In addition to music from Emily McGregor, Paul Whalley and the Portico Quartet, and a flower installation by Rebecca Louise Law, we also invited Dan Simpson to curate a crowdsourced poem. Take a look at the results below.

Architecture is other people’s ideas
about what our lives should be like
the perfect combination of art and function
it’s everything that isn’t you
constructs us by constructing the imagination
stretches the boundaries
defines and embodies space
asks:
“Where are we going? Where have we been?
What’s discovered? What’s unseen?”

            I prefer older architecture
            with history and depth
            it was more of a craft
            now its more like construction
            a feat of structural engineering
            a frame to give order to surroundings
            frames that people must go through.

It matters to people:
one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor
up and down stairs
your sense of self is somewhat relational to your environment
living together is about more than just efficiency
it enriches our lives
makes our cities
creates joy and contemplation

            it can be alien and big and scary.
            I don’t feel like I belong in this place
            I’m not sure I truly understand this space
            all glass but I feel trapped
            I can see all of London
            so near but so far
            at my fingertips
            but there’s a barrier
            I’m enclosed – no air
            an enforced hibernation
            I’m contextualised:
            have less chances to explore the unknown
            my life organised
            needs limited

needs answered:
shelter when it’s raining
keeps us warm
makes us slightly higher than the floor
creates awe
epic spaces are transcendental
the sense of being on your own is amplified
makes you stand back and go wow

            feel insignificant
            you don’t really have a choice
            it’s just there
            influences without moving you
            it forces you to navigate
            are you moving around the whole thing?
            bland blocks of flats

St Peters at Rome
something that’s beautiful
makes you want to be inside it
can be life changing

            a brutal experience
            walled in, it constrains you from expressing
            changes your mood and persona

changes your mood and persona
makes us smile
free within ourselves

sometimes we move architecture

            it’s a façade: the rest is empty.

Architecture is a little bit of ourselves.





Sensing Spaces is in the Main Galleries at the RA until 6 April 2014.