Palladian Design: the good, the bad and the unexpected, RIBA

RIBA’s new exhibition gets to grips with the legacy of Palladianism, the elegant classic British design which peppers London. 
What an earth is Palladianism? Features...
Palladianism is the only architectural style to be named after its founder: the Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio. This architecture exhibition in central London begins its journey with Palladio's groundbreaking designs based on ancient Roman architecture, employing principles of symmetry and using features like columns. His admiration for Roman structures is well documented in his Four Books of Architecture; published exactly 300 years ago, these were instrumental in spreading his ideas across the Anglophone world.
Palladianism in London & the world
The exhibition then explores how Palladianism developed in 17th century England to become a national style by the 18th century. Highlights include the original drawings of Palladio’s A Design for a Palace in the 1540s, and Palladianism disciples like Inigo Jones’s Queen’s House, Greenwich (1616) and Lord Burlington’s Chiswick House (1729).
The second of the three parts addresses Palladio’s legacy around the world – looking at designers who stuck stringently to the Palladian principles and others who were more liberal in their approach. It begins to become clear how far-reaching Palladio's impact was, with Palladian-style buildings serving commercial, political and religious functions from Leningrad to New Delhi. The original 1721 model of James Gibbs’s St Martin-in-the-Fields church is a centrepiece here.
The final section considers Palladianism in the 20th and 21st centuries, when wealthy families in Britain and the USA commissioned classical-style houses. The relationship between Palladian design and postmodernism is revealed as designers began to reference the style ironically.
Palladianism | RIBA
The exhibition ends by surveying contemporary abstract Palladianism, where buildings make no visual references to the style but follow the same principles in regards to proportion. A specially commissioned film compares Palladio’s Villa Caldogno to Caruso St John’s Brick House (2005), in considering whether a building must look Palladian in order to be categorised as Palladian design.
This RIBA exhibition is a comprehensive overview of Palladian design from its inception through to becoming a British classic, and is a must-see for any architecture enthusiast!