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Future City

Experiment and Utopia in Architecture 1956-2006

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Future City at the Barbican

What would it be like to live in a hairy house, a floating city, or an inflatable pod? Pure fantasy or the shape of things to come?

From extraordinary houses and incredible towers, to fantasy cityscapes and inhabitable sculptures, Future City showcased the most radical and experimental architecture to have emerged in the past 50 years. 

Featuring a who's who of architecture, the exhibition included 70 visionary projects by influential and groundbreaking architects who have challenged convention to radically shape and influence the way we live. 

From the visionary artist-turned-architect Constant Nieuwenhuys, to 1960's giants Archigram and SuperStudio, to deconstructivists Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid and contemporary digitally inspired work by Nox and Decoi, this was the most comprehensive survey of experimental architecture to be held in the UK. 

Tagged with: Art Gallery Archive

Exhibition design by award-winning London-based architects Foreign Office Architects. 

Future City was a collaboration between Barbican Art Gallery, Fonds Regional d'Art Contemporain du Centre (FRAC), Orléans, and Conseil Régional du Centre et le Ministère de la Culture et de la Comunication, France. 

In partnership with global law firm: Clifford Chance      

Media Partner: Building Design (bd), Paris Calling, Societe Generale

Architects

Will Alsop, Architecture Principe, Archizoom Associati, Asymptote, Shigeru Ban, André Bloc, Chanéac, Nigel Coates, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Peter Cook (Archigram), Coop Himmelb(l)au, Guy Ernest Debord, dECOi, Neil Denari, Diller & Scofidio, Peter Eisenman, David Georges Emmerich, EZCT, Architecture & Design Research, Didier Fiuza Faustino, Foreign Office Architects, Yona Friedman, Future Systems, Vittorio Giorgini, David Greene (Archigram), Zaha Hadid, Pascal Häusermann, Haus-Rucker-Co, Hans Hollein, Eilfried Huth & Günther Domenig, Arata Isozaki, Jakob & MacFarlane, Jones Partners: Architecture, Kiyonori Kikutake, KOL / MAC Studio, Rem Koolhaas, Kisho Kurokawa, Daniel Libeskind, C.J. Lim + Studio 8 Architects, Antti Lovag, Gordon Matta-Clark, Morphosis, Eric Owen Moss, MVRDV, NATO, NOX, Objectile, OCEAN UK, OMA, Claude Parent, Périphériques, Gianni Pettena, Walter Pichler, Ricardo Porro, Arthur Quarmby, R & Sie…, Dagmar Richter Studio, Michele Saee, Ionel Schein, Alison and Peter Smithson, Graham Stevens, Superstudio, Pierre Székely, Kenzo Tange, Bernard Tschumi, UN Studio, Eisaku Ushida & Kathryn Findlay, Makoto Sei Watanabe, James Wines & SITE, Lebbeus Woods

Reviews

‘At last an architectural exhibition that is enjoyable and informative‘
Time Out