Presented in an “interwoven tangle”, Japanese architect Akihisa Hirata has revealed his view of architecture and ecology, along with form and function, in his first ever international solo exhibition at the The Architecture Foundation in London. Now on view, the immersive 1:1 scale installation – “a contorted loop” – display’s over a hundred study models and conceptual sketches, an interview with the architect, and intimate films of based on his projects.
The exhibition opened shortly after Hirata’s receipt of the Golden Lion award at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale for his contribution, with Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto and Naoya Hatakeyama, to the Japanese Pavilion, curated by Toyo Ito.
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Curator Naomi Shibata and The Architecture Foundation describe, “Interested in creating simple, elegant and essential geometric solutions that emulate and abstract nature’s millions of years of experience – pitched roofs that mimic mountain ranges, housing clusters that echo trees – Hirata rigorously explores future possibilities for architecture and structure; to make more complex our understanding of the relationship between the natural and the artificial, and to increase architecture’s capacity to aid living and freedom, beyond Modernism and the 20th Century’s dated fixation with iconic shapes and open-plan spaces.”
“At a point in which architecture and society more broadly is seriously questioning its future, purpose and relationship to the natural world, the exhibition will offer an in-depth exploration of Hirata’s ideas, demonstrating his innovative formal approach and distinctive interpretation of the relationship between architecture and environment.”
Akihisa Hirata: Tangling will be on view at The Architecture Foundation until November 17th, 2012.
Check out an exclusive ArchDaily interview with Hirata at the Venice Biennale, along with some of his projects, here on ArchDaily.
