V&A Dundee - Ocean Liners: Speed & Style & the Scottish Design Galleries

V&A Dundee - Designed by Kengo Kuma

As a long time fan of Dundee and a regular visitor, I have been impatiently waiting for the new V&A to be finished. It opened in September this year and finally I have managed to visit.  Designed by Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma, it stands on the edge of the River Tay next to RRS Discovery (which launched in 1901 and took Scott and Shackleton to the Antarctic and is also worth a visit).

RRS Discovery & V&A Dundee

V&A Dundee

Inside V&A Dundee

View over the River Tay

Until 24 February 2019, the Ocean Liners: Speed & Style Exhibition is showing.  This explores the design of ocean liners from their architecture, engineering, & promotion to their interiors and life on board.  Here are a few pics to tempt you...

Six panels representing the Normandie - Gaston Suisse

Items from the France

Plating Model for the Queen Elizabeth - John Brown & Co Clydebank

Sign for the Cunard Tourist Office - Kay of Austria

Deck Chair from the Titanic

Evening Wear

And of course if you had all that evening wear you would certainly be needing one of these...

Desk Trunk - Louis Vuitton

Neptune Chair used on the Orsova

Design for Musicians Uniforms on the Canberra - Hugh Casson

Furnishing Fabric for the Orcades - Marion Dorn & Edward Bawden

Le Vieux Port - Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson

It's a fascinating exhibition and very varied so there's bound to be something to interest you.  

Also on show are the Scottish Design Galleries with around 300 pieces exploring the landscape of Scottish design from past to present...

Model Ship

Banner for the British Association for the Advancement of Science - Jessie Newbery and Ann Macbeth, Glasgow School of Art

Bash Street Kids Artwork - The Beano

Cycling Skinsuit - Endura

Orkney Chair - David Kirkness

and of course The Oak Room from Miss Cranston's Tea Rooms in Glasgow designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh...

The Oak Room - Charles Rennie Mackintosh

If you've never been to Dundee, now's a good time to go!

Sensing Spaces - Architecture Reimagined at the Royal Academy

Alvaro Siza in the RA Courtyard

I was lucky enough to get along to the Sensing Spaces exhibition at the RA before it closed.  I wasn't quite sure whether I was going to like it but actually it was hugely enjoyable!  This seemed to me to be about experiencing architecture in a very direct way through the use of light, sound, smell, touch, structure, movement and participation.  Seven architects from around the world were involved.  

Alvaro Siza (Portugal) was represented in the entrance courtyard with columns reflecting the columns on the building.  



Inside Eduardo Souto de Moura (Portugal) had made casts of two of the archways between the galleries drawing your attention to the differences between them which otherwise might have gone unnoticed. 
 

Eduardo Souto de Moura's Cast Arch

Eduardo Souto de Moura's Other Cast Arch

Grafton Architects (Ireland) played with light and the contrast between light and dark. 
 

Grafton Architects from Light

 

to Dark

Kengo Kuma (Japan) used light and smell in his installation - not so effective for me as I don't have a very good sense of smell.  
 

Kengo Kuma - Light & Smell

Construction detail

Diebedo Francis Kere (Burkina Faso & Germany) brought colour to the proceedings and an active chance to participate and colour the surroundings while moving through his tunnel.  His was the most crowded part of the exhibition when I was there and the exhibit where people spent the most time as they made their contribution to the piece.  

Diebedo Francis Kere - Outside of Tunnel

Tunnel View

Add your own colour and detail

Pezo von Ellrichshausen (Chile) had constructed an interesting tower accessed via winding staircases or a ramp and from which you could peer out from spyholes at different heights.  This looked the most monumental in structure.  An unexpected benefit was that you could also see the RA's decorative features up close.
 

Pezo von Ellrichshausen - Tower

Winding staircases emerge at the top of the tower

Tower gives close up views of RA decoration

Finally my favourite was Li Xiaodong (China) who brought a sense of the outside in (wooden walls), added sound (crunching pebbles), space (mirrored wall), light (walkways lit from below) and surprising spaces and lots of texture. 

Li Xiaodong - Wooden passages lit from below

Hidden spaces

Mirrored room - adding space with a mirrored wall + sound with pebbles underfoot

 It was a great exhibition!