Form Matters

I visited the Design Museum yesterday and saw David Chipperfield’s exhibition, Form Matters. I can’t tell you how much I love David Chipperfield. He was the first architect that my tutor introduced me to last year and from the moment I saw his work I realised I’d seen pure perfection. I admire the way he creates internal spaces within his buildings: he creates light and bright interiors that aren’t sterile in the slightest. He creates glimpses and selects views that guide your sight. I listened to a podcast and he sums up his architectural aesthetic as “modest, with simple concepts”. His style is very elegant and restrained. His designs are stunningly beautiful, yet understated.


Some of my favourite interior views. Source: David Chipperfield

The exhibition design was stunning. I can see that David Chipperfield had real input into the way the space was set up, as the design employed many of the features that he uses in his buildings, in terms of creating views and glimpses. He uses a very simple, soft and natural material pallet in his buildings and this really came across in the exhibition. Here are a couple of photos I took (flash photography wasn't permitted, hence the poor quality).


Form Matters - Design Museum.

I love looking at architect’s sketches and David Chipperfield’s are a real joy. This is what he says about drawing:

“From the initial sketches in black pen and ink in response to a brief, the unsentimental precision of the line drawings which reduce a form to its essence to test a concept to its limits, drawings are central to the process of turning ideas into buildings.”

This makes me realise that I must draw more when designing. I tend to use sketch models as I’m more comfortable working in three dimensions when designing space, but drawings really are crucial at the beginning of a design. I find a blank piece of paper scary and feel that my drawing skills aren’t good enough, but I really must give it a go.


Sketches by David Chipperfield.

I’ve given an overview of the exhibition from an interior designer’s point of view, as I’m most excited by the internal spaces, but here are some of his buildings shown externally.


Gormley Studio (UK), River & Rowing Museum (UK), Des Moines Public Library (USA) Am Kupfergraben 10 (Berlin). Source: David Chipperfield