Barbican

Future City

15 Jun - 17 Sep 2006

Future City
Experiment and Utopia in Architecture 1956 - 2006
15 June 2006 - 17 September 2006
Barbican Art Gallery

What would it be like to live in a hairy house, a floating city, or an inflatable pod? Pure fantasy or the shape of things to come?

From extraordinary houses and incredible towers, to fantasy cityscapes and inhabitable sculptures, Future City showcases the most radical and experimental architecture to have emerged in the past 50 years.

Featuring a who’s who of architecture, the exhibition includes 70 visionary projects by influential and groundbreaking architects who have challenged convention to radically shape and influence the way we live.

From the visionary artist-turned-architect Constant Nieuwenhuys, to 1960’s giants Archigram and SuperStudio, to deconstructivists Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid and contemporary digitally inspired work by Nox and Decoi, this is the most comprehensive survey of experimental architecture to be held in the UK.

Featuring 300 original models and drawings, plus photographs and film, Future City reveals classic projects: from Kisho Kurokawa’s Floating City (1961) and Rem Koolhaas’s Delirious New York (1978), to unusual and innovative houses including Shigeru Ban’s Paper Log House (1995) and Watanabe’s Jelly Fish house series (1990-97) .

A series of exciting evening events accompanies the exhibition including talks by Rem Koolhaas, Lord Norman Foster, Nigel Coates, Fashid Moussavi and Will Alsop.

© Image by David Greene (Archigram)
 

Tags: Archigram, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas