Dine with Thomas Heatherwick, David Adjaye and Amanda Levete at Frieze Art & Architecture Conference

David Adjaye, courtesy of Frieze - Ed Reeve

Art and architecture have always had a positively symbiotic relationship. It’s often cultural institutions which allow architects to push the boundaries – it took a client as visionary as Nick Serota to let Herzog & de Meuron create Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. And it was the V&A which took a punt on the world’s first ceramic courtyard – delivered this summer by Amanda Levete.  

The Sackler Courtyard at the V&A designed by Amanda Levete Architects Credit: Hufton Crow

At the other end of the scale, wealthy collectors are ambitious in the design of their own homes. Jim Olson of Seattle-based architects Olson Kundig has a career peppered with these custom-designed dwellings/art galleries, including a wood, steel and glass house on Lake Washington where 20ft-high ceilings were a basic requirement in order to accommodate a vastly valuable collection of super-sized 20th-century artworks. (There’s a 130ft-long Richard Serra in the garden too.)  

While down in the South of France, hotel magnate Paddy McKillen commissions architecture and art with the same amazing ease at his Chateau La Coste. (Though his latest addition is, conveniently, a hotel, designed by the Hong Kong architect Andre Fu.)

Amanda Levete, courtesy of Frieze

So it’s only fitting that Frieze decided last year to add an Art for Architecture conference to its fair programme. After all, Frieze itself is a client, having commissioned architects including David Adjaye, Jamie Fobert and Annabel Selldorf to design its bespoke fair tents over the years.

This year’s line up is certainly starry. Amanda Levete will be discussing her extension of the V&A with its new director Tristram Hunt. The artist Pablo Bronstein will be describing the incredible renovation of his 16th-century house in Kent.

Thomas Heatherwick, courtesy of Frieze

Sir David Chipperfield and Royal Academy artistic director will be revealing how the dramatic rearrangement of the Royal Academy is coming along. David Adjaye will discuss art-focused projects that go back to a house he designed for his close friend Chris Ofili in the 1990s, while Thomas Heatherwick will tell all about the complexities of creating a dazzling new museum out of an old grain Silo in Cape Town.

Those who jump in now, and acquire a £500 early ticket, are also invited to a dinner, which all the conference speakers will attend. Probably best not to mention the Garden Bridge if you end up sitting next to Mr Heatherwick.

Frieze Art and Architecture Conference is on 6 Oct 2017, 10:00am - 4:30pm, The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS. Tickets online at Frieze.com