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Opening on Saturday, an exhibition of drawings at the AA presents the beguiling, space-age visions of the Stirling prize-winning Czech architect An exhibition at the Architectural Association will present sketches, drawings and photomontages by Jan Kaplický, celebrating 20 years of work by the Stirling prize-winning architect. Opening on Saturday, the exhibition shows beguiling visions of speculative and actual projects. The Czech architect, who founded Future Systems with David Nixon in 1979, worked on his drawings during evenings and weekends, developing and honing his graphic language until he perfected the technique of the cutaway isometric, which became his trademark. In a book of his drawings, which will be released to accompany the exhibition, his colleague and friend Richard Rogers wrote: “Jan was not just a visionary architect, he was a draughtsman of genius. His spirited drawings were at the same time intricate and incredibly economical, able to communicate his space-age visions with just a few strokes of the pen.” Kaplický’s clients included NASA, for whom Future Systems produced design studies for the International Space Station. Ten years later, a partnership with Amanda Levete prompted Future Systems to build. The Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground, winner of the 1999 Stirling prize, was the last project Kaplický drew by hand. From then on, formal drawings were done with computers by others. Jan Kaplický Drawings runs at the Architectural Association from 28 February to 27 March 2015. A book by the same name will be released by Circa Press on 1 March |
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