EUPavilion
Basic information
Project Title
EUPavilion
Full project title
EUPavilion, Eight Proposals
Category
Regaining a sense of belonging
Project Description
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Geographical Scope
National
Project Region
Italy
Urban or rural issues
Mainly urban
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
EU Programme or fund
No
Description of the project
Summary
EUPavilion - Eight Proposals presents eight projects for the first European Pavilion at the Venice Biennale proposed by European artistic and architectural practices.
Armature Globale, BB (Alessandro Bava and Fabrizio Ballabio) in collaboration with Tomaso De Luca, Jasmina Cibic, Diogo Passarinho Studio, Plan Común, Something Fantastic, TEN, and Evita Vasiljeva were invited by the curators to reimagine the national pavilion, the dominant symbolic and spatial paradigm within the Biennale context.
At the same time, the project for the European Pavilion provided an opportunity for asking what new representative languages are needed for defining the identity of a supranational organization in a state of continuous evolution and perpetual construction like the European Union.
The variety of approaches and responses provided by the participants – who grew up both within and on the borders of a Union under construction – reveals the extent to which architecture constitutes fertile, albeit little used, ground on which to develop the debate on European integration as a cultural project.
Armature Globale, BB (Alessandro Bava and Fabrizio Ballabio) in collaboration with Tomaso De Luca, Jasmina Cibic, Diogo Passarinho Studio, Plan Común, Something Fantastic, TEN, and Evita Vasiljeva were invited by the curators to reimagine the national pavilion, the dominant symbolic and spatial paradigm within the Biennale context.
At the same time, the project for the European Pavilion provided an opportunity for asking what new representative languages are needed for defining the identity of a supranational organization in a state of continuous evolution and perpetual construction like the European Union.
The variety of approaches and responses provided by the participants – who grew up both within and on the borders of a Union under construction – reveals the extent to which architecture constitutes fertile, albeit little used, ground on which to develop the debate on European integration as a cultural project.
Key objectives for sustainability
EUPavilion – Eight Proposals is an exhibition dedicated to the imagination of a new architecture for Europe. EUPavilion is born out of a research laboratory on the relationship between the EU institutions and architecture. Through the organization of an architecture exhibition and a publication, the project has gathered cutting edge reflections on the spatial and material features of a possible European Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
The EUPavilion project has been the occasion to reflect on environmentally and socially responsible practices and processes for designing public buildings dedicated to the display and production of cultural artifacts today. The eight projects presented in the exhibition have put forward provocative approaches to the use of public space, the use of recycled building materials, the use of advanced prototyping techniques, the urge to build less and better. All the projects therefore propose a variety of different approaches to the pressing issue of sustainability at different levels. Devices and strategies used by the eight projects included:
- Ecological devices that contribute to the well-being and enhancement of existing habitats and ecological corridors.
- Natural cooling effect through, shade, evapotranspiration, retention, and infiltration of rainwater.
- Maximizing biosource construction.
- Profiting off natural light and ventilation within the pavilion.
- Reuse and Upcycling. The reuse of building materials
The EUPavilion project has been the occasion to reflect on environmentally and socially responsible practices and processes for designing public buildings dedicated to the display and production of cultural artifacts today. The eight projects presented in the exhibition have put forward provocative approaches to the use of public space, the use of recycled building materials, the use of advanced prototyping techniques, the urge to build less and better. All the projects therefore propose a variety of different approaches to the pressing issue of sustainability at different levels. Devices and strategies used by the eight projects included:
- Ecological devices that contribute to the well-being and enhancement of existing habitats and ecological corridors.
- Natural cooling effect through, shade, evapotranspiration, retention, and infiltration of rainwater.
- Maximizing biosource construction.
- Profiting off natural light and ventilation within the pavilion.
- Reuse and Upcycling. The reuse of building materials
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
EUPavilion presented ten proposals for the first European Pavilion at the Venice Biennale formulated by emerging European architectural practices. Acknowledging space as a fundamental aspect of an inclusive and democratic public realm, the EUPavilion project aims to question the relationship between the EU institutions and architecture, by means of design.
Pavilions in world fairs and expos have always been charged with a representational duty, in fact their architecture often dominates and survives the exhibited content. The Venice Biennale is no different, national pavilions present a vivid image of the political will of the nations that built them at that very moment in history. While every year new countries join the Biennale with their national participation, a voice is still missing, that of Europe.
The saturation of the Giardini brought about by the pavilions is not only physical but also ideological insofar as it was born out of a twentieth-century national paradigm. Breaking this paradigm means creating the conditions to ask questions about new representative languages, with the understanding that, albeit free from localist drives, pavilions continue to be fundamental as instruments of identity assertion.
The European pavilion project challenges this country-based mode of production and transmission of culture and focuses instead on exchange and dialogue between cultures, states and formats of cultural production.
The design of a European pavilion inside the Giardini della Biennale provided therefore the opportunity for a collective reflection on fundamental questions of language and form for a building representing a non-national – yet not generically international – identity, as part of the broader debate about Europe as a cultural entity.
Pavilions in world fairs and expos have always been charged with a representational duty, in fact their architecture often dominates and survives the exhibited content. The Venice Biennale is no different, national pavilions present a vivid image of the political will of the nations that built them at that very moment in history. While every year new countries join the Biennale with their national participation, a voice is still missing, that of Europe.
The saturation of the Giardini brought about by the pavilions is not only physical but also ideological insofar as it was born out of a twentieth-century national paradigm. Breaking this paradigm means creating the conditions to ask questions about new representative languages, with the understanding that, albeit free from localist drives, pavilions continue to be fundamental as instruments of identity assertion.
The European pavilion project challenges this country-based mode of production and transmission of culture and focuses instead on exchange and dialogue between cultures, states and formats of cultural production.
The design of a European pavilion inside the Giardini della Biennale provided therefore the opportunity for a collective reflection on fundamental questions of language and form for a building representing a non-national – yet not generically international – identity, as part of the broader debate about Europe as a cultural entity.
Key objectives for inclusion
Space, being a powerful medium through which the EU could communicate its values on a broad scale, can and should be an integral part of the European project.
The project, though being focused on a very specific site, the Giardini della Biennale in Venice, has had from the beginning a pan-european scope. The ten emerging practices involved in the call for projects includes a geographically and culturally diverse group of emerging European practices. These offices were established after the 2008 financial crisis and share a non-authorial approach often taking the form of collective and collaborative work. Raised and educated in the context of a stable and expanding political space, they are currently faced with its crisis and the necessity for its re-imagining.
Free, generous, and accessible spaces devoted to culture are at the core of each proposal the exhibition has presented. Spatial devices and strategies focusing on accessibility included: the definition of the pavilion as a totally open, non-enclosed space designed in continuity with the public ground, the inclusion of public seating elements, the design of easily comprehensible and recognizable spaces, the enhancement of the usability of the plot through paving, proving shade and improving the environmental comfort condition.
The project, though being focused on a very specific site, the Giardini della Biennale in Venice, has had from the beginning a pan-european scope. The ten emerging practices involved in the call for projects includes a geographically and culturally diverse group of emerging European practices. These offices were established after the 2008 financial crisis and share a non-authorial approach often taking the form of collective and collaborative work. Raised and educated in the context of a stable and expanding political space, they are currently faced with its crisis and the necessity for its re-imagining.
Free, generous, and accessible spaces devoted to culture are at the core of each proposal the exhibition has presented. Spatial devices and strategies focusing on accessibility included: the definition of the pavilion as a totally open, non-enclosed space designed in continuity with the public ground, the inclusion of public seating elements, the design of easily comprehensible and recognizable spaces, the enhancement of the usability of the plot through paving, proving shade and improving the environmental comfort condition.
Results in relation to category
The project has been a great occasion to revive the debate on the relation between architecture and the European Institutions. The response to the project has been enthusiastic, both from architects and citizens who visited the exhibition. The project has provided the occasion for several public debates and presentations in different contexts (academic, general public festival, cultural spaces) and online. There have been several press features and the @eupavilion instagram account has reached a broad public, with more than 1500 followers. The print run of 500 copies of the catalog is available for purchase.
How Citizens benefit
The target audience of the project ranges from a specialized community to the very broad and international public of contemporary art and architecture. The variety of media and materials through which the projects are presented –website, virtual reality and three-dimensional models together with photo essays and written word– allowed to reach an extremely diverse public.
Choosing the Biennale di Venezia as a starting point for the project provides an opportunity to have an effective impact on the public debate. The Biennale is one of the major cultural events in Europe, gathering a public of hundreds of thousands of visitors every year in Venice. 50% of this broad public is formed by young citizens under 26 years of age.
All European countries are represented through a national pavilion which is often curated by a public cultural institution. For these reasons it represents the ideal testing ground for a reflection on a new kind of European public building/space.
The exhibition happened in different media and temporalities, reaching different social and cultural contexts to open a debate on the meaning and relevance of design in defining the diverse European public realm.
Choosing the Biennale di Venezia as a starting point for the project provides an opportunity to have an effective impact on the public debate. The Biennale is one of the major cultural events in Europe, gathering a public of hundreds of thousands of visitors every year in Venice. 50% of this broad public is formed by young citizens under 26 years of age.
All European countries are represented through a national pavilion which is often curated by a public cultural institution. For these reasons it represents the ideal testing ground for a reflection on a new kind of European public building/space.
The exhibition happened in different media and temporalities, reaching different social and cultural contexts to open a debate on the meaning and relevance of design in defining the diverse European public realm.
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Innovative character
The EUPavilion exhibition addresses two issues. The first is a spatial and formal investigation of new representative languages. In a time when traditional understandings of the role of monuments and architecture in our cities are under scrutiny, the EUPavilion project seeks to create a space for fresh reflections on the often-contested relationship between institutions and architecture. The exhibition – distancing itself from the authorial approach that sought recognizable interventions and symbols and dominated architectural production for decades – takes the form of a collective and multi-disciplinary reflection on pressing issues of identity and spatial politics.
The second issue is related to the formats and media through which architecture can be displayed in an exhibition. The ten proposals for the pavilion are presented through models. Responding to the ongoing debate on exhibiting architecture, the ten models for the EUPavilion will be displayed on three media: web, print, space. Each of the three formats through which the projects are presented is not an autonomous rendition of the proposals, but forms a complementary part of a single critical investigation on new media for architecture, reflecting on the blurring of the distinction between fiction and reality allowed by a digital representation of space.
The second issue is related to the formats and media through which architecture can be displayed in an exhibition. The ten proposals for the pavilion are presented through models. Responding to the ongoing debate on exhibiting architecture, the ten models for the EUPavilion will be displayed on three media: web, print, space. Each of the three formats through which the projects are presented is not an autonomous rendition of the proposals, but forms a complementary part of a single critical investigation on new media for architecture, reflecting on the blurring of the distinction between fiction and reality allowed by a digital representation of space.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
EUPavilion was developed from the onset with a strong multidisciplinary and multimedia approach. The project brought together architects, graphic designers, scholars, artists, photographers, video-makers, musicians in a collaborative effort. The collaboration resulted in the creation of various media to communicate the project, which can therefore appeal and relate to very different publics. The produced media include: a printed publication, an online exhibition showcasing videos, photos and texts, a physical exhibition showcasing an immersive VR experience, a large format video, and printed matter.
The interaction in between the different languages and disciplines was intended as an experimental practice of translation from architecture models into other – more broadly accessible – artistic medias.
The interaction in between the different languages and disciplines was intended as an experimental practice of translation from architecture models into other – more broadly accessible – artistic medias.
Methodology used
The project adopted a strongly research oriented approach in order to foster innovative responses to the proposed theme. Horizontal collaboration and exchange constituted an integral part of the exhibition design process, which was really a dialogue between different voices. This experimental approach was used both in the design phase by the involved practices, and by the curatorial and exhibition design team with regards to the public presentation and communication of the outcomes of the project.
How stakeholders are engaged
The project was developed with the support of the European Cultural Foundation, which provided the opportunity to present the project through different media and in different venues. These included: a public presentation at OGR in Turin, an online event on the occasion of the Europe Day hosted by the ECF, an exhibition at MEGA Gallery in Milan, an exhibition at the German Academy Villa Massimo in Rome.
Parallel activities such as a three-week long design workshop with European students was made possible through the support of IUAV University in Venice.
A public talk with Stefano Boeri, Paola Viganò and Pier Paolo Tamburelli was hosted by the Triennale in Milan. The publication was presented at the Vicino Lontano literary festival in Udine, IUAV University in Venice, Università Federico II in Naples among others.
Parallel activities such as a three-week long design workshop with European students was made possible through the support of IUAV University in Venice.
A public talk with Stefano Boeri, Paola Viganò and Pier Paolo Tamburelli was hosted by the Triennale in Milan. The publication was presented at the Vicino Lontano literary festival in Udine, IUAV University in Venice, Università Federico II in Naples among others.
Global challenges
The project is taking the pavilion as an exemplary case study to reimagine the way in which European institutions use architecture to represent their core values. The pavilion is therefore seen as an experimental prototype for new languages, formal and aesthetic solutions as well as innovative technological and building practices that could be applied in other public or private buildings all over Europe.
Learning transferred to other parties
The exhibition has been presented through three different media: web, print, and space.
The show features two photo essays: Delfino Sisto Legnani reflects on the gathering spaces found in European mobility infrastructures; Giorgio De Vecchi explores the city of Nova Gorica-Gorizia a symbolic place for the European political and cultural integration process; each of the eight offices involved presented a model of the EU pavilion project proposal, scale 1:20. The models were displayed in three ways: in a series of videos published on the project website; in a two-dimensional photographic representation printed in the catalog; 3d scanned and integrated into a VR experience of the project site in 1:1 scale, which was part of the physical exhibition.
The exhibition could be therefore easily be replicated in different venues across Europe due to the ease of installation of the different medias that constitute it.
The format of the exhibition, could also be replicated through the proposition of different speculative design centered exhibitions and design workshops that should gather critical thoughts on pressing issues for the New European Bauhaus project.
The show features two photo essays: Delfino Sisto Legnani reflects on the gathering spaces found in European mobility infrastructures; Giorgio De Vecchi explores the city of Nova Gorica-Gorizia a symbolic place for the European political and cultural integration process; each of the eight offices involved presented a model of the EU pavilion project proposal, scale 1:20. The models were displayed in three ways: in a series of videos published on the project website; in a two-dimensional photographic representation printed in the catalog; 3d scanned and integrated into a VR experience of the project site in 1:1 scale, which was part of the physical exhibition.
The exhibition could be therefore easily be replicated in different venues across Europe due to the ease of installation of the different medias that constitute it.
The format of the exhibition, could also be replicated through the proposition of different speculative design centered exhibitions and design workshops that should gather critical thoughts on pressing issues for the New European Bauhaus project.
Keywords
architecture
culture
sustainability
public space
pavilion
