If you've been counting down the days towards the much-anticipated, official opening of the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale at the end of May, a new show at the Roca London Gallery is here to offer a teaser that might help with the wait.
The new show, opening today at the West London gallery, focuses on the work of inspiring Indian architect Anupama Kundoo, and acts as a companion piece to her scheduled installation at the Venetian Arsenal.
Now based in Madrid, Kundoo is known for her work in sustainable and affordable production, working with case studies in her home country, but also abroad. Aiming to provide real solutions to India's housing problem, the architect develops her experimental designs by collaborating with a range of makers, from the most technologically advanced engineers, to Indian craftspeople working with traditional methods.
Collaborating with local communities in a range of settings, from countryside locations to dense urban centres, the architect researches and designs affordable housing and sanitation solutions. Samples of her 'Full Fill Home' prototype, 'Light Matters Housing' and 'Easy WC' schemes will be on display at Roca during the exhibition, accompanied by photographs and films, showing their construction in progress.
Kundoo's designs, which have been praised by Venice Biennale director Alejandro Aravena, can be made swiftly and easily, using skills that are readily available in the respective communities and that local craftspeople can pass on to each other. At the same time, they cover all the necessary structural and sanitary requirements needed to improve the living conditions of hundreds of people.
A panel debate discussing the role of architects in disaster reconstruction situations will follow the official opening tonight, offering further food for thought to this stimulating exhibit.
Kundoo explores issues of sustainability and affordability. Her 'Full Fill House' prototype showcases ways of creating housing by working with local communities
Kundoo collaborates with local craftspeople to devise projects requiring skills that can be easily shared among peers
The 'Easy WC' scheme is the result of research into issues surrounding sanitation
INFORMATION
’Anupama Kundoo: High-speed housing’ is on view until 18 June. For more information, visit Roca London Gallery’s website
For more information on Anupama Kundoo, visit the architect’s website
ADDRESS
Roca London Gallery
Station Court
Townmead Road
London, SW6 2PY
-
London bar Bauhaus Warehaus is a factory by day, drinking den by nightMixologist of the moment Remy Savage shakes up the world of cocktail-making with a hardworking sibling to A Bar with Shapes for a Name, his Bauhaus-inspired bar enterprise in east London
-
Copper piping turns contemporary lighting: the twist in JamesPlumb’s designs at Gallery FumiDesign studio JamesPlumb presents sculptural copper chandeliers and floor lights in its solo exhibition 'Rooted' at Gallery Fumi (until 25 January 2025)
-
Circling back: Lars Tunbjörk's uncanny office photography is revisited in a new bookFirst published in 2001 and long since sold out, 'Office' is revisited this month by the publisher Loose Joints, released with a second volume shot in Los Angeles, the previously unpublished LA Office
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
-
Remembering Christopher Charles Benninger (1942-2024)Architect Christopher Charles Benninger has died in Pune, India, at the age of 82; we honour and reflect on his passing
-
A new exhibition marks Chandigarh’s modernist legacy‘Celebrating the Capitol’, an exhibition of photographic work by architect Noor Dasmesh Singh, opens just in time for the famed modernist Indian city’s anniversary
-
Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: meet the practicesIn the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2024, our latest guide to exciting, emerging practices from around the world, 20 young studios show off their projects and passion
-
Playball Studio's architecture balances the organic and the technicalPlayball Studio, a young Indo-Spanish design practice, features in the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024
-
Peek behind the foliage at The Plumeria, a south Indian home by the waterThe Plumeria by Silpi Architects is an India home in Kerala, the country's south, blending geometric forms and the region's tropical foliage and waters
-
Step inside Le Harlequin, an imaginative redesign of a Mumbai apartmentLe Harlequin by Design Hex is an imaginative redesign of a Mumbai apartment in the bustling Indian city's Lower Parel neighbourhood
-
Building with bamboo: In Bali, designer, Elora Hardy, shares her tips and experienceBamboo architecture can be powerful and sustainable; here, we talk to Ibuku's Elora Hardy, who shares her tips, thoughts and experience in working with the material in Bali
