PATRICIA URIQUIOLA THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL AT 19TH INTERNATIONAL
ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION OF LA
BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
Location: Corderie,
Arsenale, Venice
At the 19thInternational
Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the unique interdisciplinary
team of Beatriz Colomina, Roberto Kolter, Patricia Urquiola, and Mark Wigley
have fused microbiology and theoretical physics with architectural history,
theory, and design to produce The Other Side of the Hill. This dramatic
thought-provoking installation at the second room of Corderie in the Arsenale
confronts visitors with the shocking unsustainable super-exponential rise of
the global human population but also the imminent equally shocking population
collapse in less than a generation as fertility rates have steadily fallen
across the globe. The Other Side of the Hill provokes new ways of thinking
about the kinds of city and shared life possible in a future beyond relentless
growth. Bacteria, the experts in growth for more than four billion years, but
also the experts in living collaboratively with limited resources, act as
guides towards a more adaptive, trans-species, and regenerative future.
For the installation,
Patricia Urquiola designs a massive sculptural hill in the shape of the human
population curve since the first cities 5000 years ago. It is made from 1500
modular bricks created using Cimento®️, a composite material that incorporates hydraulic binders,
mineral aggregates, recycled glass, spirulina, and organic elements sourced
from the Venetian lagoon, including marsh reeds, shells, fishing nets, and
algae filaments. This living material forms the massive ever-steeper hill while
conveying the installation’s themes of interdependence, recycling, and the
potential for regeneration.
When passing to the other side of the hill, our unknown future, visitors enter a grotto-like space inhabited by germinating mosses assisted by bacteria that also feels like a kind of laboratory where floating petri dishes present multimedia reflections on the behavior of microbial cities—biofilms—and how microbes adapt to environmental challenges. The project draws inspiration from the concept of trans-scalar, trans-species collaborative plasticity, highlighting how human architecture could evolve in response to future crises by learning from microbial systems that thrive through collaboration, adaptation, and innovation. The work of visual and sound artists, motion designers, and an agronomist is integral to the installation.
Rather than offering a single narrative or solution, The Other Side of the Hill invites visitors to reflect on the future of cities and the urgent need for a paradigm shift as big as the industrial revolution. On one side, the all too clear human compulsion to impose itself on the planet. On the other side, an opaque future: life forms that are ambiguous, both bacterial and artificial. No longer a world shaped to fit us, but an ecosystem of hybrids, presences that force us to rethink the very idea of life. A world of unlikely transformative alliances. A new kind of garden.
.jpg)
STUDIO URQUIOLA
Studio Urquiola was
founded in 2001 by Patricia Urquiola and her partner, Alberto Zontone, and it
operates in the fields of Industrial Product Design, Architecture (hotels,
retail spaces, residences, exhibitions and installations), Art Direction and
Strategy consulting.
PATRICIA URQUIOLA, 1961
Originally from Oviedo,
Spain, Patricia Urquiola studied architecture and design at the Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid and completed her studies at the Politecnico di Milano
where she graduated under the mentorship of Achille Castiglioni. Her career
highlights include: Assistant lecturer to Achille Castiglioni and Eugenio
Bettinelli in Milan and Paris, responsible for the new product development
office of De Padova, working with Vico Magistretti. In 1996 she became head of
the Lissoni Associati design group.
WORK AND CLIENTS
Patricia Urquiola starts each
project by building an empathic connection with the user that will eventually
interact with her designs, something she learned from Achille Castiglioni,
establishing the “fundamental element” as he used to call, the basis of each
project which always keeps her on track and accompanies her whole design
process: thinking spaces or objects in relation to people. Pushing the limits
of research and technology, Patricia Urquiola constantly experiments and dares
to move towards better design and architecture, following her earlier mentors’
teachings such as Vico Magistretti and Maddalena de Padova. Used to confront
complex processes, working with scales from micro to macro, she works with the
available technology to go beyond the limits of what has been already
experimented.
Studio Urquiola is frequently
asked to design not only objects and architectures but also to think about the
future of mobility, workplace and production cycles. Creating links between
craftsmanship and industrial research, the heritage together with innovation
and technology, Patricia Urquiola also drives companies she works with to
upcycle once-waste material and tries to re-image entire processes leading them
to change, evolution and innovation.
Patricia Urquiola believes in
an original design point of view merging humanistic, technological and social
approaches. Her design thinking is the intersection of challenges and breaking
prejudices, finding unexpected connections between the familiar and the
unexplored.
Patricia Urquiola has been
the Creative Director of Cassina since 2015 and works with important Italian
and international design companies, including Agape, Alessi, Axor-Hansgrohe,
B&B Italia, Baccarat, Boffi, Budri, De Padova, Driade, Coedition,
Ferragamo, Flos, Gan, Georg Jensen, Glas Italia, Haworth, Kartell, Kettal,
Kvadrat, Listone Giordano, Louis Vuitton, Molteni, Moroso, Mutina, Rosenthal
and Verywood…
Amongst her latest projects
in architecture are Il Sereno Hotel in Como, the Room Mate Giulia Hotel in
Milan, the SD96 yacht for Sanlorenzo, Marienturm and Marienforum towers in
Frankfurt, the spa of the Four Seasons Hotel Milan, The Jewellery Museum in
Vicenza, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Barcelona, Das Stue Hotel in Berlin;
showrooms and installations for Gianvito Rossi, BMW, Cassina, Missoni, Moroso,
Molteni, Officine Panerai, H&M, Santoni and the general concept of Pitti
Immagine in Florence…
Patricia Urquiola is part of
the advisory board of the Politecnico of Milan and the Triennale Milano Museum.
She taught the Master’s Degree in Interior Design at the Domus Academy in Milan
(2013-2015) and has given lectures at Harvard University, Michigan University,
Shenkar School of Engineering and Design in Israel, at the Alvar Aalto Academy
in Finland, at the State University and Bocconi University in Milan. She has
also given talks at countless cultural events, such as Design Shanghai, Design
Week in Istanbul, the Expressive Design conference at the Vitra Design Museum,
Weil am Rhein, Germany, the Bloomberg Design Conference in San Francisco,
Festarch Perugia, the Mind Festival in Sarzana and the Mantova Literature
Festival, among other events in Italy. She was an ambassador of the Milan Expo
in 2015.
You
may click below links to reach Patricia Urquiola’s designs of Moroso, B & B
Italia Bend Sofa,
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2025/04/patricia-urquiola-designs-for-moroso.html
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2013/10/b-b-italia-bend-sofa-design-by-patricia.html
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2013/11/b-b-italia-tufty-time-design-by.html
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2013/04/patricia-urquiola-s-design-lana-mangas.html
EXHIBITIONS
Patricia Urquiola’s work is
exhibited in many art and design museums across the world, including the MoMA
in New York, the Decorative Arts Museum in Paris, the Design Museum in Monaco,
the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Victoria & Albert Museum in
London, the Design Museum in Zurich, the Stedelijk Museum of modern and
contemporary art in Amsterdam and the Philadelphia Art Museum.
At Madrid Design Festival,
earlier 2020, an exhibition entitled “Patricia Urquiola. Nature Morte Vivante”
opened to public, focusing on the work at different stages of her career. The
exhibition was laid out in a non-chronological way around five pillars
exploring recurrent themes of Patricia Urquiola’s work and mindset.
“Exploring the mind of Patricia Urquiola offers many surprises, among them, discovering the unexpected themes that feed her voracious curiosity: virtual reality, economy, politics, artificial intelligence, the theory of color, the Anthropocene, robotics, ecology and sustainability, gender issues, man and machines, and so on. They are the foundation of an entire way of thinking that is imperative to the responsibility and coherence of a person that carefully introduces each new object of her creation into this agonizing and ill-treated planet. Patricia Urquiola´s career reveals a “rhizomatic” attitude towards projects, a type of mindset that is also her work method. Thus, all the elements involved have the same importance and influence each other horizontally, without imposing hierarchies.” explains Ana Dominguez Siemens, the curator of the exhibition.
PRIZES AND AWARDS
She has won several
international prizes and awards including the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las
Bellas Artes (Gold Medal in Fine Arts) awarded by the Spanish Government; Order
of Isabella the Catholic, awarded by His Majesty The King of Spain Juan Carlos
I; “Designer of the decade” for two German magazines, Home and Häuser,
“Designer of the Year” for Wallpaper, Ad Spain, Elle Decor International and
Architektur und Wohnen Magazine. She was the Ambassador of the Milan Expo in
2015. She was nominated Art Director of Cassina in September 2015.
STUDIO URQUIOLA
has now a team of around 70,
composed of 43 architects and interior designers; 15 product designers, textile
designers and model makers; 12 at financial, administration, PR & press
department. 18 nationalities are represented and 15 foreign languages are
spoken, a very international community with designers and architects
collaborating in the most interrelated possible way.
THE NORMAN FOSTER FOUNDATION TEAM AND PORSCHE PRESENT
‘’GATEWAY TO VENICE’S WATERWAY’’ AT THE
BIENNALE ARCHITETTURA 2025
For the Norman Foster
Foundation Team and Porsche, the Biennale Architettura 2025 marks the beginning
of a new creative collaboration, in which product design and architecture
collide to explore the future of mobility.
The collaborative
endeavour—announced last February as part of the The Art of Dreams
initiative—brings together architect Norman Foster and the Norman Foster
Foundation Team alongside designers from Porsche to investigate every aspect of
mobility—from individual vehicles to infrastructure expanding on the motif of
dreams and the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2025 (Intelligens. Natural.
Artificial. Collective).
The result is an
architectural structure, titled Gateway to Venice’s Waterway—an innovative
transportation hub that serves as an exploration into future mobility in Venice
and beyond.
‘Dreams were interpreted
as aspirations brought to life through design’, says Norman Foster, President,
Norman Foster Foundation. ‘In the context of the Biennale Architettura 2025,
dreams inspired the reimagining of Venice’s transportation infrastructure,
bridging heritage and innovation. In architecture, it became a challenge to
create a structure that not only functions as a transportation hub, but also
resonates emotionally with its users. The biomorphic design reflects the
dreamlike interplay of form, function and sustainability’.
Gateway to Venice’s
Waterway—a 37-metre-long, animal-like structure, evocative of Venice’s historic
network of bridges—is a physical manifestation of the intersection between
design and architecture. The design and construction of the outer structure is
derived from lightweight technology found in racing cars such as the Porsche
917, which combines a solid aluminium structure (chassis) with a kinetic
surface inspired by Porsche’s Kubus pattern.
Both a functional gateway
and bridge, the hub actively connects with new electric modes of transportation
both on water and land. These include water bikes (Schiller bikes) and
motorboats with electric propulsion (Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air boats,
utilising an adaptation of the Porsche Macan engine) which will be operating as
carbon-free mobility solutions during the opening week of the Biennale
Architettura 2025. By the vitrines, further demonstrations of alternative urban
mobility solutions by students from Porsche Style and Studio F.A. Porsche Zell
am See will be on display.
‘Porsche is and remains a
brand that is characterised by a highly demanding field of tension between
tradition and innovation,’ says Michael Mauer, Vice President Style, Porsche.
‘This means that we as a design team are constantly dealing with the question
of how we can strategically shape the future of our brand in terms of identity
and authenticity. The exchange with Lord Norman Foster and his team is a very
valuable source of inspiration. This look beyond the confines of pure vehicle
design provides us with important impulses for the consistent, but also
future-oriented direction’.
The first Biennale
Architettura to be entirely circular and no-waste, this sustainable precedent
underscores the entirety of the collaboration where Gateway—from every element
in design to implementation, has been carefully created to contemporary
sustainability principles.
‘This project encouraged
a reimagining of the design philosophy to integrate circular economy principles
and car manufacture know-how’, explains Norman Foster. ‘Local materials were
incorporated to honour the site’s heritage while reducing the environmental
footprint. The collaboration with Porsche enabled us to push boundaries to
design with practical, scalable solutions tailored to Venice’s challenges and
opportunities’.
Gateway further responds to the immediate transportation challenges in Venice and beyond, designed to migrate and evolve to new locations, in anticipation of the changing demands of global urban mobility. A bridge between heritage and innovation, Gateway embodies the dream of lasting and scalable impact and function, ensuring inclusivity for individuals of all ages and abilities.
The beginning of a new joint venture, Gateway also opens conversations beyond architecture, where we will see the Norman Foster Foundation and Porsche extend their collaboration, delving into the topic of the future of automobile mobility. Joint sketches outlining a vision for the future of individual mobility will be on display, serving as the cornerstone for the continuation of the partnership.
NORMAN
FOSTER
Chairman + Founder
Norman Foster was born in Manchester. After graduating from Manchester
University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 he won a Henry
Fellowship to Yale University, where he was a fellow of Jonathan Edwards
College and gained a Master’s Degree in Architecture.
In 1963 he co-founded Team 4 and in 1967 he established Foster Associates,
now known as Foster + Partners. Founded in London, it is now a worldwide
practice, with project offices in more than twenty countries. Over the past
four decades the company has been responsible for a strikingly wide range of
work, from urban masterplans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and
cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product
design. Since its inception, the practice has received 470 awards and citations
for excellence and has won more than 86 international and national
competitions.
Norman Foster was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1983, the
Gold Medal for the French Academy of Architecture in 1991 and the American
Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1994. Also in 1994, he was appointed
Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture inFrance.
In 1999 he became the twenty-first Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate; and in
2002 he was elected to the German Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und
Künste and awarded the Praemium Imperiale. He was granted a Knighthood in the
Queen’s Birthday Honours List, 1990, and appointed by the Queen to the Order of
Merit in 1997. In 1999 he was honoured with a life peerage in the Queen’s
Birthday Honours List, taking the title Lord Foster of Thames Bank.
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/about-us/team/senior-executive-partners/norman-foster/
You
may click below links to see news of ‘’ 425 PARK AVENUE DESIGN BY NORMAN FOSTER & PARTNERS ‘’,
‘’ MOTION AUTOS, ART, ARCHITECTURE AT GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBOA ‘’, ‘’ NORMAN FOSTER AT CENTRE POMPIDOU ’’ from My
Magical Attic Blog.
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2015/09/425-park-avenue-design-by-norman-foster.html
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2022/06/motion-autos-art-architecture-at.html
https://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2023/07/norman-foster-atcentre-pompidou-paris.html
.jpg)
NORMAN
FOSTER PARTNER
THE WAY WE WORK
From the beginning, we have pioneered a sustainable approach to design,
through work that spans the spectrum from masterplans to furniture. Our
approach is sensitive to location and culture, often combining the latest
advances in building technology with techniques drawn from vernacular
tradition; and we harness the skills, enthusiasm and knowledge of integrated
design teams, clients and communities to create inspirational environments.
By working together creatively from the start of a project, architects and
engineers combine their knowledge to devise integrated, sustainable design
solutions. From appointment to completion, the design teams are supported by
numerous in-house disciplines, including project management and a construction
review panel. And to ensure consistency and personal service, the same core
team sees a project through from beginning to end. The design process is
reviewed regularly by the Design Board, and the practice is led by the
Partnership Board.
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/about-us/the-way-we-work/
TEAM
Ideas can flow more freely when architects, structural and environmental
engineers work together creatively from the beginning of a project. By doing
so, they can combine their knowledge, and learn from one another, to devise
sustainable, fully integrated design solutions. Alongside the architects and
engineers are the many specialist teams whose expertise underpins our approach.
Our commitment to research and development has allowed us to bring our
combined expertise to bear on an unprecedented range of projects around the
world. Although design work tends to be focused in London, Riverside is just
one of a network of offices that spans six continents and virtually every time
zone. The practice reflects this rich mix of cultural connections; the team is
young and cosmopolitan.
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/about-us/team/
.png)
