Exhibition goes online

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has moved its virtual reality (VR) exhibition online.

In response to the lockdown of its public buildings and galleries, RIBA has launched FREESTYLE: Architectural Adventures in Mass Media and its associated programmes on the internet.

The event is the organisation’s first virtual reality (VR) exhibition and explores key moments in the evolution of architectural styles over the last 500 years.

The commission by multidisciplinary design studio Space Popular raises one of the most enduring concerns of architecture: the rise and fall of styles.

Drawing on RIBA’s world-class collections, Space Popular uses virtual reality to examine architecture styles of the past – from the Renaissance to postmodernism – while considering technology’s impact on contemporary buildings and spaces.

The experience takes visitors on a journey through 500 years of architectural style evolution and considers how architectural styles are influenced by popular culture and technology.

Visitors can now enter the online exhibition as an avatar (using a standard web browser).

Here, they can meet friends and family virtually, and wander through a redesigned space of the original gallery interior, exploring objects from RIBA’s collections.

Visit the exhibition at: https://www.architecture.com/explore-architecture/exhibitions/freestyle