Today marks the opening of Unexpected Hill by SO? Architecture and Ideas. The installation is a bold urban intervention made from ceramics that invites the public to occupy it over the summer months until 20th September.
Commissioned by Turkishceramics and the Royal Academy of Arts, Unexpectd Hill is located at the threshold of the Royal Academy’s Grade II Listed Burlington Gardens.
SO? Architecture and Ideas was selected from a design competition between four up-and-coming design practices, which included OS31, bureau de change and Scott Whitby Studio.
Each design was assessed by a judging panel which consisted of Alan Stanton RA, Stanton Williams Architects; Dr Peter Oakley, Royal College of Art; Kate Goodwin, Royal Academy of Arts; and Bahadir Kayan, Chairman of Turkishceramics.
The architects were invited to submit proposals for an installation within the entrance spaces of the Royal Academy of Arts at Burlington Gardens that responded to the concept of ‘transformation’ – both of a building and a material.
The theme of transformation was inspired by the Royal Academy’s own impending physical transformation through a redevelopment with David Chipperfield Architects.
Embracing the unique opportunity to ‘intervene’ with the building before it undergoes major refurbishment, the architects were asked to physically and conceptually transform how it is perceived, questioning its formal arrangement, evoking the legacy of the building’s past or perhaps imagining a different future.
Following on from the RA’s ‘Meaning in Materials’ event series last autumn, the architects were encouraged to reconsider traditional ceramics.
