The Architecture Window opens in London offering space for ‘micro-exhibitions’

The Architecture Window by Unknown Works opens at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, creating space for creative exploration and fresh voices around the built environment

Architecture Window, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2024 showing pink poster
(Image credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London / Thomas Adank)

The Architecture Window has just launched at the Royal Academy of Arts, offering valuable space within the important London institution to display young talent, fresh voices and 'micro-exhibitions' around the built environment. The project, which is set in the Ronald and Rita McAulay Gallery, was designed by emerging architecture studio Unknown Works (a 2022 Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory entry) and will remain on site for three to four months, championing dialogue, accessibility and creative power. 

exhibition view of Architecture Window, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2024

(Image credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London / Thomas Adank)

The Architecture Window at the Royal Academy of Arts

The Architecture Window's design ‘takes the form of a large scale, adaptable structure, with interchangeable shelves and external shutters which can be reconfigured to display 2D works, 3D models and film, for each micro-exhibition’, its organisers explain. 

detail of displays at Architecture Window, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2024

(Image credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London / Thomas Adank)

The first of the series of free exhibitions in the space is titled 'Crunch', and focuses on work by 2023 graduates of architecture and design schools. The displays explore materials, resources and the city, examining anything from tactile, handmade crafts, to digital technologies of the future. Fraser Muggeridge studio has created the graphics for the show, including a billboard style poster on the wall which will be updated with each subsequent exhibition in the room.

people looking at exhibits at Architecture Window, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2024

(Image credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London / Thomas Adank)

Vicky Richardson, head of architecture and Drue Heinz curator at the Royal Academy of Arts, said: 'The Architecture Window is located on the RA’s internal street – a free space that connects across the RA and gives us an opportunity to show work by new voices in architecture. The structure is intentionally robust and constantly changing to reflect the nature of the city around us.'

Architecture Window, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2024. Artwork: Hyper Wood, by Teodoro Rava

Architecture Window, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2024. Artwork: Hyper Wood, by Teodoro Rava

(Image credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London / Thomas Adank)

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).