6a architects has designed a major retrospective of the World of Charles and Ray Eames at the Barbican Art Gallery, curated by Catherine Ince.
Four decades of work from the Eames’ studio spanning architecture, photography, furniture, illustration and pioneering multi-screen films are presented alongside collections of artefacts and toys that populated their extraordinary house and studio built in the hills of Los Angeles.
Echoing their use of standard element building products, the exhibition is organised in a sequence of rooms built using drywall, today’s most ubiquitous standardised construction system. Normally hidden behind layers of plasterboard in offices, schools and hospitals, the exhibition uses slender steel studs left exposed, framing artworks, views across galleries and the furniture within them. Inexpensive, easy to cut and quick to assemble, the drywall stud is the natural descendent of American building products. Following the Eamesian tradition, these everyday commercial materials are turned to create a playful and open spatial narrative through one of the most significant contributions to twentieth century and contemporary design.
