RIBA commissions Sam Jacob Studio for an installation on perspective drawing at the Architecture Gallery

“Since its invention in the 15th century, perspective has been a fundamental tool in the way we imagine space and design architecture" said Sam Jacob. The commissioned work will feature a diverse range of items ranging from John Smythson’s early 17th Century Jacobean designs to a colorful modern interior by Max Clendinning and from Sebastiano Serlio’s architectural treatise Seven Books of Architecture to Etienne-Louis Boullee’s intricately drawn perspectives of neo-classical buildings. 

Tracing the lineage of perspective from the Renaissance to present day, the exhibit will include original drawings and early writings arranged in a system of perspective and displayed according to their vanishing points and perspective lines.

"Perspective is also a kind of tyranny too, forcing its own logic onto the worlds we create" Jacob said. "This commission gave us the opportunity to explore how perspective has not only been used to illustrate the world but also how it creates and organizes the world. This continues the studio’s longstanding interest in how ways of drawing shape the architecture we create. For this installation we wanted to create a space where visitors can experience the essentially illusory nature of perspective and question the making and breaking of rules.”

The exhibit, sponsored by Arper and Colt, will be on display May 2—October 7, 2018 at The Architecture Gallery, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London. Admission is free.