Portland Place Out of Character 
Space Popular's interprets the many faces of the RIBA HQ in London

 LocationRIBA. 66 Portland Place, London
 TypeTemporary Installation. Digital print on cotton. 
 Year2017
 StatusInstalled - Removed
 SPOPeopleLara Lesmes, Fredrik Hellberg
 ClientRIBA
 PhotographsRosie Reed Gold


In early May, 1932, G. Grey Wornum’s entry to the competition for the design of a new home for the RIBA was selected amongst the nearly 300 entrants. It’s facade, despite it not being the critic’s favourite at the time, has since become the face of the institute. 
This piece brings a selection of the possible faces that the RIBA could have had together with the current one, and the now subtle but then radical stylistic and symbolic differences between them. 
Space Popular 2017