Creation from Catastrophe

Creation from Catastrophe is an historical survey of architectural responses to disaster. The brief called for a conceptually immersive environment within the compact RIBA gallery. Demonstrating a tension between authorial masterplans and bottom-up responses to catastrophic events, as seen in the displayed works, the gallery becomes an endless grid of potential, disrupted by deliciously textural cork-finished enclosures. The visitor is drawn from the white interior through an inclined passageway up the ramp, where they can gaze back over the exhibition from a mirrored clerestory level.