In 2019, architect Alexander de Caires founded Ex Architectures, his design and construction studio. The London-based studio’s main objective is to combine scenic art, architecture, and carpentry to design and build furniture and spaces. Their philosophy is all about creating in an experimental and practical way, which is exactly what their innovative, daring, and somewhat improvised projects do. Let’s take a look at two examples of their work.
The Quick Getaway Bench
As part of the London Architecture Festival in 2021, Ex Architectures led the Quick Getaway bench project in collaboration with Flu-or Arquitectura. Coronavirus had limited our ability to travel and so this project was all about bringing colour back to the lives of the city’s people with a little oasis inspired by going on holiday. De Caires explains that “the colours are inspired by beach huts and the design consists of festive abstract elements: a palm tree, a reclining chair, and a diving board”.
Improvised architecture
During de Caires’ artist residency at A Panda de Adá, he explored how to build architecture using improvisation, making use of timber products to construct temporary installations on Finsa’s forest estate in As Pontes. “There was a real sense of exploration and creativity when collaborating with other people in that place, moving amongst the trees, constructing and deconstructing temporary architectural objects,” says de Caires.
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