Roca is a Spanish company that makes two things: bathrooms, and award-winning architecturally stunning cultural spaces.
And Roca Gallery is not a bathroom.
You’ll find it down by the harbour in Fulham, where it was designed and built by architecture’s own ‘Queen of Curves’ Zaha Hadid. For those who don’t know her, she’s a highly influential British Iraqi architect whose dozens of projects have won her dozens more accolades thanks to her inimitable, flowing, impactful, and downright beautiful style. Once you’ve seen a couple of her buildings, you’ll recognise her handiwork at first sight. She’s designed everything from Beijing’s new international airport, to the aquatics centre at the London Olympics, to Rome’s National Museum of 21st Century Arts. And this is one of her more unique spaces.
Image: Hufton Crow
The interior is like nothing else in the city, a fluid continuum made from hundreds of individually carved concrete panels, and thousands of bespoken porcelain floor tiles, all peppered with pools of light from the stream-like ceiling. Walking through it feels like experiencing something both futuristic, and also strangely naturalistic & old fashioned. And it’s amongst this architectural river that you’ll find their exhibitions.
They chop and change over the year, but they’re all free, and usually stay on for a while. Typically the focus is on contemporary projects, often architectural or environmental, especially those that champion innovation. They also hold the occasional talk and event – they’ve had everyone from Lord Foster to Daniel Libeskind come to show off their new projects here.
But feel free to Roca up whenever you like.
NOTE: Roca Gallery is open now, from Tues-Thurs each week. You can see their current & past exhibitions at their website right HERE.
Roca Gallery | Station Court, Townmead Rd, Fulham, SW6 2PY
Enjoy exploring London’s art scene? See what’s on at London’s art galleries here.