Reflections on architecture

I’d heard the usual stories about the Biennale – That it was all about opulence, egotism, politics etc so I decided to go with no preconceptions and not be dragged into that debate. Instead I’ll post some images of the pavilions that stood out for me.

The Japanese Pavilion, winner of the Golden Lion prize, and curated by Toyo Ito was for me the most emotive. I’m sure this was largely because it was related to the tsunami of 2011 and specifically the town of Rikuzentakata, and consisted of a whole series of housing solutions largely in model format for those who lost their homes in the disaster.

The Nordic Pavilion is definitely worth a look, if for nothing other than a visit to see the Pavilion itself design by Sverre Fehn. It consisted of 32 models by 32 architects born after 1962 in Finland, Norway and Sweden that represented a house that reflects their personal philosophy of architecture.

The high-tech, interactive Russian Pavilion curated by Sergei Tchoban was good too and on ground level revealed images and information about more than 60 secret, gated cities created during the Cold War from 1945-1989 in the Soviet Union for scientific research. This was, to me, more interesting that the QR code clad walls upstairs which when scanned using the handheld tablets detailed information about the Skolkovo project -a proposal for a “new city which promotes architectural and technological innovations in Russian urbanism.”

Other highlights were the German Pavilion with great images of adaptive-reuse projects, the Finish Pavilion with its clever use of wood and of course the main Biennale’s Pavilion itself which housed too my interesting exhibitions to digest in one go.

We plan on taking a walk round the Arsenale later in the week, after another public outing for the gallery.

Images by Murdo McDermid