The best of Welsh architecture comes to the Senedd
Wales’s most innovative and modern architectural design work will be on display at the Senedd, National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay from October 26th to November 2nd 2008.
The ‘Reflecting Wales’ exhibition will showcase the range and quality of architectural design, either built or conceptual, by designers in Wales and from Welsh design practices working outside Wales. Twenty five works will be on show in the Senedd building. They will all explore and critically challenge the built environment and have been chosen by a panel of judges following an open invitation. The works on display will include proposed projects in Brecon, Newport, Mumbles, Tonypandy, Copenhagen, Germany and Brighton. An art installation will examine the design process within architecture and a photographic survey will look at beauty in the Welsh urban environment. There will also be a filmed cycle journey, observations of a daily walk through the urban environment in Cardiff and a proposal for an interactive balloon event. Also on show will be some of the design ideas for regenerating Roath Basin near the Assembly building.
The ‘Reflecting Wales’ exhibition is being staged by Design Circle, sponsored by Stradform Ltd and forms a key event in the Cardiff Design Festival.
Launching the event, National Assembly Presiding Officer, Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM, said:
“I am delighted that the Senedd will host this exhibition which highlights the importance of good design and quality architecture in Wales. The exhibition offers a diverse snapshot of critical thinking in the architectural world about the built environment and celebrates innovative design and the intersecting ideas between architecture, art, design and education in Wales.”
The exhibition will open to the public for free viewing in the Senedd on Sunday 26th October, and will run until November 2nd, with a web-based retrospective to follow on Design Circle’s website, http://www.designcirclersawsouth.co.uk.
Notes to editors:
This event is the initiative of Design Circle, and Design Council For Wales as part of Cardiff Design Festival 2008. It is sponsored by Stradform Ltd, a construction company based in Cardiff with regional offices in Swansea and Bristol.
Design Circle is the South Wales branch of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales. For more details: www.designcirclersawsouth.co.uk or Pierre Wassenaar, Secretary on pierre@designcirclersawsouth.co.uk or 07771580647.
Exhibition Jury consisted of :
Professor Richard Weston - Welsh School of Architecture
Patrick Hannay - Course director of Interior Architecture in UWIC, editor of Touchstone
Philip O’Reilly - Senior lecturer in UWIC Fine Arts Department
Cany Ash - Principal in award winning AshSakula Architects
Gordon Murray - Principal in award winning Gordon Murray + Alan Dunlop architects, former president of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
Chris Loyn - Loyn & Co. Architects. Well known for BBC Wales “Hot Houses” programme