Reporting from the Front: Venice Architectural Biennale 2016 Day one

Day one of thought provoking exhibition in Venice looking at the major themes in architecture at the moment.

The show is vast and we ended up doing it over two days. As there is just too much to write in one blog I thought I’d split my write up over two starting with the first day I went which was all based at the Arsenale site.

Whatever themes the organisers had set it quickly became apparent that the themes from the exhibitors were housing the migrants who are coming Europe, how to make the most of scarce resources and the benefit of involving communities in planning a project.

The most striking display at the Arsenale on the theme of migrants was a wonderful huge blue city scape. It looked at how a fast build type of housing could be put up throughout a city rather than creating ghetto areas. This was also housing which could be built by the migrants themselves and could be added to as needed. This gives people a real stake in where they live.

The resources theme hit you straight away as the first room was built from waste from last year’s Biennale and the second included square meters drawn onto the floor with bags on money in them to show how much different projects cost around the world. I loved the quote in one exhibit “Sustainability is nothing more than the rigorous use of common sense”, perfect.

On the community theme I loved some videos about a town in Alabama which realised there insurance premiums were really high because they lived so from a fire station so, with the help of an architecture company, they built on. From this start they then worked with the same company to build other amenities. They used simple ideas to strengthen their community. Another exhibit made the point that “Architecture doesn’t solve social problems. People working together solve social problems.”.

There was also a fascinating section on temporary space focusing on the Kumbh Mela Hindu Festival for which a city which houses 5m people for 55 days every 12 years which also copes with 2m more people visiting for a few days. It looked at what lessons could be learnt from planning this space and building it fast. 

Also a quick mention to a display with input from the V&A called “A World of Fragile Parts” looking the role of copying in conservation and how 3D printing fits into that.

Closes on 27 November 2016.

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