MONITOR by Bartlett Alumni on Display at the Royal Academy of Arts

Thomas Pearce (Architecture MArch, 2014 and Architectural Design PhD, 2022) and Greg Storrar (Architecture MArch, 2015) have collaborated with artist James Capper to create MONITOR, an eight-metre-long mobile artist studio now on display at the Royal Academy of Arts until February 2025. Thomas and Greg taught Architecture BSc (ARB/RIBA Part 1) Unit 8 between 2014–2019.

Commissioned by Ukrainian arts foundation IZOLYATSIA, MONITOR originated during James's 2018 residency in Kyiv. The project was initially developed to explore the Dnieper River and Kyiv's industrial docklands. In 2019, Thomas and Greg joined James in Kyiv to develop the architectural design.

The structure integrates Thomas's doctoral research on robotic incremental sheet forming, conducted at The Bartlett with the support of alumni Gary Edwards (Architecture MArch, 2015), Theo Tan (Architecture MArch, 2023) and Cristina Garza (Design for Manufacture MArch, 2018). The design features four hydraulic legs and a pivoting frame, enabling movement across various terrain types, inspired by how reptiles move.

The project was supported by B-made (The Bartlett Manufacturing and Design Exchange) and received funding from UCL’s Higher Education Innovation Fund and The Bartlett Architecture Projects Fund.

MONITOR is on display in the Architecture Window (designed by Bartlett alumni Theo Games Petrohilos and Kaowen Ho, and Bartlett alumnus and lecturer Ben Hayes) at the Ronald and Rita McAulay Gallery, a space dedicated to showcasing new voices in architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts.

The free exhibition runs from 27 September 2024 to 24 February 2025.

More information

• Undergraduate programmes at The Bartlett School of Architecture
• Postgraduate programmes at The Bartlett School of Architecture
• Discover our latest exhibition, The Bartlett Fifteen Show 2024
• Find out more about the Architecture Window at the Royal Academy of Arts

Images: MONITOR exhibition, photography by Simon Taylor courtesy of Hannah Barry Gallery