Join Assistant Curator Dr Erin McKellar and architects Nimi Attanayake, Tim O’Callaghan and Hikaru Nissanke for an online discussion on the use of figures in contemporary architectural practice.

Many architectural drawings include small figures – people and animals – to lend a sense of scale, depth, use and narrative to a project, an idea explored our current exhibition, Fanciful Figures, which features historic examples drawn mainly from the Museum’s collections. But architects today still use these figures, and have been doing so in increasingly thoughtful ways as they strive to illustrate how public projects will improve the everyday lives of their clients and reveal how these projects are grounded in specific places with particular users in mind.

Erin will be joined by Nimi Attanayake and Tim O’Callaghan of nimtim architects and Hikaru Nissanke of OMMX to find out why they add figures to their plans, who these people are and where and why they are placed within schemes.

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About the speakers

Nimi Attanayake and Tim O’Callaghan are directors and co-founders of nimtim architects, a practice of architects, landscape and interior designers based in South London. Nimi is a qualified garden and landscape designer and leads nimtim landscapes department. A UK qualified architect since 2008, she has worked for some of London’s most highly regarded practices including Penoyre & Prasad and Hawkins/ Brown where she was a project architect for Corby Cube and other significant developments such as Metropolitan Wharf in Wapping. A UK qualified architect since 2008, Tim has worked at OMA in Rotterdam and David Chipperfield architects in London. Prior to setting up nimtim architects in 2014, Tim was senior architect at RCKa where he was project runner for the RIBA award-winning TNG Youth Centre in Lewisham. Passionate about collaborative design, they have developed nimtim’s process-driven design approach that embeds co-creation with clients and building users in every project the practice undertakes.

Hikaru Nissanke is a cofounder of OMMX. OMMX promote alternative approaches to building that aren’t just about how a neighbourhood looks and feels, but also who and what it stands for. OMMX’s approach is rooted in academia but is above all grounded by practice and dialogue with clients, consultants and communities creating, spaces that we can all relate to and that help us relate to one another. OMMX currently teach at the AA and have previously taught at Cambridge University, UCL, London Met and Central Saint Martins. They have a reputation for beautiful, detailed line drawings, complex renders and research intertwined with academic teaching. They currently advise Hackney and Brent Councils on their future development and sit on the board of Brighton’s West Pier Trust.

Image courtesy of OMMX.

About the event

This is a free online webinar, taking place on Zoom. Registration is essential. You will be able to join from 18.55. Questions can be submitted to the speakers using the Q&A function.