Reporting from the Front: Venice Architectural Biennale 2016 Day two

Day two of a 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. This article looks at day two spent at Giardini site which houses all the main country pavilions.

The themes on this site were similar to the first day, 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. I must admit after a while the pavilions merged rather plus we descended into train spotter mode and were determined to do them all so there was a bit of a race at the end!

I was interested in the Netherland’s Pavilion which looked at how a UN Peacekeeping force could set up a temporary site in a way that could change as the work progress so in the end they could withdraw but leave behind a useful resource for the people. Israel looked at how architects can learn from nature such as basing a HVAC system on the science of breathing.

Finland showed interesting ideas on how to house migrants but it was a bit unclear which of them, if any, had been completed. I liked the idea of a house ¼ of which could be sectioned off for emergency housing. When it wasn’t in use for that it could be incorporated back into the family home.

I found the British pavilion quite frightening as it looked at new ways of living and I’m not sure I liked any of them! It defined housing needs in terms of length of stay and looked at different needs. I found the communal living idea particularly odd with a shared storage area in the middle. I got the idea of sharing a hoover but clothes?!

Most moving was the German pavilion which had knocked new holes into its walls which had no doors or windows, They would not be closed throughout the Biennale representing the idea that Germany was open to all comers.

A couple of pavilions didn’t seem to have got the memo that this was the architectural Biennale and looked more like what you find at the contemporary art one. I loved a pavilion with wooden puppets which moved in a wonderful natural manner when you turned a handle. There was a wonderful dinner party/Last Supper scene but really not sure what it had to do with architecture.

Anyway a great two days which I am still digesting two weeks on!

Closes on 27 November 2016.

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