Architecture videos

Hello my name is Abraham Thomas and I am Curator of Designs here at the Victoria and Albert Museum and I' m here today to tell you a little bit about our Architecture gallery, which is the UK' s only permanent Architecture gallery and is the product of a major partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects. So the gallery is divided on three principle' s, the first is where we explore this idea of designing and creating. So we look at those very early stages of design, moments of conception where the designer is playing around with various ideas. A wonderful model here for example by Jørn Utzon for the Sydney Opera House where he' s playing around with ideas of…form and structure and he' s essentially creating the segments for the Opera House from a single hemispherical shape.

I' m going to now take you onto the second part of the gallery which is this main run of models that goes through the centre of the gallery and this is I guess the most prominent feature of the gallery when you first walk in from the grand entrance. This second section of the gallery explores the idea of function within building and how we how we use these buildings and how peoples habits and requirements can inform aspects of design. We look at exhibition spaces, here we have a model of Basil Spencer' s ' Sea and Ships' pavilion from the iconic Festival of Britain 1951.

Now we are going to move on to the third and final section of the gallery where we look at this idea of style with in architecture, and aesthetics. So what we have done is take some key periods and styles and explored them with models, drawings and architectural fragments. This is where we can draw upon our own Asian collections at the V& A, so we look at South East Asian architecture…and we look at Islamic Spain. We have some original fragments here from the Alhambra Palace in Grenada and we have got some key architectural fragments and examples of wood-work and ceramics.

We are now going to leave the main architecture gallery and move into this space which is a very important aspect of what we do here with the partnership of the RIBA and the V& A. This is our temporary exhibition space and we put on two exhibitions a year and this is an important opportunity to respond perhaps to contemporary issues. But to also bring out those objects in the collection that don' t normally get seen in the permanent architecture gallery and we can borrow objects from contemporary practices and from other institutions so it allows us to refresh what the gallery is doing and allows us to create new angles and lenses on aspects of the permanent architecture gallery. So we have a wall case where we can include original architectural drawings and large architecture models, photographs…We also have some bookcases as well, which allows us to draw upon the library collection of the V& A and the RIBA to open up those aspects of architecture and tell a wider story.

So in conclusion I hope this has given you a better idea of what we have here in the architecture gallery and has given you a little taste of how diverse and rich the collections are at both the V& A and the RIBA and I hope you will come and visit us one day soon here at the UK' s only permanent Architecture gallery.

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Trafalgar Square is London's greatest public space, where the nation gathers to celebrate, to demonstrate, to mark great events. It is a place which symbolises London.

This fly-through shows the new Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany an innovative concrete structure completed in 2005.

These are not artist's impressions but images generated from the architects computer model. Fly-throughs are used to present designs to clients and test how the building will eventually look. This fly-through was used to examine the colour scheme and how different spaces connect.

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Robert Adam was one of the most celebrated architects of his day

In 1768, he was commissioned to refurbish part of Saltram House in Devon

Adam created a suite of rooms in the Neo-classical style to update the house

He controlled all aspects of the design of the room

The ceiling was always a key feature of Adam's decorative schemes

He chose pastel shades rather than white for the background

This makes the plasterwork relief stand out

Many of Adam's ceilings incorporated paintings by fashionable artists

The ceiling roundels are by Antonio Zucchi

Adam designed the carpet to compliment the ceiling

It echoes the ceiling without quite matching it

This is a visual device often used by Adam

He frequently repeated motifs as variations on a theme

Adam collaborated on the furnishings with many other artists and designers

Most of the furniture was supplied by the firm of Thomas Chippendale

It was all designed by Adam, even this picture frame

The motifs reflect those used elsewhere in the room

The large mirrors reflected candlelight into the room

Manufacturer Matthew Boulton made the Candelabra to Adam's design

The saloon at Saltram is one of the finest surviving examples of Adam's work

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A short walk from the V& A is Hyde Park

The original site of the Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace was 563 metres long, 139 metres wide and over 30 metres high

Pre-fabricated parts meant the building went up in only 22 weeks

Work started in August 1850. First, the whole site was enclosed with hoardings

Trenches were dug

Then the concrete foundation was laid

Underground iron pipes formed the base for the columns

By the end of October workmen were raising 200 columns a week

At the same time, girders were added to support the galleries and roof

The most difficult part of the job was hoisting the main ribs for the transept roof

All 16 were fixed in one week

The height of the roof was designed to leave the trees undisturbed

The roof for the main part of the building was added

Glazing wagons ran in grooves in the gutters

In one week 80 men put in over 18,000 panes of glass

The boards from the hoardings were used to make the floor

The interior was painted red, yellow and blue

The Great Exhibition opened in the Crystal Palace on 1 May 1851

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