When he sent me these photographs a week or so ago, James Harris, a photographer I’ve worked with in the past, drew my attention to a recently opened exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts: Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined.

Pezo von Ellrichshausen’s installation. Photograph by James Harris.

The Royal Academy of Arts invited seven architecture practices from around the world to create site-specific architectural interventions within the main galleries of the Academy, and by the looks of it, the results are incredible. While architectural in their foundation, the designers were challenged with creating interventions that encapsulate the essences and evocative attributes of architecture without being representations of architecture—or buildings—such as is often done through models, plans, and photographs in traditional architectural exhibitions.

From emerging to well-known, these seven practices—Grafton Architects (Ireland), Diébédo Francis Kéré (Germany/Burkina Faso), Kengo Kuma (Japan), Li Xiaodong (China), Pezo von Ellrichshausen (Chile), Eduardo Souto de Moura and Álvaro Siza (Portugal)—have transformed the Academy's 23,000 square feet into an participatory showcase of the way architecture's construction and materiality can manipulate physical space while at the same time have the potential to initiate rich sensory experiences. If you’re in London I would certainly say it looks worth a visit! And thanks to James for the photos!

Pezo von Ellrichshausen’s installation. Photograph by James Harris.

Eduardo Souto de Moura’s installation. Photograph by James Harris.

Kengo Kuma’s installation. Photograph by James Harris.

Diébédo Francis Kéré’s installation. Photograph by James Harris.

Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined is on until April 6th, 2014, at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

* All images are courtesy of James Harris.