I was away during ‘show week’ the week when all the architecture schools put on all their degree shows, and missed the openings so on my return I decided to go and see the work on the Saturday after the Friday night before and did the Bartlett and the RCA in one glorious day.

The best thing about the RCA show for me is that it encompasses various different disciplines from architecture to textiles and fashion to ceramics, glass and even car design and so the show feels like one giant feast of inspiration.

This year was particularly interesting for me as it is the first year without Nigel Coates and with Alex de Rijke at the helm as Dean, I wanted to know; did Nigel’s playfulness get replaced with something altogether more serious? I am no judge, and the work I saw was seriously good that’s for certain. There seemed, to me anyway, to be a new found rigour in the depth and level of study behind the work and we still saw something of the wonderful and the mischievous in the work.

So, here are my best picks from The RCA Show 2012

Architecture

Food Production Core by Chris Green presented some amazing digital imagery as well as some intricate physical models. He’s not the first to look at how the insect world and the notion of the ‘parasitic’ relates to architecture but the vision he had seemed to bring new life to the ideas and was represented in truly stunning way.

Building Civic Trust by Catherine Cannon – some beautifully haunting imagery playing on the desire from the population for a more transparent relationship between inhabitants of the city and the City itself.

Ceramics & Glass