Opening today at the Zaha Hadid–designed Roca Gallery in South London—a space operated by the upscale bath-fitting company Roca, which collaborates on designs with the likes of Rafael Moneo and David Chipperfield—is “Urbanistas: Women Innovators in Architecture, Urban and Landscape Design,” an exhibition that celebrates the achievements of some of the most forward-thinking female architects working in the UK.
Curated by author and critic Lucy Bullivant, who is also the founder of Urbanistarg, a webzine about contemporary urban design, the show brings together the work of Irena Bauman (cofounder of Bauman Lyons Architects, Leeds), Alison Brooks (founder of Alison Brooks Architects, London), Alessandra Cianchetta (cofounder of AWP, Paris), Johanna Gibbons (cofounder of J&L Gibbons, London), and Liza Fior and Katherine Clarke (cofounders of Muf Architecture, London).
From Brooks’s compact live/work housing in Harlow, a rapidly expanding suburb some 45 minutes outside of London, to Muf Architecture’s integrated regenerative strategies that help develop community spaces in neighborhoods throughout the city, the show will feature a selection of both completed and unfinished projects, with renderings and detailed descriptions of the thinking behind the diverse designs.
“This is a particularly exciting time to be looking closely at urban and suburban design and those marshaling groundbreaking projects in the field, as the pressure to generate long-term sustainable and socially responsible solutions increases,” says Bullivant. “Although there has been a lot of discussion recently about the value and viability of garden cities, a concept dating from the end of the 19th century, ‘Urbanistas’ shows that reevaluating existing neighborhoods is more important to today’s urban design and livability agenda and, of course, far more sustainable in terms of future-proofing spaces to help support people’s lives in the 21st century.”
Through June 27 at the Roca Gallery, Station Court, Townmead Road, London; rocalondongallerom
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