THE VENICE BIENNALE ARCHITECTURE 2016 DIRECTED
BY ALEJANDRO ARAVENA & ORGANIZED BY PAOLO BARATTA
NINE PROJECTS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
BY ALEJANDRO ARAVENA & ORGANIZED BY PAOLO BARATTA
NINE PROJECTS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
THE VENICE BIENNALE ARCHITECTURE 2016 DIRECTED BY ALEJANDRO ARAVENA
ORGANIZED BY PAOLO BARATTA
May 28, 2016 - November 27, 2016
May 28, 2016 - November 27, 2016
Open to the
public from Saturday May 28th to Sunday November
27th 2016 at the Giardini and the Arsenale,
the 15th International Architecture Exhibition, titled REPORTING
FROM THE FRONT, will be directed by Alejandro Aravena and organized
by La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta.
The Exhibition
will also include 63 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at
the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the historic city centre of
Venice. Four countries will be participating for the first time: Philippines,
Nigeria, Seychelles and Yemen.
The Italian
Pavilion at the Tese delle Vergini in the Arsenale, sponsored and promoted
by the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo,
Direzione Generale Arte e Architettura Contemporanee e Periferie Urbane, has
been assigned to the curatorial team TAM associati: Massimo Lepore, Raul
Pantaleo, and Simone Sfriso.
The
International Exhibition
The Exhibition
REPORTING FROM THE FRONT will be laid out in a unitary exhibition sequence from
the Central Pavilion (Giardini) to the Arsenale, and will include 88
participants from 37 different countries. 50 of
them will be participating for the first time, and 33 architects
are under the age of 40.
“The lady on
the ladder who, climbing up onto the highest steps can gaze over a far broader
horizon, and by doing so conquers an “expanded eye”, announces the Biennale
Architettura 2016 curated by Alejandro Aravena. We immediately loved this
picture – stated President Paolo Baratta - because in a way it represents
la Biennale as a whole, with our attitudes and our goals.
“It is also in
part a counterpoint to the image chosen for the most recent Biennale Arte. The
symbol selected last year by Okwui Enwezor – Baratta noted -
was Paul Klee’s famous “Angelus Novus” as interpreted by Walter Benjamin; the
winged angel looking backwards in shock, seeing only the past and in the past,
debris and tragedy, but also insights that could be useful some day, in a
future towards which the hidden forces of providence are driving him, like a
wind blowing on his wings.”
“What does the
lady see? I think - commented Baratta -mainly desolated land
comprising immense swathes of human habitation which no human could be proud
of; great disappointments representing a sad, infinite number of missed
opportunities for humanity’s ability to act intelligently. Much of this is
tragic, much is banal, and it seems to mark the end of architecture. But she
also sees signs of creativity and hope, and she sees them in the here-and-now,
not in some uncertain aspirational, ideological future.”
“Is this a
sign of optimism? We have often deplored, in previous Biennale Exhibitions –
the President recalled – that our present time seems to be
characterised by increasing disconnection between architecture and civil
society. Previous Exhibitions have addressed this in different ways. This time,
we wish to investigate more explicitly whether and where there are any trends
going in the other direction, towards renewal; we are seeking out encouraging
messages.”
“And we are
not just interested in exhibiting concrete results for critical appraisal. We
also want to see into the phenomenology of how these positive examples came
about. In other words: what drives the demand for architecture; how are needs
and desires identified and expressed; which logical, institutional, legal,
political and administrative processes lead to demand for architecture and how
they allow architecture to come up with solutions which go beyond the banal and
self-harming.”
“Because this
is clearly a serious impasse; not as much in architecture as a discipline, but
in human organisation, in our ability to harness it, be saved by it and enter
into dialogue with it.”
“We feel the
need to highlight how positive outcomes have been achieved through the evolution
of decision-making chains which link need - awareness - opportunity - choice -
execution in a way that leads to a result where “architecture makes the
difference”, as Aravena puts it.”
“We are not interested in architecture as the
manifestation of a formal style, but rather as an instrument
of self-government, of humanist civilisation, and as a demonstration of
the ability of humans to become masters of their own destinies.”
“Architecture
in action as an instrument of social and political life, challenges us to
assess the public consequences of private actions at a more fundamental level.”
“Presenting
architecture in action is also one of the answers to the permanent question
raised by La Biennale. What is an architecture exhibition? –
asked Baratta. And what should an architecture biennale be? In
the Biennale Arte, which is the parent of the Biennale Architettura, the works
are there in front of the visitors; with an architecture exhibition, the works
are elsewhere. What should there be here? And indeed, the search goes on. We
must avoid turning into a magazine, a convention, a critical essay, or a place
for specialists alone: an exhibition just for architects. We also need to avoid
condescension and falling into the trap whereby architects are tempted to
present themselves as artists.”
“We need to
engage with the public and with all possible stakeholders in the decisions and
actions whereby our living spaces are created, both as individuals and as
communities. As Architecture is the most political of all the arts - concluded
the President - "the Biennale Architettura
must recognise this.”
“In his trip
to South America – related Alejandro Aravena - Bruce Chatwin
encountered an old lady walking the desert carrying an aluminium ladder on her
shoulder. It was German archaeologist Maria Reiche studying the Nazca lines.
Standing on the ground, the stones did not make any sense; they were just
random gravel. But from the height of the stair those stones became a bird, a
jaguar, a tree or a flower. “
Aravena thus
expressed his hope that the Biennale Architettura 2016 might “offer a new point
of view like the one Maria Reiche has on the ladder. Given the complexity and
variety of challenges that architecture has to respond to, REPORTING FROM THE
FRONT will be about listening to those that were able to gain some perspective
and consequently are in the position to share some knowledge and experiences
with those of us standing on the ground.”
“We
believe - explained Aravena - that the advancement of
architecture is not a goal in itself but a way to improve people’s quality of
life. Given that life ranges from very basic physical needs to the most
intangible dimensions of the human condition, consequently, improving the
quality of the built environment is an endeavour that has to tackle many
fronts: from guaranteeing very concrete, down-to-earth living standards to
interpreting and fulfilling human desires, from respecting the single
individual to taking care of the common good, from efficiently hosting daily
activities to expanding the frontiers of civilization.“
The curator’s proposal
is therefore twofold: “on the one hand we would like to widen the range of
issues to which architecture is expected to respond, adding explicitly to the
cultural and artistic dimensions that already belong to our scope, those that
are on the social, political, economical and environmental end of the spectrum.
On the other hand, we would like to highlight the fact that architecture is
called to respond to more than one dimension at a time, integrating a variety
of fields instead of choosing one or another.”
“REPORTING
FROM THE FRONT will be about sharing with a broader audience, the work of
people who are scrutinizing the horizon looking for new fields of action,
facing issues
like segregation, inequalities, peripheries, access to
sanitation, natural disasters, housing
shortage, migration, informality, crime, traffic, waste, pollution and
the participation of communities. And simultaneously it will be about
presenting examples where different dimensions are synthesized, integrating the
pragmatic with the existential, pertinence and boldness, creativity and common
sense. “
“It is not
easy – concluded Aravena – to achieve such a level of expansion and
synthesis; they are battles that need to be fought. The always menacing
scarcity of means, the ruthless constraints, the lack of time and urgencies of
all kinds are a constant threat that explain why we so often fall short in
delivering quality. The forces that shape the built environment are not
necessarily amicable either: the greed and impatience of capital or the single
mindedness and conservatism of the bureaucracy tend to produce banal, mediocre
and dull built environments. These are the frontlines from which we would like
different practitioners to report, sharing success stories and exemplary cases
where architecture did, is and will make a difference.”
http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/exhibition/15/
TURKIYE PAVILION BY MEHMET KÜTÜKÇÜOĞLU & ERTUĞ UÇAR & FERIDE ÇİÇEKOĞLU
DARZANA: TWO ARSENALS, ONE VESSEL AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
TURKIYE PAVILION BY MEHMET
KÜTÜKÇÜOĞLU & ERTUĞ UÇAR & FERIDE ÇİÇEKOĞLU
DARZANA: TWO ARSENALS, ONE VESSEL AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
2016
This project
builds a bridge between the dockyards of Venice and Istanbul, borrowing its
title from a hybrid word which has its roots in the Mediterranean. The title of
the project makes a reference to Lingua Franca, as the term Darzanà corresponds
to the Turkish word tersane and the Italian word arsenale in this hybrid
language and in fact all three words share the same origin. A Lingua Franca was
used in the Mediterranean basin from the 11th to the 19th century between
people who needed to communicate with each other, such as sailors, travellers,
merchants, and warriors. In the same vein, it is possible to talk of a common
architectural language and to define it as Architectura Franca.
Venice and
Istanbul, despite their different identities and different dimensions today,
both featured considerable dockyards that once reflected one another in size
and production. The common core of these dockyards were the shipdecks called
“volti” in Italian and “göz” in Turkish – the sites where ships were built and
then launched, which were positioned perpendicular to the sea and constructed
in proportion to the ships. For the project Darzanà, a last vessel, a baştarda
will be built at an abandoned volti at the Haliç dockyards in Istanbul, using
the waste materials on site. It will then be taken to Sale d’Armi, the volti
that hosts the Pavilion of Turkey, and re-installed there.
Derived from
the Latin bastardo, a baştarda is a type of vessel that is a cross between a
galley and a galleon, propelled by sails and oars. A symbol of the hybridity
specific to the Mediterranean as a concept, it will be the vessel of the
project. The baştarda will be a bridge between two shipyards, one which has
been left to rot away in the megacity of Istanbul and the other springing to
life only at certain times of the year in a museum-city. It will exhibit that
which you cannot demarcate water or put a wire fence between words, all the
while looking for the clues to transform fronts and borders into thresholds and
spaces of consensus. Architectural practice is a field prone to confrontation,
conflict, to drawing borders and withdraw, to quitting the profession and
taking up other things. The question of whether or not it is possible to
transform spaces of conflict into those of consensus by continuing the practice
of architecture will be the main theme of the project Darzanà.
DARZANA BOOK
A book will be
published to accompany the project Darzanà, which will make use of different
archive materials to narrate the history of the dockyards in Haliç from their
first establishment through their golden ages to our times when they eventually
became unusable. Edited by Feride Çiçekoğlu and featuring texts by Namık Erkal
and Vera Costantini and photographs by Cemal Emden, the book will be available
in two editions, English and Turkish, at the opening of the International
Architecture Exhibition and will later be distributed by Yapı Kredi
Publications in selected bookstores. The book and the exhibition’s visual
identity are designed by Bülent Erkmen.
BAŞTARDA
In
Istanbul, Baştarda was constructed beneath a reproduction of the
wooden trusses of the hall of Sale d’Armi in the Venice shipyard that
hosts the Pavilion of Turkey. Measuring 30 metres long and weighing four tons,
the vessel was built from more than 500 pieces including seven
kilometres of steel cable and abandoned materials found on site including
wooden moulds, discarded furniture, signboards and boats. In April, the
components were shipped to Sale d’Armi, where Baştarda was re-constructed
in May for the Pavilion of Turkey. When La Biennale closes in
November 2016, Baştarda will continue her journey and she will
eventually become the centrepiece of a museum of arsenal in Tersane, when
the site is opened to public in Istanbul.
Darzanà’s main
theme raises the question of whether it is possible to transform borders,
fronts and other spaces of conflict into thresholds and spaces of consensus. In
this vein, Baştarda becomes a vessel of frontier
infringement. She came to Venice, and she will eventually go back to
İstanbul, travelling back and forth, just as the languages, the
architectural forms, and people of the Mediterranean,
have done throughout history. She will continue to tell her stories, and to
show that one can trespass borders within cities or between cultures. Reporting
from Darzanà, one can see the futility of demarcations on the
seas and in between the words.
http://pavilionofturkey16.iksv.org/#
REPORTING FROM THE FRONT
Central to the
concept behind Darzanà is the emphasis on frontier infringement and
on hybridity. Challenging the increasing confinement within borders of
religion, language, race, nationality, ethnicity and gender, the common
cultural and architectural heritage shared between the arsenals of Istanbul and
Venice is highlighted. For the Biennale Architettura 2016, a last vessel,
a baştarda, has been constructed out of abandoned materials
found in the old dockyard of Istanbul and transported to Venice to suggest a
new connection in Mediterranean
http://pavilionofturkey16.iksv.org/#
TURKIYE PAVILION BY MEHMET KÜTÜKÇÜOĞLU & ERTUĞ UÇAR & FERIDE ÇİÇEKOĞLU
DARZANA: TWO ARSENALS, ONE VESSEL AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
KUNLE ADEYEMI DOCKS MAKOKO FLOATING SCHOOL AT THE VENICE BIENNALE 2016
KUNLE ADEYEMI DOCKS MAKOKO FLOATING SCHOOL AT THE
VENICE BIENNALE 2016
Venice Architecture Biennale 2016: Nigerian
architect Kunlé Adeyemi has
been awarded the Silver Lion for
bringing his floating school to
the Venice Biennale, as part of his ongoing research into building for
flood-prone regions.
Adeyemi and
his studio NLÉ developed an "improved, prefabricated
and industrialised iteration" of the Makoko Floating School in
Lagos, Nigeria, adapting its engineering to suit the Venetian climate
conditions.
The Amsterdam-
and Lagos-based studio originally created Makoko Floating School as a building
prototype for coastal regions of Africa that have little permanent
infrastructure because of unpredictable flooding.
Like the
original, MFS II is a pointed three-storey floating structure.
It spans 220 square metres, over three floors that decrease in scale towards
the building's apex.
"Just as
our first prototype sourced local intelligence from the Makoko waterfront
community, MFS II is an improved iteration designed to suit Venetian conditions
and a wider waterfront population," said the studio.
"Adapted
for easy prefabrication and rapid assembly, it is more robustly engineered and
affords a wide range of uses. It is mobile, deployable, and ready to be
reassembled at its next waterfront."
MFS
II was assembled for the Biennale by four builders in just 10 days
– using one tonne of metal and 13.5 tonnes of wood for the structural
framework, and 256 plastic barrels as a floatation device.
It forms the
venue for an exhibition titled Waterfront Atlas, which looks at developing
coastal communities.
Adeyemi was awarded the Silver Lion for
the project, and described by the jury as a "promising young
participant".
The jury
praised the project as "a powerful demonstration, be it in Lagos or in
Venice, that architecture, at once iconic and pragmatic, can amplify the
importance of education".
The Makoko
Floating School – shortlisted for the 2016 Aga Khan
Award for Architecture – and MFS II are part of the
studio's wider African Water Cities research
project, which is investigating how aquatic architecture could provide
infrastructure for Africa's coastal communities.
The studio is
also currently developing an amphibious radio station named Chicoco Radio Media
Center to provide a platform for the Port Harcourt waterfront community in
Nigeria, amidst government plans to demolish its settlements.
The original
Makoko Floating School was built for Lagos Lagoon
Waterfront
Atlas is located at the Arsenale as part of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016,
which is curated by Chilean architect
Alejandro Aravena and runs until 27 November 2016.
Aravena's theme,
Reporting From The Front, is a bid to encourage architects to address some of
the most important global issues.
Kunlé Adeyemi
is also working on an architectural folly to accompany
this year's Bjarke Ingels-designed Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in
London's Kensington Gardens, which will be unveiled next week.
Photography is
by Luke Hayes, unless stated
otherwise.
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/05/31/kunle-adeyemi-docks-makoko-floating-school-venice-architecture-biennale-2016/
KUNLE ADEYEMI DOCKS MAKOKO FLOATING SCHOOL AT THE VENICE BIENNALE 2016
SINGAPORE PAVILION: SPACE TO IMAGINE, ROOM FOR EVERYONE AT
2016 VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
SINGAPORE PAVILION: SPACE TO IMAGINE, ROOM FOR
EVERYONE AT 2016 VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
Responding to
the primary theme of 15th International Architecture Exhibition, ‘Reporting
from the Front,’ Singapore’s presentation places the small “battles” fought at
the home-front. These efforts are contributing to the emergence of an
invigorated Singapore.
From within
the comfort and the security of the domestic environments and public spaces
that have been created over the past five decades, we are now pushing the
home-front from within – to create more Space to Imagine, and Room for Everyone.
Through
actions, guided and spontaneous, initiated by individuals, establishments and
groups, we are witnessing active participation of our citizens: stepping out,
taking actions, owning and adopting their environments. They have also
heightened the role of design advocacy and participation, both real and
imagined, at various scales and levels in schemes of future renewals,
intensified in-fills of left-over spaces, in the narrow confines of domestic
spaces.
In two broad
themes (archetypal terrains), at every scale, in the boundary between the
private and public realms, actions like participation, contestations,
activations, appropriations, transgressions and occupations are enacted. All
these happen in the building and urban fabric – on the grounds, in the void
decks in the private abodes of our housing estates, and in our public spaces.
In a battery
of actions on these terrains, we forge through design a new society built on
the gains of the previous more austere generation. In pushing against this
front, in turning Singapore inside out, we move beyond from being
productive and technocratic, to be creative and egalitarian. Thus, these
“battles” at the front is a poignant visual account of our human capacity
building, in looking at the past with new eyes and broadly, and in our attempts
to humanize the environments of Singapore.
The design of
the exhibition uses the grid as a base onto which different meanings and
potentials are projected. The grid (a frame with equal intervals in the x &
y dimensions) signifies the order and rationality with which Singapore is
planned. The grid however, also provides openness and freedom. In the
exhibition space, we set up a grid that allows everyone to move freely, to
appreciate the diversity of stories that thrive within.
The effect
created is an atmosphere to envelope and immerse the viewer. The curatorial
team endeavoured to make an emotionally charged experience using the hundreds
of interior scenes from everyday life in our public housing estates, the
Housing Development Board (HDB). More than experiencing any one of these HDB
interiors in the skin, the exhibition would immerse the viewer intimately in
the diverse collection of interiors, an intensified domestic experience.
Close-up of
post-it notes handwritten by participants in PID's (Participate in Design)
engagement programmes.
Eighty-one
(81) customised image lanterns are suspended at eye level in the central space.
On three faces of each lantern, a photograph from the HDB: Homes of Singapore collection
will be mounted. On the fourth side, one will look into the lantern2 to see a
small model of the HDB block in which the interiors described in the
photographs are sited. A bulb in the centre lights the model as well as the
photographs from behind. A viewer will freely meander through these scenes of
everyday life, glowing gently.
One may notice
that in this pavilion staged for an International Architecture Exhibition, it
is not showing buildings. Rather it is showing the connections between people
and their spaces. The challenge is that while buildings are traditionally
documented in drawings, photographs, and models, the stories of these small
“battles” that were found on our home-front had no ready-made form.
To embody the
spirit of each participant, the curatorial team selected from each an artefact,
a visually striking object that bears the marks of their endeavour or tells the
stories succinctly. In one example, the Ground-Up Initiative (GUI) displays the
mud-bricks that their volunteers are making for the walls of their new campus.
For Participate in Design (P!D), an array of the colourful, now universal,
Post-It notes that the protagonists gathered from their consultation sessions
is presented.
Singapore
Pavilion – Space to Imagine, Room for Everyone - at Biennale Architettura 2016,
Venice. Image © Don Wong
SINGAPORE PAVILION: SPACE TO IMAGINE, ROOM FOR EVERYONE AT
2016 VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
ROMANIA’S PAVILION: SELFIE AUTOMATON AT THE 2016 VENICE BIENNALE
BY TIBERIU BUCSA, GAL ORSOLYA, STATHIS MARKOPOULOS & ADRIAN ARAMA
ROMANIA’S PAVILION: SELFIE AUTOMATON AT THE 2016 VENICE BIENNALE
BY TIBERIU BUCSA, GAL ORSOLYA, STATHIS MARKOPOULOS & ADRIAN ARAMA
The Romanian Pavilion
at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia
showcases “Selfie Automaton”, an exhibition by Tiberiu Bucșa, Gál Orsolya,
Stathis Markopoulos, Adrian Aramă, Oana Matei, Andrei Durloi. The exhibition
consists of 7 mechanical automata, featuring 42 built in marionetes — 37 human
and 5 creatures. Three of the automata will be placed in the Romanian Pavilion
in Giardini, another three in the New Gallery of the Romanian Institute of
Culture and Humanistic Research, and one nomad that will wander through the
streets of Venice.
Caricatures of
characters, fantastic animals, golden eggs, music boxes and mirrored
reflections are assembled in predefined show parts that place the visitor on
stage, in various positions, as dynamo and puppet in the same time. The authors
thus propose a generic portrait of social relations, stereotypes and wishes,
broken into pieces, to be reassembled by the user’s imagination, in an
introspective self-portrait, or perhaps a selfie. It could be all just
entertainment or it can be seen as an absurd show. It raises a few questions,
but it certainly does not give answers.
To define the
role that was given to marionettes in the exhibition, the authors of “Selfie
Automaton” approached puppetry, where it is common for the manipulator to play
with the meanings and possibilities of control. One is that the marionette can,
and should, cross the usual human limits, of gravity for example, as it can
jump and remain suspended. Another, to a tragic extreme, is to let it become
aware of its manipulator and cut, or not, its own strings. Still, no such
possibilities of escape were used for the installations. Even though
constructed with the necessary joints that would allow them the “freedom of
movement”, the wooden puppets are unstrung and literally nailed into a
mechanism that allows them nothing but one predefined repetitive movement. And
the visitor is no exception. Seated as part of the automaton, he is given one
choice only: to make it work, by his own repetitive action.
Consequently,
the comfortable bipolar stereotype of the manipulated (us) and the manipulator
(them) – most often placing people’ actions at one end of the string, as humble
and direct consequences of an unexplained exterior force responsible for them –
is replaced by a system of closed choices, built in a series of automata. The
exhibition takes these two directions further, by positioning the visitor in
various relations with its objects of entertainment and himself, from leaving
him the comfort or discomfort of the distant observer, up to making him a giant
ballerina in a micro banquet, a victim of a Kafka-like commission, or a beggar
of wishes.
Handles and
pedals make the various shows possible, when provided with one human power. An
apparent system of gearwheels transmit the motion to cyclical scenes: a bicycle
is moving a circle dance, a cooking pot generates a “grand buffet”, a crank
awakens a commission or a never ending fight, a turning handle moves a golden
sh, a golden hen, or a flying bird – prisoner outside its cage.
“Selfie
Automaton” reflects on the characters and actions embodied by the puppets that
are nothing but dispersed parts of our own and can be combined or split, in
search of a self-portrait, be it of an architect or of anyone else.
What remains,
still, is the question of predetermined patterns. Whether they really exist,
whether we are part of them, their victims or their generators.
Exhibition concept: Tiberiu Bucșa, Gál Orsolya, Stathis
Markopoulos, Adrian Aramă
Puppet design and construction: Stathis Markopoulos, Gál Orsolya, Tiberiu Bucșa, Andrei Durloi, Perényi Flóra, Oana Matei
Automata design and construction: Stathis Markopoulos, Kostis Zamaiakis
Puppet design and construction: Stathis Markopoulos, Gál Orsolya, Tiberiu Bucșa, Andrei Durloi, Perényi Flóra, Oana Matei
Automata design and construction: Stathis Markopoulos, Kostis Zamaiakis
http://selfieautomaton.ro/exhibition/gallery/romanian-cultural-institute/
ROMANIA’S PAVILION: SELFIE AUTOMATON AT THE 2016 VENICE BIENNALE
BY TIBERIU BUCSA, GAL ORSOLYA, STATHIS MARKOPOULOS & ADRIAN ARAMA
VENICE
ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
CURATED
BY ALEJANDRO ARAVENA
In his trip to South America Bruce Chatwin encountered an old lady walking the desert carrying an aluminum ladder on her shoulder. It was German archeologist Maria Reiche studying the Nazca lines. Standing on the ground, the stones did not make any sense; they were just random gravel. But from the height of the stair those stones became a bird, a jaguar, a tree or a flower.
In his trip to South America Bruce Chatwin encountered an old lady walking the desert carrying an aluminum ladder on her shoulder. It was German archeologist Maria Reiche studying the Nazca lines. Standing on the ground, the stones did not make any sense; they were just random gravel. But from the height of the stair those stones became a bird, a jaguar, a tree or a flower.
We
would like the Biennale Architettura 2016 to offer a new point of view like the
one Maria Reiche has on the ladder. Given the complexity and variety of
challenges that architecture has to respond to, REPORTING FROM THE FRONT will
be about listening to those that were able to gain some perspective and
consequently are in the position to share some knowledge and experiences with
those of us standing on the ground.
We
believe that the advancement of architecture is not a goal in itself but a way
to improve people’s quality of life. Given life ranges from very basic physical
needs to the most intangible dimensions of the human condition, consequently,
improving the quality of the built environment is an endeavor that has to
tackle many fronts: from guaranteeing very concrete, down-to-earth living
standards to interpreting and fulfilling human desires, from respecting the
single individual to taking care of the common good, from efficiently hosting
daily activities to expanding the frontiers of civilization.
Our
curatorial proposal is twofold: on the one hand we would like to widen the
range of issues to which architecture is expected to respond, adding explicitly
to the cultural and artistic dimensions that already belong to our scope, those
that are on the social, political, economical and environmental end of the
spectrum. On the other hand, we would like to highlight the fact that
architecture is called to respond to more than one dimension at the time,
integrating a variety of fields instead of choosing one or another.
REPORTING
FROM THE FRONT will be about sharing with a broader audience, the work of
people that are scrutinizing the horizon looking for new fields of action,
facing issues like segregation, inequalities, peripheries, access to
sanitation, natural disasters, housing shortage, migration, informality, crime,
traffic, waste, pollution and participation of communities. And simultaneously
will be about presenting examples where different dimensions are synthesized,
integrating the pragmatic with the existential, pertinence and boldness,
creativity and common sense.
Such
expansion and synthesis are not easy to achieve; they are battles that need to
be fought. The always menacing scarcity of means, the ruthless constraints, the
lack of time and urgencies of all kinds are a constant threat that explain why
we so often fall short in delivering quality. The forces that shape the built
environment are not necessarily amicable either: the greed and impatience of
capital or the single mindedness and conservatism of the bureaucracy tend to
produce banal, mediocre and dull built environments. These are the frontlines
from which we would like different practitioners to report from, sharing
success stories and exemplary cases where architecture did, is and will make a
difference.
Alejandro Aravena
http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/exhibition/aravena/
VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016: NATIONAL PAVILION
MONOCLE MAGAZINE
VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
CURATED BY ALEJANDRO ARAVENA
IRISH PAVILION: LOSING MYSELF AT THE 2016 VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
BY NIALL McLAUGHLIN & YEORYIA MANOLOPOULOU
IRISH
PAVILION: LOSING MYSELF AT THE 2016 VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
BY
NIALL McLAUGHLIN & YEORYIA MANOLOPOULOU
Our
report is a reflection on the lessons learnt through designing and revisiting
buildings for people with dementia. Visitors enter our space at the end of the
Arsenale through a gap in the partition walls. The room is darkened, in
contrast with the projected brightness on the floor. The floor accommodates a
4.8m x 6.4m animated drawing of the Alzheimer’s Respite Center. The drawing is
dynamic, with multiple projected hands moving across the plane of the floor as
they create fragments of a plan. They merge and overlap. These hands represent
sixteen individuals inhabiting a series of rooms at the Alzheimer’s Centre. The
projection consistently labours towards the clarity of a completed plan but
falls short of achieving it.
Suspended
speakers create a soundscape, consisting of the physical sounds of the act of
drawing itself, layered with murmured conversations; sounds of rain and the
sea; quotidian noises—a kettle boiling, children playing, people eating—and the
bells of the Angelus.
This
installation is an attempt to communicate and interpret some of the changes
to spatial perception caused by dementia. In order to understand these
changes, we have read, researched and questioned. We have spoken to a broad
range of people—neuroscientists, psychologists, health workers, philosophers,
anthropologists, people with dementia and their families—about dementia, the
brain, and the role of design in dementia care.
We are
interested in the social function of architecture: how it can improve the lives
of people with dementia. Beyond this, we hope that our research into the impact
of the condition on spatial cognition will equip us with a deeper understanding
of how all of our minds interpret space.
Our
project has also highlighted the shortcomings of the traditional architectural
plan: an inhabitant may never experience the building from the architect’s
complete and fixed vantage point. This disconnect is particularly apparent if
the inhabitant has Alzheimer's Disease, and has lost the ability to use memory
and projection to see beyond their immediate situation and create a stable
model of their environment. Our projected animation attempts to address this,
by working to develop a technique for drawing the building from the perspective
of inhabitation.
The
process has been collaborative, enlisting the skills of an animator, a
composer, AV experts, graphic designers and many drafters. We have consulted
people with dementia for feedback on the website design. We have been
planning, testing and adapting our drawing technique with our drafting
collaborators. At times, we have needed to design tools of production, such as
glass tables for recording the drawing process. We have had to accept a certain
level of unpredictability and uncertainty regarding the finished product,
perhaps as a consequence of attempting to represent a cognitive state which is
only partially understood, using a medium that we are developing through
iteration and experiment.
http://www.niallmclaughlin.com/
IRISH PAVILION: LOSING MYSELF AT THE 2016 VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
BY NIALL McLAUGHLIN & YEORYIA MANOLOPOULOU
ARMADILLO VAULT AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
ARMADILLO
VAULT AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
Venice
Architecture Biennale 2016: a team led by ETH Zurich
researchers has constructed an
expansive canopy using 399 slabs of limestone and no glue,
showcasing a "milestone for stone engineering".
ETH Zurich's Block Research Group worked
with engineering firm Ochsendorf
DeJong & Block and masonry specialist The Escobedo Group to create
the Armadillo Vault – the centrepiece of the Beyond Bending exhibition at
the Venice Biennale.
The
curving canopy features structural spans of up to 16 metres, but is supported
entirely through compression rather than with the use of adhesives or fixings.
"Without
any glue or mortar, with perfectly dry connections, this is really a milestone
for stone engineering," explained Philippe Block, who runs Block
Research Group with Tom Van Mele.
"We
have some main spans of 16 metres, but it is only five centimetres thick where
it touches on top," he told Dezeen.
"So
it's an extremely thin shell – if you were to compare it to an
eggshell, it is half the thickness proportionately."
The
project was developed using Rhino VAULT, a digital design plugin that is licensed by ETH Zurich and has over 16,000
users.
It is
intended to demonstrate that, with detailed knowledge of how compressive forces
affect architectural structures, buildings can be constructed more efficiently using
sustainable materials rather than steel.
Block's
team chose to work with limestone – one of the most difficult
materials to use structurally – to show how optimised geometries make it
possible to build ambitious structures, even with limited resources.
"We're
showing a new way of designing where you understand the constraints, so
that you're not just focusing on geometry but on the relationship between
geometry and forces," explained Block.
"This
is limestone – it's the most extreme way to show that our new geometries
are both expressive and efficient in the same way," he continued.
"If
you do something silly in masonry, masonry doesn't lie, it's going to collapse
on you."
To
speed up the construction time, each piece of limestone was left unfinished
on the underside – meaning the time spent on each piece averaged about 45
minutes, rather than several hours.
This
created a canopy that looks similar to an armadillo shell on top, but has
a rough, stripy underside.
"We
took this optimisation in the fabrication as an opportunity to celebrate
the aesthetic," said Block. "Because the marks are actually
aligned following the forces, you see how this structure is working and it
helps you read it a bit more."
The team
carried out a test assembly of the structure with the building team in Texas
before constructing it inside the Arsenale venue. This allowed them to
create gentle grooves in some of the pieces, which provided a guide
second time around.
Once
the Biennale is over, the structure will be moved to a new location. This
process could be repeated in various future sites without compromising the
structural integrity, as the form is simply an "intricate 3D
puzzle", according to Block.
"There
is a lot of very sinuous architecture and very exciting architecture, but we
want to offer this balance, this compromise between expression and
efficiency," he concluded.
"In
a way, this is my critique of free-form architecture – that it is not just
a spiffy surface, a shiny smooth surface that needs a substructure to hold it;
this is both the structure and the geometry, it is everything, a true
structure."
The
Beyond Bending exhibition also includes four vaulted floor prototypes and
a series of graphical force diagrams.
It
forms part of Reporting from the Front, the exhibition curated by Chilean
architect Alejandro
Aravena for the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale. Running
until 27 November 2016, it aims to shine a light on some of the most
important global issues.
Photographs
by Anna Maragkoudaki & Iwan Baan
http://www.armadillovault.com/
ARMADILLO VAULT AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
GABINETE DE ARQUITECTURA: BREAKING THE SIEGE
WINNER OF THE GOLDEN LION AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
GABINETE
DE ARQUITECTURA: BREAKING THE SIEGE
WINNER
OF THE GOLDEN LION AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
Bricks
are an iconic element of Solano Benítez’s studio. An ancestral material, forged by man using an
ancient technique of modeling and baking. Bricks are very versatile, cheap and
easy to manufacture – even marginalized areas of the world can afford to build
houses with brick. Benítez feels the poetry of brick and has experimented with
its versatility, relying solely on bricks as the main construction
material.
Gabinete de Arquitectura's
exhibition, designed by Solano Benítez, Gloria Cabral and Solanito Benítez, was awarded the Golden Lion for
Best Participant in the International Exhibition, Reporting
From the Front, for “harnessing simple materials, structural ingenuity
and unskilled labour to bring architecture to underserved communities.”
All
photographs had taken by © Laurian Ghinitoiu
GABINETE DE ARQUITECTURA: BREAKING THE SIEGE
WINNER OF THE GOLDEN LION AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
SPAIN PAVILION: UNFINISHED BY INAQUI CARNICERO & CARLOS QUINTANS EIRAS
AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
SPAIN
PAVILION: UNFINISHED BY INAQUI CARNICERO & CARLOS QUINTANS EIRAS
AT THE
VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
Venice
Architecture Biennale 2016: this year's Golden Lion-winning
Spanish Pavilion focuses on unfinished structures left in the wake of the 2008
financial crash and architects who are developing a "radical"
approach to rebuilding Spain.
Titled
Unfinished, the pavilion presents a series of photographs of
incomplete construction projects, alongside 55 recent buildings that
demonstrate a range of solutions to working under economic constraints.
According
to co-curator and architect Iñaqui
Carnicero, the economic crisis – which hit Spain harder than many
other European countries – forced local architects to become more resourceful.
The
main room of the Spanish pavilion displays photography of unfinished
buildings in the country after the economic crash
"[We
have become] more radical, and more intelligent in many cases," he told
Dezeen.
"My
own experience of working under this economic constraint [is that] when you are
suffering from budget cuts sometimes the solution becomes more intense, more
radical, and even better."
The
exhibition is a direct response to Biennale
curator Alejandro Aravena's request for architects to show work that
responds to the major challenges in their countries as part of his theme,
Reporting from the Front. The Spanish
Pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for best national pavilion
at the 2016 Biennale.
Carnicero
and fellow curator and architect Carlos
Quintáns Eiras collected photographs by seven different artists
of structures they describe as "contemporary ruins". These are
displayed in the pavilion's central space on steel frames hanging for the
ceiling, and range from major construction projects to small private
houses and apartments.
Carnicero
said there were few places on earth where so many unnecessary construction
projects had been started in such a short period of time, and then abandoned
because they couldn't be finished or maintained after the economy collapsed.
"Many
of the buildings that were under construction remain unfinished," said
Carnicero. "We wanted to present this problem, but we didn't want to do it
in a narrative way. We didn't want to find who was guilty or be complaining
about it."
"When
you look at these pictures you discover a certain beauty, the beauty of
architecture in process, the beauty of things that are meant to be hidden,"
he said.
The
rooms around the main space are devoted to displaying 55 contemporary projects
in Spain or by Spanish architects, grouped into nine categories.
Projects
are displayed with photographs and drawings in wooden frames mounted on a steel
structure to suggest and unfinished building
Carnicero
said that the projects were selected for "under economical constraints,
showing new solutions and new strategies to intervene in what already exists,
instead of building new things."
The
Consolidate section features examples of architects who have helped save
historic buildings, with examples including the installation of new structures
by Morales de Giles Arquitectos inside the Convento de Santa Maris de los Reyes
in Seville.
Reappropriation
focuses on the revival and reuse of abandoned heritage buildings like churches,
industrial spaces and military complexes. These include the renovation
of a Baroque palace in Palma de Mallorca by Flores & Prats and Duch-Pizá to
create a new cultural centre.
Adaptable
looks at projects that explore changing use and flexibility in buildings, with
projects like an an apartment
in Madrid by PKMN Architectures, which features sliding chipboard
units that can be used to change the space. Also in this section is Casa
Luz, a renovated Spanish home organised by Arquitectura-G around a
new central courtyard.
http://www.inaquicarnicero.com/
SPAIN PAVILION: UNFINISHED BY INAQUI CARNICERO & CARLOS QUINTANS EIRAS
AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
PERU’S PAVILION: OUR AMAZON FRONTLINE AT THE VENICE BIENNALE 2016
BY EQUIPO EDITORIAL
PERU’S
PAVILION: OUR AMAZON FRONTLINE AT THE VENICE BIENNALE 2016
BY
EQUIPO EDITORIAL
As
part of ArchDaily's coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we are presenting a series of
articles written by the curators of the exhibitions and installations on show.
The
Amazon rainforest is our common frontline: constant battles are being fought to
preserve the greatest source of biodiversity, oxygen production and climate
regulation of the planet.
The
Amazon is also the battlefront between the ancestral vision of its inhabitants
and the modern vision that western society has over this territory. If we were
to learn from the indigenous knowledge, now endangered by hegemonic “western
civilization”, we would open an unforeseen insight about medicine, nutrition,
and the sustainable production of the rainforest. The dissolution of this last
frontline would have global implications and it would even change the way we
see our world.
The
Peruvian Pavilion tells an unprecedented action in this sense: fighting poverty and preserving the Amazon Rainforest through education. The “Plan Selva”, a large-scale public program in our amazon
region that reconstructs and rebuilds hundreds of schools scattered in
inaccessible places without services, with a new educational program that
favors multiculturalism and rescues the native languages.
The
starting point for the project is an attentive dialogue with the Amazonian
communities. It proposes a kit of modular parts that allows adapting to
particular pedagogic requirements, topographical conditions and size of
communities. The result is a climatic-sensitive modular architecture,
respectful to the Amazonian way of life.
This
project sets a unique precedent in a Peruvian public institution: it
relies on architecture for a massive educational program, restores dignity to a
population that was historically relegated and offers a space for the balanced
encounter between two apparently irreconcilable worlds.
Accompanying
this architectural action, the exhibition immerses us in the Peruvian Amazon
through visual actions that show the immeasurable mystery of its inhabitants and
give a true " radiography " of the impenetrable lushness of the
jungle.
The
visitors will follow a ribbon printed with the faces of the Amazonian children
by Musuk Nolte, and the footprint of the jungle, the “Amazogramas” created by
Roberto Huarcaya. This ribbon is suspended from a wooden canopy, in
permanent equilibrium. Also suspended, a group of tables and chairs brought
from the Amazonian schools, reveal the precarious and harsh conditions in which
teachers and students interact today. The balance of the fragile and undulating
ribbon compels us, as in the Amazon rainforest, to be responsible for
preserving its balance.
Our
Amazon Frontline / Pabellón de Perú en la Bienal de Venecia 2016. Image ©
Laurian Ghinitoiu
OUR
AMAZON FRONTLINE
Venue: Sale d’Armi, Arsenale
Participants: Ministry of Education – Plan Selva Project: Project leader: Elizabeth Añaños Team: Militza Carrillo, Miguel Chavez, Sebastián Cillóniz, Alvaro Echevarria, Gino Fernandez, Claudia Flores, Luis Miguel Hadzich, Daisuke Izumi, Alfonso Orbegoso, Carlos Tamayo, Alejandro Torero, Karel Van Oordt, José Luis Villanueva
Participants: Ministry of Education – Plan Selva Project: Project leader: Elizabeth Añaños Team: Militza Carrillo, Miguel Chavez, Sebastián Cillóniz, Alvaro Echevarria, Gino Fernandez, Claudia Flores, Luis Miguel Hadzich, Daisuke Izumi, Alfonso Orbegoso, Carlos Tamayo, Alejandro Torero, Karel Van Oordt, José Luis Villanueva
PERU’S PAVILION: OUR AMAZON FRONTLINE AT THE VENICE BIENNALE 2016
BY EQUIPO EDITORIAL
VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016: ARSENALE & GIARDINI ENTRY’S
DESIGN BY ALEJANDRO ARAVENA
VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016: ARSENALE & GIARDINI ENTRY’S
DESIGN BY ALEJANDRO ARAVENA
May 28, 2016 - November 27, 2016
Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena has used over 90 tonnes of waste generated by the Venice Art Biennale 2015 to create two introductory rooms for this year's architecture event.
The Elemental founder, who curated the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016, created installations in the first rooms of both the Arsenale and Central Pavilion venues using seven miles of scrap metal and 10,000-square-metres of plasterboard leftover from last year's Art Biennale.
"The opening halls of Biennale Architettura 2016 were built with 100 tons of waste material generated by the previous Biennale," said a statement from Aravena.
Lengths of crumpled metal channelling are suspended vertically from the ceiling like fringing in the first room of the Arsenale – a 300-metre-long building on the eastern side of Venice that once operated as the rope works of a shipyard, but is now used as one of the Biennale's two primary venues.
Similarly, the walls are covered by stacks of multi-tonal plasterboard that incorporate display shelves.
A similar installation is also hosted in the foyer of the Central Pavilion, which is located in the Giardini.
Venice's Art and Architecture Biennales take place on alternate years in the Arsenale and the Giardini.
Aravena's title for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016 is Reporting From The Front – a theme intended to encourage architects to address some of the most important global issues. His star-studded list of contributors include Tadao Ando, Peter Zumthor, David Chipperfield and SANAA.
Wide-ranging interpretation of the theme has resulted in installations and exhibits dealing with economic crisis, housing, waste, migration and robotic construction.
You may visit to see more details from news of Venice Architecture Biennale 2016: Arsenale & Giardini Entry's Design by Alejandro Aravena to click below link from my blog.
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com.tr/2016/06/venice-architecture-biennale-2016.html
VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016: ARSENALE & GIARDINI ENTRY’S
DESIGN BY ALEJANDRO ARAVENA
ALEJANDRO ARAVENA & PAOLO BARATTA
ALEJANDRO
ARAVENA
Alejandro Aravena was born on June 22, 1967, in
Santiago, Chile. He graduated as an architect from the Universidad Católica de
Chile in 1992. In 1994, he established his own practice, Alejandro Aravena
Architects. Since 2001 he has been leading ELEMENTAL, a “Do Tank” focusing on
projects of public interest and social impact, including housing, public space,
infrastructure, and transportation.
ELEMENTAL has built work in Chile, The United States,
Mexico, China and Switzerland. After the 2010 earthquake and tsunami that hit
Chile, ELEMENTAL was called to work on the reconstruction of the city of
Constitucion, Chile. Aravena's partners in ELEMENTAL are Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan
Cerda, Victor Oddó and Diego Torres.
Alejandro Aravena is the Director of the Venice Architecture
Biennale 2016. He was a speaker at TED Global in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in
2014. He was a member of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury from 2009 to 2015.
In 2010 he was named International Fellow of the Royal
Institute of British Architects and identified as one of the 20 new heroes of
the world by Monocle magazine. He is a Board Member of the Cities Program of
the London School of Economics since 2011; Regional Advisory Board Member of
the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; Board Member of the
Swiss Holcim Foundation since 2013; Foundational Member of the Chilean Public
Policies Society; and Leader of the Helsinki Design Lab for SITRA, the Finnish
Government Innovation Fund. He was one of the 100 personalities contributing to
the Rio +20 Global Summit in 2012.
Aravena was a Professor at the Harvard Graduate School
of Design (2000 and 2005); and also taught at Istituto Universitario di
Architettura di Venezia (2005), Architectural Association in London (1999), and
London School of Economics. He has held the ELEMENTAL Copec Chair at
Universidad Católica de Chile since 2006.
Author of Los Hechos de la Arquitectura ( Architectural
Facts, 1999 ), El Lugar de la Arquitectura ( The Place
in/of Architecture, 2002 ) and Material de Arquitectura ( Architecture
Matters, 2003 ). His work has been published in more than 50 countries, Electa
published the monograph Alejandro Aravena; progettare e costruire (
Milan, 2007 ) and Toto published Alejandro Aravena; the Forces
in Architecture ( Tokyo, 2011 ). Hatje-Cantz published the first monograph
dedicated to the social housing projects of ELEMENTAL: Incremental Housing
and Participatory Design Manual ( Berlin, 2012 ) launched at the 12th
International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia.
http://www.elementalchile.cl/en/
