AA tutor David Kohn has had a work selected for this year’s Architecture Room at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. The stone pangolin is a half-sized version of a grotesque that is currently being installed onto a building designed by David Kohn Architects for New College Oxford. The pangolin was carved by mason Fergus Wessel and conceived in collaboration with artist Monster Chetwynd, and is one of 24 gargoyles (with waterspouts) and grotesques of endangered animals selected in consultation with Ashleigh Griffin, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Oxford.

The intention is that students and passers-by will wonder at these beautiful creatures peering from the cornice line and be prompted to consider what must be done to avert the pending sixth mass extinction event caused by habitat destruction and the deepening climate crisis. The building is designed to stand for hundreds of years and will bear witness to our efforts.

The Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open submission exhibition and will run from 13 June until 20 August. Read more about the exhibition.