Valerio Olgiati Jul-Aug 2009

VALERIO OLGIATI

RIBA, London

10 July – 26 August

This impressive display of 1:33 models was curated by and in cooperation with the gta Institute, Department of Architecture, ETH Europe (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), and supported by Presence Switzerland and the Swiss Cultural Fund in Britain. The exhibition examined seven of Olgiati’s projects from the last decade including the seminal Yellow House (1999) and his own offices (2008), both in Flims, Switzerland and the Perm Museum XXI, Perm, Russia (2008). It explored Olgiati’s rigorous conceptual design framework through a series of plaster models at a scale of 1:33, accompanied by photographs and renderings. These highlighted the thematic issues in his work including use of materials, the importance of craftsmanship and his attitude to structure, setting these against a series of images that he described as his personal musée imaginaire, providing insights into the influences and decisive stages of his design process.

There was a very positive response to the exhibition with numerous visitors variously describing it as ‘spectacular’ and ‘the best installation’ they had seen in Gallery 1.

The SCFB was able to develop this successful pop-up project thanks to the contacts established between the partners during the Le Corbusier Season.