Palladian Design: the good, the bad and the unexpected

Delightful exhibition at the RIBA exploring the principles of Palladian design and how they have been interpreted, copied and reimagined.

There were some wonderful drawings and plans in this show and a few models. It was nice to have busts of Palladio and Inigo Jones watching over the proceedings. As a non-architect I would have liked a little more on the principles to take forward round the rest of the exhibition but I guess most of the audience for this show will already know a lot about this so I can see why they didn’t labour this aspect.

I was most interested to see how the principles had been interpreted in later years such as how it was used in America 18th century houses such as Drayton Hall (which I have been to!) as well as modern homes.

I had never associated Palladianism with post-modernism but there was a good section on how post war architects have reduced the style to abstract elements.

I loved the design of the show with the drawings shown round the edge of the room on redesigned architects drafting tables. Also thank you for the handy leaflet to take round with the description of the items on. It made for a good flow round the show and lots to refer to later.

Review
Telegraph

 

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