Unit B in Blueprint

Rodolfo's walking stick was selected as one of the Best Student Projects in Britain by Blueprint magazine.
'The memory of the place is captured by our first impression, precisely at the moment where one’s senses are stimulated, generating a connection between the individual and the city. Before using the walking device we are unable to recognize the beauty and atmosphere of the city. After using the walking device the senses are awakened and the individual is able to identify with the place. What a fantastic idea to have a cup of tea with the aroma and atmosphere of the city you are walking. The mechanism of the device is designed to its details. This will definitely create our better future and improvement in day to day life.' Mami Sayo

See the review of Rodolfo Rodriguez's year 2 work here Blueprint

Philip Beesley: Hylozoic Ground

Hylozoic Ground by architect and sculptor Philip Beesley will be in the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in Architecture. 'Hylozoic Ground is an immersive, interactive environment that moves and breathes around its viewers. This environment can ‘feel’ and ‘care’. Next-generation artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and interactive technology create an environment that is nearly alive. Tens of thousands of lightweight digitally-fabricated components are fitted with microprocessors and proximity sensors that react to human presence. This responsive environment functions like a giant lung that breathes in and out around its occupants. Arrays of touch sensors and shape-memory alloy actuators (a type of non-motorized kinetic mechanism) create waves of empathic motion, luring visitors into the eerie shimmering depths of a mythical landscape, a fragile forest of light.' "...the glass-like fragility of this artificial forest, built of an intricate lattice of small transparent acrylic tiles, is visually breathtaking. Its frond extremities arch uncannily towards those who venture into its midst, reaching out to stroke and be stroked like the feather or fur or hair of some mysterious animal. Beesley’s Hylozoic Soil stands as a magically moving contemporary symbol of our aptitude for empathy and the creative projection of living systems."- Fundacion Telefonica Jury, 1st prize, VIDA 11.0
Hylozoic Ground

Unit B 2009-10 exhibition

Congratulations to Charlotte, Francis, Will, Hannah and James on their first class degrees.

Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition

The RA Summer Exhibition is on from the 14 June—22 August 2010. The architecture room has been curated by David Chipperfield this year and looks well worth a visit. See the BD link for a review and photos and the RA site for opening times etc.

Emoh Ruo, London Festival of Architecture

Australia: Emoh Ruo - Global Practices of Australian Architecture- Exhibitions and Installations, Talks and Debates 19 June - 4 July
'What contributes to the idea of a place as it exists in the mind’s eye? The exhibition proposes that architecture can act like a series of magnifying glasses laid over a map, bringing into exaggerated focus the experiences and elements that define a place.' Emoh Ruo site
This is one part of the London Festival of Architecture which runs from the 19th June to the 4th July 2010. The International Architecture Showcase (of which the Emoh Ruo exhbition is a part) has a series of interesting events, exhibitions and talks during this time and also over the summer.
International Architecture Showcase
LFA 2010 site

Heatherwick Studio Shanghai Expo Pavilion

Charlotte found this excellent video of Heatherwick Studio's expo pavilion.

Clerkenwell Design Week

25th - 27th May 2010
Various locations in Clerkenwell, London - see site Clerkenwell Design Week

Idris Kahn

Colin let me know about the current Idris Kahn exhibition at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London. For more on Idris kahn's work see earlier posting.
'Idris Khan's second solo show ... will consist of two major sculptural installations and a number of new photographic works that interlink seemingly disparate ideas of religion, Minimalism, music and poetry Khan's new body of work has a more formal engagement with the material he appropriates, in order to elicit a kind of lyricism and spirituality using a Minimal aesthetic.'

Victoria Miro Gallery, 16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW until 24th April 2010

Victoria Miro Gallery