Carl Turner Architects Selected For International Exchange Programme In Lisbon
22 February 2011
London-based Carl Turner Architects have been selected to create an installation for MUDE (Museu do Design e da Moda) - the Design and Fashion Museum of Lisbon.
Three UK architects, Carl Turner Architects, KrausSchönberg and MA Projects, were invited by the UK’s leading cultural relations organisation The British Council in collaboration with The Architecture Foundation, Ordem Dos Arquitectos (OdA) and MUDE, to submit proposals as part of ‘New Architects: Portugal_UK’ international exchange programme.
“It was tough to decide between three very strong proposals,” explains Vicky Richardson, Director Architecture, Design & Fashion, British Council. “We were however particularly impressed by Carl Turner Architects’ work and research on the idea of ‘home’. The result will be a set of modules that create a series of informal and engaging spaces for the visitor to explore.”
Carl Turner Architects’ proposal entitled “Home from Home”, recreates a stereotypical British home by producing an installation that will encourage visitors to engage with the everyday rituals of domestic life. Here, the activities within a house - reading, sleeping, eating, watching TV and playing - will be organised so that the inhabitants are presented with an opportunity to experience the ‘British’ house.
The proposal encourages learning and play within the MUDE museum setting: adults can use the pieces of furniture, children can explore and experiment, as well as becoming a vehicle for displaying information on British housing (publications, sound and film). Traditional British components – a teacup, hot water bottle, umbrella – will be displayed and will encourage visitors to examine the small, subtle differences between ordinary objects in Britain and Portugal to question what makes a home a home.
The New Architects: Portugal-UK exchange - the latest in an ongoing series of international programmes for young architects initiated by the Architecture Foundation - has allowed the participating UK and Portuguese practices in 2010 to take part in reciprocal visits, intensive workshops, public presentations, networking and research events. The exchange focused upon the home in response to the 2010 Lisbon Architecture Triennale theme ‘Let’s talk about houses’ and wider issues in housing emerging in both the UK and Portugal.
Media contacts
Mike Findlay
Senior Press Officer
British Council
Telephone +44 (0) 207 389 4981
E-mail mike.findlay@britishcouncil.org
Dan Coopey
Press & Marketing Officer
The Architecture Foundation
Telephone +44 (0)20 7084 6767
E-mail dan@architecturefoundation.org.uk
Notes to Editors
Full background information for the New Architects: Portugal_UK exchange
http://www.architecturefoundation.org.uk
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We work in over 100 countries worldwide to build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people. We work in the arts, education, English, science, sport and governance and last year we engaged face to face with 18.4 million people and reached 652 million. We are a non-political organisation which operates at arm’s length from government. Our total turnover in 2009/10 was £705 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the British government was £211 million. For every £1 of government grant we receive, we earn £2.50 from other sources. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org
The Architecture Foundation
Founded in London in 1991, The Architecture Foundation is a non-profit agency for contemporary architecture, urbanism and culture. We cultivate new talent and new ideas. Through our diverse programmes we facilitate international and interdisciplinary exchange, stimulate critical engagement amongst professionals, policy makers and a broad public, and shape the quality of the built environment. We are independent, agile, inclusive and influential. Central to our activities is the belief that architecture enriches lives.
Since 2008, the Architecture Foundation has been curating an ongoing series of New Architects international exchanges, in partnership with organisations like the British Council. The countries covered have included the USA, Italy, Poland, Turkey and Norway, with more under development. www.architecturefoundation.org.uk
MUDE
MUDE looks at the concept of design in its various expressions in the 20th century, considering its progress within a historical context, and keeps pace with the contemporary world, showing design’s new trends and directions in the 21st century.
It aims to be a venue for debate on experimental creation and industrial production, discussion on the relationship between design, art and handicrafts, and reflection on today’s urban, socio-economic, environmental and technological challenges.
The museum promotes awareness of social responsibility in design and the importance of a project culture in contemporary society through diverse spaces. It promotes Lisbon as a major cultural capital for its sustainable development.
The museum also has an important educational mission, which is carried out through research, rotation of the collection, sound editorial policy and a consistent programme with conferences, courses, workshops, labs, international gatherings, guided tours and educational publications. http://www.mude.pt/
Ordem dos Arquitectos is the regulating body for architecture and architects in Portugal. It seeks to represent, support and promote all those involved in the architectural profession whilst ensuring the quality and sustainability of the built environment in Portugal.
Carl Turner Architects is a multidisciplinary Architecture and Design Studio working in scales of furniture, housing and the city. Landscape is a constant theme in the practice’s work; how an interior can be like an exterior, and vice versa.
Expanding on the principals’ Royal College of Art training, they have taken the ‘making’ ethos of the RCA and transferred it into their architecture, by finding a unique way of working very closely with an extended network of other skilled craftsmen, including artists, builders, furniture makers, engineers and many others. Through love and necessity they usually build their projects to create high quality, careful architecture with character. There is a consensus in their studio that housing is the most important architectural typology. Most of their work has been residential and they have used these projects to explore several underlying themes. The practice are interested in emotional and intimate space, what houses should look like, boundaries between living and working in an increasingly frenetic world; how houses are arranged into urban blocks and how new houses are funded by the individual or small groups of people.
Teaching is an important part of developing their work and research. Carl Turner & Zoe Fudge currently teach at Greenwich School of Architecture at Degree and Diploma Levels and Bryn Griffiths has taught at the Royal College of Art and Westminster University.
The practice was included in the Architecture Foundation’s Next Generation shortlist 2008.
The studio is based in East London. www.ct-architects.co.uk
