Tropical Modernism was Britain's unique contribution to International Modernism – a colonial architecture, developed by British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry, against the background of anti-colonial struggle in India and West Africa in the late 1940s. This exhibition Design by the V&A Design Studio and Record Lighting and curated by Chris Turner and Justine Sambrook looks at the colonial origins of Tropical Modernism in British West Africa, and the survival of the style in the post-colonial period when it symbolised the independence and progressiveness of newly independent countries like India and Ghana.

The exhibition design was broken down into four clear sections to divided by semi permeable Brise Solei wall units inspired by both African and Indian architectural geometries. Large cut through windows curate views through the exhibition and wall colours inspired by Corbusier’s architectural polychromy were intentionally made to look bleached by the sun. Light and shadow was also extremely important to the design and the louvered façades and ceiling provided moments for shadow play across walls and floors with strategically placed lighting echoing the harsh sun of the tropics.