1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces

Why is it that humans have this intrinsic need to seek out small, bespoke spaces? This is just one of the questions that 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces, which sees contemporary architects installing designs in and around the Victoria & Albert Museum, seeks to explore.

The seven architects in the exhibition are international in scope and varied in their approach; each have been commissioned to build structures which take as their starting point the theme of ‘retreat’, with the spaces representing an escape from the chaos of urban life to an area for peace, contemplation, shelter or creativity. Though not necessarily site-specific, the location for each structure has been carefully selected to reflect the nature of the building.

Thus In-between Architecture by Studio Mumbai, which is inspired by the dwellings found in the small spaces between buildings near the practice, will be set up in the cluttered and crowded Cast Gallery, which is dominated by tall structures such as the two halves of Trajan’s column. Beetle’s House by Terunobu Fujimori, who takes his lead from ‘architecture before civilisation’ is a treehouse retreat which, perching in the New Medieval and Renaissance Gallery, will be in direct dialogue with the V&A's Paul Pindar House and the Morlaix Staircase. Sou Fujiumoto’s Outside/Inside Tree, a tree void set inside a transparent cube, will be installed on the Architecture Gallery Landing, which offers a simple space with a lot of natural light.

By building each design full scale the exhibition also aims to move away from explaining architecture through drawings and models and instead give the visitor the chance to experience 1:1 scale architecture.