V&A Friday Late

The Architectural Models Network organised an evening of models and games hosted by the V&A as part of its monthly Friday Late programme. This time the theme was ‘Copy/Paste’.

In collaboration with the V&A/RCA History of Design Programme, we thought about copying and inspiration in architecture.

What was historically -and is today- the role played by past, iconic architecture in the creative process? How do artefacts such as models come into the picture?

Students Lorenzo Gabini, Margherita Manca, Qianyao Wang and Roxanne Ravenhill, together with Simona Valeriani, created and especially produced a memory game that sparks inspiration, investigation and amusement.

From a medieval ruin to an image that has captured the imagination of generations

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In this memory card game, skills were tested by matching together feats of architecture with the models -built, drawn or imagined- that inspired them. Amongst examples spanning periods, geographies, materials and styles, visitors were challenged to find all the works that can be traced back to Palladio’s symmetry or Le Corbusier’s modernism before their competitors.

What is the link between Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle and a medieval ruin in Pierrefonds (France)? How many steps, from copy, to inspiration to re-invention lay in-between?

And how can we trace influences across time and space through a model of the Erechtheion in Athens bought by Sir John Soane in 1834 from the architect Edward Cresy?

From classical architecture on the Acropolis to models circulating all over the world, to motives incorporated in real buildings

Location of event:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

Date of event:

29 March 2019

Links:

Friday late: Copy/Paste

Event Programme: