Forthcoming Exhibition to Examine 'Creation From Catastrophe'

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A new exhibition, opening later this month in London, aims to examine the varying ways that cities and communities have been re-imagined in the aftermath of natural, or man-made, disasters. Including work by Yasmeen Lari, ELEMENTAL, OMA, Shigeru Ban, NLÉ, Toyo Ito, Metabolism (Kenzo Tange and Kurokawa Kisho) and Sir Christopher Wren, who redesigned London in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1666, the exhibition will primarily explore contemporary responses to earthquakes and tsunamis. Posing questions about the fragility of architecture, our relationship to nature, and the power of architects to instigate change, it will ask whether we are facing a paradigm shift in the way that cities and communities recover from destruction.

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Starting with the five alternative plans for London produced after the Great Fire of 1666, the exhibition takes the viewer on a journey through 18^th century Lisbon, 19^th century Chicago, 20^th century Skopje, ending up in current day Nepal, Nigeria, Japan, Chile, Pakistan and USA. Key historical works from the RIBA Collection will be on display for the first time, including the five original plans for rebuilding London after the Great Fire of London, which has its 350^th anniversary in 2016. The exhibition will weave a narrative about the shift from a tabula rasa approach (blank slate) created by a sole author, to a more collaborative way of working that relies on local expertise, materials and community spirit. The latter approach inevitably results in an altered role for architectural authorship with architects acting as community facilitators, educators, builders and designers.

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A series of talks and events by architects featured in the exhibition will take place throughout spring next year, including Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan Heritage Foundation; Kunlé Adeyemi, NLE and Henk Ovink, OMA and the Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

• Title

  Creation from Catastrophe – how Architecture rebuilds Communities

• Type

  Exhibition

• Organizers

  RIBA

• From

  January 26, 2016 10:00 AM

• Until

  January 24, 2016 06:00 PM

• Venue

  Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

• Address

  Portland Pl, Marylebone, London W1B, UK