Herzog & de Meuron
How do you distill an 11-year project like the Tate Modern extension into a single shelf display? Well, some projects get two shelves. But more specifically, how do you make the discipline of architecture, often a long and circuitous process, interesting or relevant to anyone outside of the industry? Especially when faced with the very real fact that “architecture itself cannot be exhibited”. That’s the challenge the Royal Academy and Herzog & deMeuron have attempted to address.
The opening room shines a light on the architectural stages via scale models and exploratory artefacts from many of their most well known structures. You won’t see the end-to-end process for any one work, but you’ll certainly get a sense of what that entails. It’s all housed in a set of bespoke wooden vitrines, developed by H&dM and identical to the ones the firm use in their offices. But since these objects are displayed behind glass and may look a bit too esoteric for the layperson, there are frequently video displays that show work-in-progress walk-throughs, or how some of the customised parts are machined. I found these to be especially helpful for the buildings I hadn’t seen in person or was completely unfamiliar with.
Aside from the few videos nothing is labelled or explained, so be on the lookout for the yellow-sided rectangles that indicate an AR experience is available via a custom app (free to download). The results are mixed, but most impressive and effective when they do some simple things. Like virtually transform the scale models into their finished forms. Or enable a life-sized walk-through of a small ward in a hospital that’s currently being developed. That latter experience takes up most of the last room of the exhibit and would have been better as a headset VR experience, since a crowded attendance frequently disrupts the AR on your phone.
To varying degrees of success, these presentations attempt to confront the one issue that even architects can’t overcome: it’s impossible to truly understand how you’ll feel and react to a space until you’re actually inside it. For buildings you haven’t yet been inside, it’s helpful to turn to others for their insights. So that’s what they did.
The middle room offers up a 37 minute documentary about patients in the REHAB centre in Basel, Switzerland. Their backstories are as you’d expect: automobile and sporting accidents, strokes and other unexpected medical conditions. The focus is clearly on each individual’s story, showing unique therapeutic processes like playing with dogs and underwater physio, but it’s hard not to recognise the effect that the very considered architectural design of the facility has on their recovery. It’s not just about having enough space, but having the right space. Carefully thought out, with an atmosphere that facilitates and enables the positive emotions necessary to undergo the often daunting challenges that rehab requires.
It’s not often I’ll sit for more than a few minutes at a gallery video display, but I was engaged by the heartwarming stories of recovery and the surprising message that “Among all the therapists here the most unexpected one is the building itself.” Those artefacts in the vitrines and the AR walk-throughs may be fascinating presentations, but displayed behind glass they both lack the soul that you can only feel inside a fully realised building, or learn about from someone who has.
If you’re an architect or an architecture fan, this is certainly an exhibit not to miss. For everyone else, it’s debatable whether the £15 ticket would be better spent taking a friend for coffee and cake and spending that time paying careful attention to the architecture of wherever you end up.
Plan your visit
‘Herzog & de Meuron’ runs until 15 October.
Tickets from £15
Visit royalacademy.org.uk and follow @royalacademyarts on Instagram for more info about the venue.
Visit herzogdemeuron.com and follow @herzogdemeuron on Instagram for more info about the artist.
🖼️ Want more art? Visit the What’s On page to see a list of recommended shows, sorted by closing date. Don’t miss ‘em!