Phase 2

Phase 2’s first exhibition showcased work by some of the first ‘Flickr photographers’ who had contributed to the Drivers of Change publication. Themes included Water, Urbanisation, Energy, Waste, Climate Change and Demographics. Brazilian photographer Tuca Vieira’s Paraisõpolis (Paradise City), 2006, became renowned worldwide as an iconic image of two-tiered urban society.

This exhibition explored the dramatic effects of migration and construction on Beijing and Shanghai in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games with works by Edward Burtynsky, Natalie Behring and Helen Couchman. G2 Studio’s film Honey & Bubbles, commissioned for the exhibition, told the story of the changing face of Beijing from the perspectives of a local beekeeper and a Beijing taxi driver.

This project was a collaboration between Arup’s lighting designers led by Rogier van der Heide and the University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, which investigated the different energy forces flowing through Arup’s London headquarters. An installation made up of 64 luminous rods was programmed to react to the movements of visitors in the space by changing colour.

Phase 2’s first new commission was a collaboration between Matthew Ritchie and Daniel Bosia of Arup’s Advanced Geometry Unit. The modular sculpture was inspired by dark energy, the Big Bang Theory and the moment in space and time when light separated from matter. The parametric design also represented the intersection between art, design and engineering.

In a collaboration between Arup, the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL and the University of Westminster with the aim of demystifying computer technologies. Some of the best cutting-edge work by architecture graduates from the three schools showed the effects of an ever-expanding digital world on architectural agendas, processes and outcomes.

The turbulent history of the city of Wroclaw, Poland, by telling the story of RENOMA. Designed in 1930 by Hermann Dernburg for the Wertheim family as one of the largest, international department stores in Europe, its original concept was shortlived when the store was confiscated by the Nazi government. After years of neglect, it re-opened in 2009 as a shopping centre with a new wing designed by Mackow Architects in collaboration with Arup.

Artists, engineers, designers and architects provided historical, contemporary and future representations of London using different media. The show included work by Rut Blees Luxemburg, Christian Kerrigan and a dystopian visualisation of Whitehall under water by GMJ. Also on show was a large intricate timber model of Arup Associates’ unrealised 1987 plan for Paternoster Square.

Phase 2’s second collaboration with the Bartlett School of Architecture showcased work from the school’s Advanced Architectural Research program, supported by The Economic Challenge Investment Fund. These Masters portfolios contained the seeds of further design proposals for creating new types of space, novel interactive building elements and new façade and structural systems.

The history of bridge design over the past fifty years was explored in this exhibition through film, photography and 3D representation. The exhibition showcased how the use of photography has changed since the firm was founded in 1946. Works included photographs by John Donat and Henk Snoek, leading architectural photographers in Britain and assigned by Arup in the 1960s and 70s, and a specially commissioned digital taxonomy of bridge spans by digital arts group onedotzero.

American artist Fritz Haeg raised awareness of the plight of endangered urban wildlife by creating a consultancy where they became the clients. Made from salvaged materials the “Headquarters” was a location for public events, workshops and meetings by Arup staff, schools and universities and local interest groups. This radical and ingenious initiative was an unforgettable experience for all involved.

Stories of Change used a call-out to students worldwide to collect stories told through film, architectural design and text that responded to the global trends identified in Drivers of Change. Shortlisted entrants were invited to attend the opening of the exhibition where the winners were announced. Kibwe Tavares’ film “Robots of Brixton” went on to win the Jury prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Together with Arup Acoustics, Charles Morrow developed a three-dimensional, immersive, sonic journey beginning 400 million years ago and continuing through different ecological epochs. It ranged from the sounds of giant dragonflies of the Carboniferous period through to circuitry noises from our contemporary digital era.

This living archive of everyday life was launched through the Open City Documentary Film Festival and UCL, London. The initiative asked UK residents to record places and experiences that were of significance to them. It revealed the richness of UK society at grass roots level in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games and the power of film as an intrinsic element of the growing social network phenomenon.

In 1992, Peter Rice was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to the design of the built environment. It was also the year of his untimely death at the age of 57 years. Twenty years on, this exhibition celebrated the life and work of Ireland’s most gifted structural engineer of the late 20th century. Projects like Centre Pompidou and the Menil Collection were highlighted through vintage photographs, prototypes and drawings.

The exhibition focused on two phases of the Opera House’s 16-year construction story: the evolution of the roof structure, known as Stage 2, and the design of the glass walls by architect Peter Hall who joined the project after original architect Jørn Utzon’s departure in 1966. The show included photography, historical drawings and models, as well as a specially commissioned digitally fabricated model of the roof’s geometry.

Aspects of built and proposed infrastructure, community projects and explorations of materials and objects related to sustainability in the urban environment were presented in this exhibition. Artists included Mark Titchner, Heather and Ivan Morison, Fischli and Weiss, Damien Hirst, John Wood and Paul Harrison, and Something and Son.

The exhibition examined the use of concrete in Arup projects dating from the founding years of the firm to the present day, including Busáras, Dublin’s main city bus station, the Brynmawr factory in Wales, the Barbican Centre in London, and the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House in Taiwan. Concrete was also the subject of the work of artists Bernd and Hilla Becher, Thomas Demand, Luisa Lambri, Simon Phipps and Rachel Whiteread.

The exhibition explores the multi-faceted nature of our relationship with water through photographs made by Burtynsky between 2010 and 2016 in different locations around the world, including Gujarat, India; Yunnan Province, China; Aragon, Spain; and Florida, USA. Shot from aircraft, helicopters or drones several thousand feet above the earth, the large-format photographs are both detailed and panoramic, beautiful and disturbing.

The Urban Age, a research project jointly organised by the London School of Economics LSE Cities and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft, has been exploring the conflicts that lie behind this new urban reality. This exhibition was first developed as a special project for the 2016 International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Arup showcased a range of inspirational solutions, developed and implemented by individuals, local communities or organisations at grassroots level in different regions of the world, that address challenges posed by rapid urban growth.