Alison’s Room: An Extended Reality Archive

Explore the re-created work room of architect Alison Smithson in Paula Strunden’s immersive reality installation.

Artist and researcher, Paula Strunden, presents an immersive reality experience of the re-created work room of the architect, Alison Smithson (1928–93). Along with her husband Peter, Alison became a key figure in post-war British architecture, after both studied at Newcastle in the 1940s. The installation combines the spatial experience of a number of influential designs by Alison with objects, furniture and even a talking cat.

The installation explores the possibilities of virtual and mixed reality technologies in relation to archival studies and design research. The work reflects Strunden’s ongoing research into the possibilities of creating new narratives through the combination of immersive experience with history-based design knowledge.

About the installation

While moving through Alison’s room and interacting with the objects at hand, you are invited to explore the multi-sensory nature of memories and speculate on the possibilities of knowledge production through new forms of embodiment. The installation combines spatial experiences of key designs by Alison Smithson with text documents and image collections.

About Paula Strunden

Paula Strunden is a transdisciplinary VR artist whose background is in architecture, having studied in Vienna, Paris and London. Since 2020, she conducts her design-led PhD as part of the European research network Communities of Tacit Knowledge (TACK): Architecture and its Ways of Knowing under the direction of Angelika Schnell at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Paula’s scaled room extended reality (XR) installations have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts London, Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam, Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam, and she was nominated for a “Golden Calf” Dutch Film Award in the category Best Interactive in 2020.

Through her internet platform www.xr-atlas.org, she advocates an interdisciplinary historiography of virtual technologies and teaches courses at the Architectural Association London, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Academia van Bouwkunst Amsterdam.

Booking information

The experience is free but booking a timed slot via Eventbrite is required. There is one person per session, and six available sessions each Friday and Saturday (19 September – 20 December 2024)

The VR experience is not recommended for children under the age of 12.