Interiors

Draughtsman’s Arms by Gundry & Ducker

19 August 2011

Architects Gundry & Ducker created a pub inside a cardboard box inside the crypt of a London church.

Called the Draughtsman’s Arms, the installation formed the bar for an architecture exhibition.

Ducking inside, visitors found themselves surrounded by a line drawing of an English bar from the waist up, complete with a view of the Royal Institute of British Architects through the window.

Entitled The Architect: What Now? the exhibition was organised by architecture graduates Alison Coutinho, Dan Slavinsky and Dezeen’s Wai Shin Li.

Above: photograph by Rick Roxburgh

Gundry & Ducker were also responsible for the design of Rosa’s Thai restaurant, which opened in Soho last year.

Above: photograph by Rick Roxburgh

Photographs are by Joe Clark, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here are some more details from Gundry & Ducker:

The draughtsman’s Arms was designed by Gundry & Ducker as part of the recent exhibition and debate on the future of Architecture, “The Architect What Now”. Located in the crypt of a London Church designed by Sir John Soane.

A focal point in the dimly light space, it housed the bar on the debate night and the reception area during the on-going exhibition. Plain on the outside, it is decorated on the inside and is sliced off at dado height partially revealing the occupants. It is both a drawing and a room. The room is a 1:1 scale illustration of a typical london pub interior.

In response to the antique surroundings the CAD drawn interior is in the form of a etching. We imagined that full of thirsty drinkers it would be like a living Hogarth print. In expectation of the architect clientele, the pub interior has been modified to suit, for example, the view through the window is of the RIBA and the cigarette machine is branded by Rotring.