of Arts, Londres

© Domus.

Vía Royal Academy of Arts.

Seven architectural practices from six countries and four continents. 23,000 square feet. 72 days. One monumental exhibition.

Some of the most creative architectural minds from around the world have come to the RA to give you a new perspective on architecture and transform our Main Galleries with a series of large scale installations.

As you respond to different structures, textures, lighting, scents and colours, we invite you to consider some of the big questions about the nature of architecture; how do spaces make us feel? What does architecture do for our lives?

You are as much a part of this exhibition as the work itself – invited to touch, climb, walk, talk, sit, contemplate - reimagine the world around you.

Ver noticia en The Telegraph: Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined, Royal Academy, review.

Ver noticia en Domus: Sensing Spaces: Keré, Grafton, Kuma and Pezo von Ellrichhausen completed the first installations commissioned for the exhibition “Sensing Spaces” which, in a few days, will transform the London Royal Academy of Arts.

Ver noticia en castellano en El Mundo: Escala 1:1, 'Sensing spaces' es una exposición sobre arquitectura en vivo y directo.

© Domus.

Vía TimeOut.

This experimental show proves there’s more to architecture than blueprints, detailed models and an abundance of health-and-safety red tape. Kate Goodwin, the Royal Academy’s architecture curator has invited seven contemporary architectural firms from across the globe to transform not just the RA’s galleries but also our perception of space. We often allow our daily existence to drown out what’s actually going on around us, letting the monotony of habitual practice blinker the potential for unexpected experience in our built environment.

Luckily there’ll be no chance of ignoring your surroundings in this exhibition as the architects Goodwin has chosen all dazzle the senses with their immersive site-specific installations.
The Chilean-based husband-and-wife duo behind Pezo von Ellrichshausen will transport you back to your childhood with their gigantic wooden installation. Part playground, part monument, ‘Blue Pavilion’ is a curious structure. Hidden within its four columns are spiral staircases that lead you up to a viewing platform for a rare perspective of the nineteenth-century interior. Here you get up close and personal with the gallery’s cornice decorated with gilded angels before travelling back down to ground level via a ramp.

From behind the curtains where Kengo Kuma’s work waits to amaze you, comes a faint inviting aroma. As you venture into the darkened space, you’re struck by a warm woody essence and wispy forms. Here your nose and eyes must do the work of your hands, as you navigate your way around warped bamboo to another room, where you’ll encounter a new fragrance. Inspired by the traditional Japanese ceremony kodo, Kuma’s nasal contest gives a whole new meaning to potpourri, with its sweet smell of unexpected revelation.

The West African architect Francis Kéré likes to work with materials typical to the area he builds in. For his double-ended pavilion that links two grand galleries, he’s used a honeycomb plastic that’s an integral part of London construction. Under the domes you can take stock of the show in the seating area and even get involved, like any good worker bee, by inserting coloured straws into the holes of this synthetic sanctuary.

Using a wealth of materials, the main galleries are altered by these architectural interventions that ooze dynamism and provide an alternative approach to typical customs. Hopefully the experience will stimulate your senses to realise there’s always more to corridors, lighting and the incomprehensible entity of space.

Freire Barnes

Check out our guide to Sensing Spaces here

Architects featured: Grafton Architects, Diébédo Francis Kéré, Kengo Kuma, Li Xiaodong, Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Eduardo Souto de Moura and Alvaro Siza.