The inaugural show at the new London Design Museum, Fear and Love, presents a collection of "reactions to a complex world." Featuring eleven specially-commissioned installations designed by the likes of OMA/AMO, Hussein Chalayan, Andrés Jaque and Metahaven, the spatial context which frames them is the work of Sam Jacob Studio.

Courtesy of Sam Jacob Studio

The inaugural show at the new London Design Museum, Fear and Love, presents a collection of "reactions to a complex world." Featuring eleven specially-commissioned installations designed by the likes of OMA/AMO, Hussein Chalayan, Andrés Jaque and Metahaven, the spatial context which frames them is the work of Sam Jacob Studio.
© Max Creasy

According to the architect, the design "plays on the ambiguity at the heart of the exhibition, creating a curving 'soft baroque' plan." A single 190 meter-long curtain winds its way through the gallery to create "a variety of opposing spatial sensations [...] with a controlled consistency." It forms rooms, loose enclosures and alcoves that shift between open and closed, inside and outside, small and large, dark and light. "Materially, the design uses a simple palette of curtains to create a visual language that is not easily placed. A dark grey translucent PVC gives a futuristic and industrial feel, while its sharp and sinuous folds suggest a...