The RIBA Trust’s forthcoming season of exhibitions ranges from cutting-edge work by award winning young international architects in Emerging Architecture to a selection of photographic exhibitions including Gargoyles and Shadows: Gothic architecture and 19th-century Photography at the V&A+RIBA Gallery and After Redundancy: Living in and out of Architecture showing portrait shots and personal statements of a selection of architects made redundant in 2008-9.

In March the exhibition Djenné: African City of Mud explores the tradition of mud building in Mali and the relationship between the community and architectural practice. The Lives of Spaces: Irish Architecture Today, highly celebrated at the 2008 Venice Biennale, uses film and moving image to give a spatial portrait of Irish architecture.

The 1930s headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is home to a variety of architecture exhibitions. There are three spaces that offer visitors the opportunity to experience architectural ideas from around the globe - the Florence Hall, Gallery 1 and Gallery 2. A changing programme of exhibitions are also shown at the V&A and RIBA Architecture Gallery at the V&A.

The full spring 2010 exhibition programme, including V&A and RIBA Architecture Partnership exhibitions, follows. Further details are also available at www.architecture.com/programmes

Gargoyles and Shadows: Gothic architecture and 19th-century Photography

7 January – 16 May, V&A+RIBA Gallery, V&A, admission free.

Drawing on the V&A's rich holdings of nineteenth-century photographs, this display examines the relationship that developed between photography and architectural practice in the 19th century and explores how photography facilitated the re-discovery of an idealised past. The display also addresses the role played by photography in the recording of buildings before demolition and its use as a tool for preserving the national architectural heritage.

After Redundancy: Living in and out of Architecture

3–22 February, Gallery 2, RIBA

In March 2009, with the recession at its height, it was estimated that a third of all UK architects were either out of work or under-employed. Having been made redundant from a London design studio, James Whitaker decided to pursue his passion for photography. The result is an exhibition that documents the variety of directions, from cake shop proprietor to journalist, taken by twenty-four people from the architectural profession after being made redundant during 2008-2009.

Picture This!

4 March – 1 May, Florence Hall, RIBA

The RIBA organises and runs competitions to encourage excellence in design on behalf of a wide range of clients – both public and private – which have resulted in a variety of built landmark projects and iconic structures. These range from major public projects such as London’s Wembley Stadium to the small and interesting such as The Halo, Rossendale and Blackpool Swivelling Wind Shelter. This exhibition features a selection of projects originated through the RIBA Competitions process.

Djenné: African City of Mud

3 March – 28 April, Gallery 2, RIBA

The architecture of Djenné, an island town in the heart of West Africa’s Inland Niger Delta, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and considered the best example of traditional mud building. Masons have adapted traditional knowledge, building craft and magic to a modern, changing world. This exhibition explores the fascinating relationship between design and construction practices, architectural heritage and cultural identity. A talks programme at SOAS and the Ismaili Centre accompanies the exhibition and further details are given here: http://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/RIBATrustProgramme/Talks.aspx

Supported by the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Lives of Spaces

Irish Architecture Today

9–28 April, Gallery 1, RIBA

This exhibition uses film and moving image to explore the central role of space in our society, how it frames and structures the patterns and practices of our collective life, from domestic to civic, personal to public. It involves nine collaborations and experiments that open up new ways of seeing, designing and understanding space, providing a fascinating spatial portrait of Irish architecture.

Featuring Grainne Hassett, Gerry Cahill Architects, McCullough Mulvin, O’Donnell + Tuomey, Dara McGrath, Robinson McIlwaine, De Paor Architects, TAKA, Grafton Architects, Patrick Lynch and Simon Walker. Collaborators are Seamus Heaney, Jurgen Simpson, Nicky Ward, Band Bang Teo, Peter Maybury, Ealiona ard na Geise teo, Sue Barr, David Heathcote, and Alan O’Connor.

Emerging Architecture

Until 27 February, Florence Hall, RIBA

The eleventh Architectural Review Awards for Emerging Architecture presents an inspiring range of projects from around the world, including social housing in Barcelona, a community hotel in Italy and a Tea Pavilion in Russia.

Sponsored by Ramboll and Austin Smith: Lord

The RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards

Until 28 January, Galleries 1 and 2, RIBA

Enjoy an exhibition of award-winning student work selected from submissions from over 240 invited Schools of Architecture from 50 countries.

The RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards, in association with Atkins, are supported by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), Service Point, SOM Foundation and Ibstock Brick. Media Partner: The Architects’ Journal

Building the Raj: British Architects in India

Until 28 February, RIBA British Architectural Library, 66 Portland Place, London

From the utilitarian military buildings and commercial warehouses erected by the East India Company in the 17th Century to Edwin Lutyens’s elegant urban landscape at New Delhi in the 1930’s, this display explores the work of British architects on the Indian subcontinent during the Imperialist rule. The display also assesses the influence that Indian architecture exerted back in Britain at the time and the consequences for subsequent foreign designers in India, most notably Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn.

Please note that photo ID is required for access to the Library.

Further RIBA Exhibitions & Events

 

Facing up to rising sea levels exhibition

6 – 30 January 2010, Free entrance, Building Centre Café Store Street, London, WC1

A joint initiative between RIBA Building Futures and the Institution of Civil Engineers, this project scrutinises the current practice of coastal flood management in the urban context. This exhibition forecasts three different attitudes towards flooding policy, and visualises these scenarios in the future. Some of proposals are extremes – they need to be in order to tackle the scale of the problem. Will we chose to retreat, defend or attack?

Renoma: Reflections of Wroclaw

Until 30 January, Arup Building, Phase 2, 8 Fitzroy Street, W1T

This exhibition maps the turbulent history and changing face of Wroclaw by telling the story of RENOMA. Designed in 1930 by modernist architect Hermann Dernburg for the Wertheim family as one of the largest, truly international retail stores, its original concept was shortlived. After years of neglect, it reopened in April 2009 with a carefully restored façade and a new wing designed by Mackow Architects in collaboration with Arup.

The exhibition is accompanied by a talk, Challenging the Paradigm: Polish Urban Development in the 21st Century, on Wednesday 27 January, 18.30. With Aleksandra Wasilkowska, Joanna Rajkowska and Grzegorz Piatek, chaired by Alejandro Gutierrez, Associate Director, Arup.