Newington Green Now & Then Blog

As a group we decided to visit two places to get the feel of architectural models and the variety of concepts architects base their work on.
Our first visit was to RIBA, where we went to an exhibition based on Anish Kapoor’s work. This was my first time visiting the RIBA and I must say I really liked the interior of the building. When I first arrived at the exhibition I didn’t really know what to expect because I had never heard about Anish Kapoor so this was a whole new experience for me. There were approximately 37 models, of which were concept and sketch models. Some the models were more interesting than others and some were much more simpler than others. After looking at Anish Kapoor’s work, I noticed that not the models could be transformed into realism, they were purely based on imagination.
What I loved about Anish’s work was that it was highly unusual; I have never actually seen models, which are so interesting at his. Some of his models made me quite curious, I actually spent time analyzing them and tried figuring out what Anish’s motive could be behind designing what he had designed. I think this was a really good exhibition to visit because it illustrates the relationship between architecture and art & design. After visiting the exhibition, I learnt a number of things. I learnt that there are two types of models (concept and sketch), what kind of materials used, methods of fixing the models and the scales used for the construction of the models.
I would recommend this exhibition to everyone especially students studying architecture or thinking of studying architecture in the near future because this exhibition will show them that all architect’s work starts off a model (it’s the initial stage).

Our second trip was to New London Architecture (NLA), which is a display centre and is open to everyone. I really enjoyed going to NLA because it has models, which we could relate to because they had displayed models of London and Croydon where I’m from.
I loved the model of London, it was fascinating to see London on such a small scale, and the model shows a better picture of the whole of London. Also it shows the orientation of the River Thames and all the world famous buildings of London.
There was also a model of Croydon in 2020; I really enjoyed analyzing the model because I know the place so well as I have been living there for a very long time.
NLA also had loads of other future projects within and around London, I was glad to see that some the new projects would give the skyline of London a new meaning.
I really enjoyed my time at NLA and would love to go back in the future and I would recommend it to everyone, it would be a change to see where you live on a smaller scale.