RIBA

As you walk into The Royal Institute of British Architects, the first thing your eyes are drawn to are the tall chocolate marble columns and bronze rails running up the grand staircase supported by thick glass panels, painted with gold patterns. You hear fumbled voices bouncing of the tall walls from all over the building. Immediately, the space feels formal and academic, almost like the space shouldn’t be open to the public. When you travel through the space, you feel as if you are intruding the space, you can hear the rattling cutlery of the cafe staff making drinks for the conferences taking place upstairs, as they hurriedly walk past you.

Located on the first floor in gallery one, exhibition ‘ Life of Clay’ is currently on display. Here stand in glass cases and wooden benches, pieces made entirely of clay. The 3-D shapes are incredible, each single one of them intricately made with precision and mass of detail. ‘What happens when technologies collide? In a converted farm in rural Buckinghamshire architects, artists and designers are using robotic arms, sausage makers and potter’s wheels to experiment with clay processes and explore the potential of site-responsive architecture… It displays the trial and error processes involved in creating new forms from an old material and the lively possibilities of clay’ (architecture, 2016).They are all made in a rural farmhouse in Buckinghamshire, where architects, artists and designers use robotic arms, sausage makers and potter’s wheels to experiment with the process of clay. The pieces are not only colorful, but they all vary in size and shape, each one off them individually different.  Pictured to the left is one of the most remarkable pieces on display, the sheer size of the 3-D structure was incredible, the detailing on the star like pattern was fascinating. In terms of visiting RIBA, the architectural details both inside and outside the building were remarkable, however, in my opinion the space itself does not seem suitable for exhibiting artists work.

References

• Architecture, (2016) LIFE OF CLAY: EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICE AT GRYMSDYKE FARM Available At: https://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/October2016/LifeofClay.aspx (accessed 1/11/2106)