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Work shown at the RA Summer Exhibition

Ra Summer Exhibition Royal Academy Of Arts Faulknerbrowns Architects Sunderland City Hall Models Lh

One of our architectural models crafted by in-house model maker Andrew Parkin, is currently being exhibited at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, one of the most significant annual events in the art calendar.

Held each year since 1769, the Summer Exhibition is the world’s oldest open submission exhibition, displaying works in a variety of mediums and genres by emerging and established artists. The 250th edition in 2018 received around 300,000 visitors. This year, for the first time in its history, the Summer Exhibition falls in winter, proceedings delayed due to Covid-19.

This year’s piece is titled 'Tectonics' and features a collection of envelope studies for Sunderland City Hall, demonstrating the compositional rigour undertaken to ensure that the façade is completely responsive to the building’s geographic and climatic context.

Ra Summer Exhibition Royal Academy Of Arts Faulknerbrowns Architects Sunderland City Hall Models Architecture Room Lh

Describing the model, Andrew said: "Personally, it’s very satisfying to have an object of my labours on display amongst those of my peers. Professionally, it’s great to be able to take the ingenuity of our studios and place it firmly amongst other highly regarded practices, in what is an international showcase of creativity."

The exhibition is due to run until Sunday 3 January, with tickets available through the Royal Academy of Arts website. A virtual tour is available to watch here. The Architecture Room appears at 26:34 in the tour and our model ‘Tectonics’ at 27:52.