Junya Ishigami: Architecture as Air

28 June - 16 October '11

The Curve, Barbican Centre
London

For his first installation in the UK, acclaimed Japanese architect Junya Ishigami presents 'Architecture as Air', a new site specific structure designed in response to The Curve Gallery's unique shape.

This piece is a development of his earlier iteration 'Architecture as Air: Study for Château la Coste', which won Golden Lion for best project at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2010.

'Architecture as Air' is comprised of a single curved line of large columns running the entire length of the gallery, apparently floating; the delicate structural components are only revealed on very close inspection. Ishigami describes it as a piece which is ’melting endlessly into space’.

Junya Ishigami's practice spans architecture, design and art. His work continually plays with scale, materials and perception and is characterised by its delicacy, lightness and meticulous architectural and engineering research.

Previous pieces include:
Table, 2005; appearing to hover in air, this piece was made of 9.5 x 2.6 metre pre-stressed steel, but at only 3 mm thick undulated at the lightest touch.

Balloon, 2007; a rectangular, aluminium volume four-storeys high which floated within the atrium of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, despite weighing 1 ton.

For the Japanese Pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennale of Architecture, Ishigami created an environment which blurred the edges between nature and architecture. Interior walls were covered with intricate drawings of gardens, urban landscapes and new architectural typologies, while on the outside a series of large glass greenhouses were erected in a new external garden (as shown in the image above).

In conjunction with 'Architecture as Air', the Barbican will present 'Junya Ishigami in Conversation' on June 28 '11, a chance to see Ishigami discuss his practice and the inspiration for this latest installation.

Junya Ishigami: Architecture as Air

Junya Ishigami in Conversation

Ishigami's team working on the installation of 'Architecture as Air: Study for Château la Coste', Venice 2010

Junya Ishigami: Picnic Chair

Junya Ishigami: Balloon, 2007

Junya Ishigami: Table, 2005

Junya Ishigami: Exterior of Japanese Pavilion, Venice Biennale of Architecture, 2008