Macro to Micro: Grimshaw Architects

“Macro to Micro,” now open at the Kibel Gallery, presents the innovative work of Grimshaw Architects. Previously on view at the Queens Museum of Art, the exhibit includes full-scale building elements, film projections, architectural models, and still photographs and drawings. A lecture and opening reception will be given by Vincent Chang and Andrew Whalley, partners in Grimshaw's New York office, on November 2 at the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

Grimshaw’s exhibitions, like its buildings, have consistently challenged the status quo and dissected a concept down to its element. Their objective has been to expose the process by which a Grimshaw building is designed and constructed. This, in turn, generates understanding of how each component works jointly with the others to form an integrated structure.

“Macro to Micro” is Grimshaw’s fifth exhibition—and its first in America. It focuses on two distinct aspects of the firm’s design process. One is the detail-oriented aspect of their work, in which a custom joint, glazing arm, or cladding system makes the innovative design of a building possible. The other is a more abstract reference to their practice of analyzing, filtering, and understanding distinct pieces of information and parameters to arrive at an inspired solution—participating in a design process that progresses from macro to micro on a conceptual level.