Bartlett Summer Show 2012

 

The Bartlett Summer Show kicked off last Friday at the Slade School of Art in London. Featuring a cacophony of work, from first year to diploma, the week-long exhibition showcases the best of the architecture department at UCL (I may be a little biased, as I did go there myself...). Nevertheless, it is always a feast for the eyes, and in my opinion- since also going round the other London schools this week- one of the best in the country. From intricate hand-drawings and layered card models to rapidly moving zoetropes and inhuman computer renders, the Bartlett students have once again put on a fantastic show, both in the exhibition design (which they put together over an intensive week of framing, painting and welding) and the work within it.  

Unit 11: Super Urban Mega Listic

Emma Flynn, Unit 11, Trash Can Utopias

Janinder Bhatti, Unit 11, Sacrifical Flooding

Janinder Bhatti, Unit 11, Sacrifical Flooding

Martin Tang, Unit 10

Ned Scott, Unit 10

William Fisher, Unit 22

Unit 9, tutored by Max Dewdney and Chee-Kit Lai of Mobile Studio

Sarah Edwards, Unit 9

Sarah Edwards, Unit 9

Harriet Middleton-Baker, Unit 1

Unit 5 showspace

Garcon: Wee Khim for the June issue of Style Singapore

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BIG designs a MÉCA to culture in Bordeaux, France

BIG, headed by Danish Bjarke Ingels, has recently won a competition with French practice FREAKS freearchitects (which I think is a fantastic name!), to design a new Maison de l'Economie Creative et de la Culture en Aquitaine (MÉCA). The new 12,000 m2 cultural centre will merge the three existing visual and performing arts centres; FRAC, ECLA, and OARA, into one institution facing the riverfront of Bordeaux. The white perforated box of the new complex is arranged around a central public space, open towards the Garonne River, and relating to the waterfront promenade by a continuous loop of performance and film spaces, from the lobby to the sky-lit galleries above. As Bjarke Ingels says; “Not only does the MÉCA spill its activities into the public realm and the urban room, but the public is also invited to walk around, through, above and below the new cultural gateway. By inviting the art into the city and the city into the arts, the MÉCA will provide opportunities for new hybrids of cultural and social life beyond the specific definitions of its constituent parts.”

Images courtesy BIG

Claudio Parentela

Italian artist, illustrator and photographer, Claudio Parentela recently emailed over these collages to Studio 325. Reminiscent of Prada's recent Pop Art inspired Spring 2012 lookbook in a past post, they combine fashion photographs layered with Picasso and Matisse-esque scribbles and marks. 

Images courtesy Claudio Parentela

Ant House by mA-style architects

Japanese architects mA-style have recently completed their 'ant house', a windowless cube in omaezaki-city, Japan. The single family residence confronts the street with dark metal panels, but inside the light plywood is lined with voids and holes for storage, creating a warm internal space with a gabled roof and skylights above. 

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