Architecture as Collage
Brussels-based Office KGDVS, founded by Kersten Geers and David Van Severen, has been a long-time collaborator with photographer Bas Princen. Their latest project, the Garden Pavilion, won the Silver Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Working together on and off since the start of their careers, this collaboration was in some ways an inevitability, but [...]
Venice: An Overview of the Arsenale
Two years ago, Aaron Betksy was director of the Venice Architecure Biennale. His exhibiiton entitled Beyond Architecture in the Arsenale was over-filled with extravagant structures and over-complicated installations: Nigel Coates presented a saddle, Frank Gehry gave us a truncated version of his tree-trunk-y Serpentine pavilion from the same year. The huge Arsenale, a former rope [...]
Venice: A Glimpse of the Pavilions
As ever, the national pavilions at the Giardini were a spectrum of spectacles: ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. From the outright stupidity of the Polish contribution to the serenely beautiful artefacts exhibited by the Belgians, a quiet tribute to the resiliance of materials and the traces the practice of quotidian life leaves behind. [...]
Venice: The Car-Free City?
Jurgen Mayer Architects were last named the winner of the Audi Urban Futures Award. The award is an innovation was set up by the German car manufacturer to encourage discussions around the relationship between mobility and urban planning. Mayer’s winning proposal posited a future where cars are run entirely on electricity taken from a smart-grid, [...]
Venice: The Big Show Begins.
On the eve of the Biennale, a small corner of Venice, just north of the Arsenale, is bathed in the soft glow of light from the improvised cinema screen. A Russian film is playing and people are sat on a random assortment of chairs or lying on the floor, sweltering in the humidity but enjoying [...]
