"Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined" at the Royal Academy of Art in London is doing architecture justice.
A number of acclaimed architects from around the world came together to show architecture is about more than functionality, according to Wired.
"It's about experiencing the power and poetics of architecture," Kate Goodwin, the curator of Sensing Spaces told Time Out London. She said the seven architects have completely transformed the galleries at the academy.
Goodwin asked the architects to create multi-sensory spaces with architecture that visitors could engage and experience versus merely pass through.
They had 23,000 square feet with only the above directive by Goodwin. Each one approached the task differently, but achieved Goodwin's goal with a provocative design.
Chinese architect Li Xiaodong, for example, built a maze made from more than 21,000 hazel sticks. Illuminated floors guide visitors through the maze. The lights are meant to represent a trail through a snow-covered path.
Kengo Kuma created a delicate display from more than 3,000 curved bamboo sticks that shape an abstracted pyramid. The bamboo was also soaked in the scent of Japanese cedar wood to enhance the experience, according to Wired. The intention of the exhibit was to maximize impact on the visitor with a minimal amount of materials.
Chilean duo Pezo von Ellrichshausen is a wooden structure that appears to be a plain box on top of four large cylinders. However, upon entering, visitors can climb spiral staircases to the top, enabling them to see the ornate gallery ceiling from a new perspective.
"It's about taking you to another world," Goodwin said. "You really get to experience a gallery that we never get to see normally."
Another area is home to a tunnel-like structure by Diébédo Francis Kéré from Berlin. According to Wired, the tennel's material is commonly used in construction, but rarely visible. Nearby is a bin of straws with visitors can poke through the material, making it the most interactive exhibit. Goodwin said visitors have poked holes through it and used them to talk to one another through the material.
You can read full bios of the architects in a Royal Academy of Art press release and watch a video about the exhibit below.
