Hasta La Ideas

Architects Carmody Groarke and graphic designers A Practice For Everyday Life used Bauhaus-style colours and typography for the design of an exhibition about the celebrated art school at the Barbican gallery in London.

While some of the photography and artworks are arranged on boldly-coloured wall panels, others are juxtaposed at awkward angles that create unusual foreshortening.

A contemporary reinterpretation of Bauhaus letterpress typeface Breite Grotesk captions the entire exhibition.

Carmody Groarke have designed a few exhibitions for London galleries over the last couple of years. See our earlier stories about Drawing Fashion at The Design Museum and The Surreal House, which was also at the Barbican.

Photography is by Luke Hayes.

Here’s some more information from Carmody Groarke:

Carmody Groarke and APFEL – Bauhaus: art as life, Barbican

In the latest in a series of acclaimed collaborations, architectural studio Carmody Groarke and graphic design agency A Practice for Everyday Life (APFEL) have worked together on the exhibition design for Bauhaus: Art as Life, opening on 3 May 2012.

Containing over 400 works from the world’s most prestigious and extensive Bauhaus collections, the exhibition presents an in-depth exploration of the School’s 14 year history, focusing particularly upon the lives of its students and staff and the vibrant, inventive community they created.

Challenged to contextualise the works on display whilst avoiding pastiche, they have designed an architectural installation of elemental forms that both compliments and enhances the exhibition’s contents.

Barbican Art Gallery has been spacially reinterpreted to create a bespoke viewing experience for its visitors, encouraging thought-provoking juxtapositions and interpretations of the exhibition’s contents.

Graphically, the exhibition’s design has been informed by an awareness of the Bauhaus’ own principles of colour, structure and typography. Vibrantly-painted walls, bold panels and supergraphics draw together objects, themes and ideas, and the typeface used throughout the exhibition, FF Bau, is a contemporary revival of Breite Grotesk, the letterpress typeface largely used within the Bauhaus itself.

APFEL were also commissioned to design the exhibition’s catalogue and marketing materials, further reinforcing the show’s fresh and distinctive visual identity.

“It is an honour to work on an exhibition about one of the most significant and influential movements in design history,” comments Andy Groarke, director and co-founder of Carmody Groarke. “We hope that visitors will be able to enjoy the collections as much as we have in designing the show with the curators and APFEL.”

Kirsty Carter, co-founder of APFEL, said “Now is an important time to put on an exhibition about the Bauhaus. It demonstrates the power of arts education and how design enhances our lives – at a time of arts and education cutbacks, we hope the exhibition might inspire our government to re-think how to spend their money.”

Leila Hasham, assistant curator at the Barbican, said “Carmody Groarke and APFEL have proved to be first-rate problem solvers on this project and together are always able to bring multiple relevant ideas to the table. Their work has always been informed by a true appreciation of the content, rather than just purely aesthetic considerations. Working with them has been a pleasure.”

London architects Carmody Groarke arranged temporary timber pavilions around the trees in Regent’s Park for this year’s Frieze Art Fair.

The three pavilions surrounded a series of courtyards, through which the trees emerged.

Translucent plastic wrapped the exterior walls and roofs of the structures, creating windows across voids in the timber.

The pavilions housed VIP rooms in addition to public seating and dining areas for the event, whilst artworks were on show in neighbouring tents.

Carmody Groarke have designed a few pavilions that have been featured on Dezeen – see our earlier stories about a temporary rooftop restaurant and a pavilion supported by thin metal rods. See all our stories about the architects here.

Above: construction photograph by Richard Davies

Photography is by Christian Richters, apart from where otherwise stated.

Above: construction photograph by Richard Davies

Here’s some text the architects wrote before the festival:

Carmody Groarke’s design for 2011 Frieze Art Fair

Each Autumn Frieze Art Fair shows works by more than 1000 artists which are represented by contemporary galleries from all over the world.

Above: photograph by Richard Davies

The fair is hosted within a 20000m2 temporary venue built from tent structures within the beautiful context of Regents Park, London.

Above: photograph by Richard Davies

There is a focus on living artists and a curated programme of talks, artists’ commissions and film projects, many of which are interactive or performative, and encourage visitors to engage with art and artist directly over its four day lifespan.

Above: photograph by Richard Davies

Working closely with Frieze, Carmody Groarke have evolved a concept that has created more premium gallery spaces within the tents than in previous years, and a new experience for the fair by placing a series of interlinked, translucent pavilions surrounding the perimeter of the large exhibition tents.

Above: photograph by Richard Davies

These will contain all of the public hospitality and VIP functions, located away from the exhibition spaces, and will be characterised by timber-lined ‘rooms’ that are arranged around the existing trees within the park.

The project also includes a series of architectural installations within the main exhibition tents, based upon public squares and coloured, felt-lined rooms which provide spaces for resting and refreshment within the overall epic scale of the fair.

See also:

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Regent’s Place Pavilion by Carmody Groarke	NLA Sky Walk by Carmody Groarke	Studio East by Carmody Groarke

British architects Carmody Groarke have completed this granite monolith outside London’s Natural History Museum to commemorate victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

The 115-tonne stone retains the ridged marks created when it was quarried in France.

A diagonal slice undercutting one corner reveals a polished triangular face with an embossed dedication.

Carmody Groarke and project managers M3 evolved the design through dialogue with survivors and bereaved families.

Carmody Groarke also designed a memorial to victims of the 7 July London terrorist bombings, which opened in Hyde Park, London, in 2009.

More projects by Carmody Groarke on Dezeen »
More stories about memorials on Dezeen »

Photography is by Luke Hayes.

Here are some more details from the Memorial Project Board:

Memorial to victims of Indian Ocean Tsunami opens

A memorial to the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami opens today in the grounds of the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum in London in a ceremony attended by His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cornwall.

The Memorial is the culmination of years of work by Tsunami Support UK (TSUK) and was made possible thanks to a £550,000 grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

A single granite monolith, the design reflects the views and feelings of UK survivors and bereaved families. It is the product of months of dialogue between them and the design team of Carmody Groarke and M3 Consulting.

Michael Holland, Chairman of the Memorial Project Board, said: “The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was one of the worst natural disasters in living memory, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives. The impact of the devastation was felt across the world. This huge, singular geographical fragment will create a powerful reminder for generations to come of this momentous event within the Earth’s natural history. Its purpose is to stop people forgetting. Within this new public space, the Memorial also offers a place for more quiet contemplation.

“We are immensely grateful to the DCMS for funding the memorial and to the Natural History Museum for making space available in its grounds – we can think of no better place to remember the lives of the UK family members and the over 225,000 others who perished in the Tsunami.”

Kevin Carmody and Andy Groarke of Carmody Groarke said: “It has been a huge privilege to work with the survivors and bereaved families to design a permanent memorial in such a significant public space. Our collective intention is to make a fitting, engaging and unique Memorial – a place for contemplation and remembering for generations to come. Our goal was also to give the Memorial stone a strong architectural relationship between the bold buildings and landscape of the Natural History Museum.”

Dr Michael Dixon, Director of the Natural History Museum, said: “It is fitting that the Natural History Museum is home to this impressive new Memorial. An important part of our mission is to make sense of the natural world and I hope this Memorial will not only bring comfort to those who lost loved ones in the Tsunami but also be a reminder to us all of the powerful and sometimes destructive force of nature.”

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7 July Memorial by Carmody Groarke	Memorial Blocks Berlin by Daniel Clements	Island of Memory by Britton Chambers