RIBA explores architectural adventures in mass media
A colourful carpet and virtual reality come together at the RIBA's latest show in London, entitled ‘Freestyle: Architectural Adventures in Mass Media' and created by design studio Space Popular, who explore the topic of architectural style

A carpet of colourful graphics and virtual reality headsets are part of a playful attempt to shed light on changing architectural styles. They are some of the artefacts of the Royal Institute of British Architects’ latest exhibition, ‘Freestyle: Architectural Adventures in Mass Media'.
Created by design studio Space Popular, the show examines 500 years of architecture. The duo have mixed and matched elements from RIBA’s collections, such as old books and drawings, with their own specially-made exhibits. These include the carpet, which doubles as a timeline, and an architectural model.
Big, dark grey and standing in the centre of the space, the model is a collection of slightly abstracted UK buildings. The exhibition’s hypothesis is that mass media and changes in architectural style are inextricably linked, according to RIBA exhibitions curator Shumi Bose.
This is a topic close to Space Popular’s heart. All five of the exhibitions they have designed ‘have explored links between media and architecture,' says cofounder Lara Lesmes.
The wall exhibits depicting buildings by practitioners including Owen Jones, Augustus Pugin and John Nash are accompanied by objective text. Meanwhile, the VR headsets act as an ‘explanatory and friendly guide, a more personal narrator,' says Bose. Because Freestyle is making a conscious effort to appeal to teenage visitors.
To this end, Lesmes points out the back wall, whose graphic is designed as a ‘didactic touchstone' for a lay audience. Its cloud-like shapes ‘show the coexistence of a number of architectural styles,' she adds.
Students from London Design and Engineering University Technical College were invited to be part of the exhibition’s gestation, creating their own VR worlds, which are on show alongside professionals’ work. ‘Style needs your attention, because it does not exist unless you see it,' Lesmes and cofounder Fredrick Hellberg write in their letter, which accompanies the exhibition.
INFORMATION
architecture.com
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Clare Dowdy is a London-based freelance design and architecture journalist who has written for titles including Wallpaper*, BBC, Monocle and the Financial Times. She’s the author of ‘Made In London: From Workshops to Factories’ and co-author of ‘Made in Ibiza: A Journey into the Creative Heart of the White Island’.
-
Dyson pares down the vacuum cleaner to its most minimal form with the PencilVac
Enabled by new motor technology, Dyson’s forthcoming PencilVac is designed to squeeze into spots other vacuums can’t go
-
Welcome to io: OpenAI acquires Jony Ive’s secret startup to shape the form of future AI
Jony Ive’s LoveFrom has spent two years assembling io, a crack team of specialists to visualise the physical form of Artificial Intelligence. Newly acquired by Sam Altman at ChatGPT, this tech supergroup hopes to re-shape the landscape of Silicon Valley and our relationship with tech
-
Chelsea Flower Show unfurled: a year of pause, thought and promise
This week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show – now in its 112th year – has begun to reveal its defining spirit. This year is one of tentative readjustment: a reassuring exploration of the ‘future garden’, and the ways in which landscape design might tackle climate and conservation challenges
-
Innovative coastal garden turns heads at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Landscape Designer Nigel Dunnett’s ‘Hospitalfield Arts Garden’ at Chelsea Flower Show 2025 has been making waves with its progressive approach to sustainable landscape and planting design
-
What to see at the London Festival of Architecture 2025
June is all about the London Festival of Architecture 2025; we browsed the over 450-event rich programme for its highlights, so you won't have to
-
V&A East Storehouse is a new London museum, but not as you know it
Designed by DS+R, the V&A East Storehouse immerses visitors in history as objects of all scales mesmerise, seemingly ‘floating’ in all directions
-
Timeless yet daring, this Marylebone penthouse 'floats' on top of a grand London building
A Marylebone penthouse near Regent’s Park by design studio Wendover is transformed into a light-filled family home
-
Revamped National Gallery Sainsbury Wing unveiled: Annabelle Selldorf gives us a tour
The National Gallery Sainsbury Wing redesign by Selldorf Architects is ready to open its doors to the public in London; we took the tour
-
Wild sauna, anyone? The ultimate guide to exploring deep heat in the UK outdoors
‘Wild Sauna’, a new book exploring the finest outdoor establishments for the ultimate deep-heat experience in the UK, has hit the shelves; we find out more about the growing trend
-
A new London house delights in robust brutalist detailing and diffused light
London's House in a Walled Garden by Henley Halebrown was designed to dovetail in its historic context
-
A Sussex beach house boldly reimagines its seaside typology
A bold and uncompromising Sussex beach house reconfigures the vernacular to maximise coastal views but maintain privacy