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Kvadrat is proud to support Sauerbruch Hutton and Kéré Architecture for their works presented at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia
Enclosed by a timber structure, the installation Oxymoron by acclaimed architectural studio Sauerbruch Hutton is wedged in between the monumental columns of the Corderie in Arsenale, radiating a seductive colourful glow of interweaving shapes countering, countering its strict geometric frame.
70 singularly engineered trapeze free form Kvadrat Soft Cells panels make up the intricate pattern, that capsules the structure, and are visible from both sides. Once inside, the colour treatment seems to explode the physical confines and large black and white photographs below similarly appear to expand the space.
The installation condenses the architectural themes of Sauerbruch Hutton’s M9 Museum District in Venice-Mestre on a stretch of land that was formerly occupied by military institutions. Comprising seven buildings such as a converted 16th century convent, a 1970s office structure and a new museum for the history of the 20th century in Italy, the M9 Museum District is an agent of urban renewal and an example of how Sauerbruch Hutton’s architecture provides amenity and specific atmospheres. Liberating in intent, yet faithful to the fundamentally limiting act of construction, the oxymoron of freespace catches an essential condition of Sauerbruch Hutton’s architectural practice.
Oxymoron by Sauerbruch HuttonCorderie dell’Arsenale30122 Venice
Interviews upon request during the preview days at la Biennale de Venezia 2018 with Louisa Hutton, Matthias Sauerbruch and Juan Lucas Young
Please contact:Caroline Wolf, Head of Communication, [email protected] or Ana Berlin, [email protected]
Press Release16th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia24 May 2018
With their pavilion Zoí, situated in the Artiglierie dell’Arsenale, Berlin-based Kéré Architecture examines the possible human reactions to a space open to free and unplanned uses in an architectural context. Six triangular modules make up Zoí’s structure, which can be assembled in infinite configurations to adapt to infinite uses depending on its location and on the needs of its inhabitants.
Taking their cue from the refugee camps, where every primary need is covered with standardized solutions, Kéré Architecture identifies these as places in need of unexpected freespaces for improvisation and creativity, and titles their installation Zoí, derived from the Greek word for ’life’ or ’existence’.
With its textile clad base, soft walls and canopy using 68m of vibrant Kvadrat fabrics, Zoí is a non-prescriptive space, that welcomes any reaction; its dimensions are variable and aim at bringing back human dimensions in places where scale and proportions are estranging. Its soft structure doesn’t insulate from weather elements, but symbolically protects and shelters its inhabitants; walls can be lowered on one side of every module in order to create spaces with different degrees of intimacy; its threshold is not an enclosure but an inviting seating.
Zoí is a twin structure to the Zoí pavilion built in collaboration between Atelier Kéré students from the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio and Kéré Architecture in the former Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, where leisure and sports encourage the encounter between refugees and Berliners. The visitor that inhabits Zoí in Arsenale can experiment other uses and feel the ideal bond that links the structure to its identical pavilion simultaneously in use in the former airport in Berlin.
Zoí by Kéré ArchitectureArtiglierie dell’ Arsenale30122 Venice
16th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia26 May – 25 November 2018Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am – 6 pmClosed on Mondays
About Sauerbruch HuttonSauerbruch Hutton is an international agency for architecture, urbanism and design, founded by Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch in 1989. The practice has been recognised for its long-term engagement with and expertise in sustainable architecture. Its integrated design approach aims for an architecture that combines ecological performance with intuition and sensuality.
Among its award-winning projects are the GSW Headquarters in Berlin, the Brandhorst Museum in Munich and the Federal Environmental Agency in Dessau, all benchmarks for sustainable design. The 80-strong team in Berlin is currently working on a number of projects throughout Europe and Latin America, including the M9 Museum of the 20th Century in Venice.
Sauerbruch Hutton received the Erich Schelling Prize 1998, the Fritz Schumacher Prize for Architecture 2003, the Premio de Honor Internacional 2010 and the Gottfried-Semper-Preis 2013. Their KfW highrise in Frankfurt was awarded the best Tall Building Worldwide in 2011, and their Immanuel Church in Cologne received the German Architecture Prize in 2015.
About Kéré ArchitectureDiébédo Francis Kéré was born in 1965 in Gando, Burkina Faso and studied at the Technical University of Berlin. Parallel to his studies, he established the Kéré Foundation (formerly Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.), and in 2005 he founded Kéré Architecture.
His architectural practice has been recognized nationally and internationally with awards including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004) for his first building, a primary school in Gando, Burkina Faso. Kéré has undertaken projects in varied countries including Burkina Faso, Mali, Germany and Switzerland. He has held professorships at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Swiss Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio. In 2017 he accepted the professorship for “Architectural Design and Participation” at TU München (Germany).
Kéré continues to reinvest knowledge back into Burkina Faso and other sites across four different continents. He has developed innovative construction strategies that combine traditional building techniques and materials with modern engineering methods.
Kéré’s work has recently been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Architecture Museum in Munich and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (both in 2016) and his work has been selected for group exhibitions such as: Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010) and Sensing Spaces, at the Royal Academy, London (2014).
About KvadratKvadrat was established in Denmark in 1968 and has deep roots in Scandinavia’s design tradition. Kvadrat continuously works to expand the aesthetic, technological and artistic boundaries of the use of textiles through a long series of collaborations with some of the worlds best designers, architects and artists, among others Miriam Beäckström, Raf Simons, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Thomas Demand, Olafur Eliasson, Alfredo Häberli, Akira Minagawa and Peter Saville.
Art projects include; Petrit Halilaj at New Museum, New York (2017), Günther Vogt at Kvadrat Headquarters, Ebeltoft (2017), Kirstine Roepstorff at la Biennale de Venezia, Venice (2017), Pipilotti Rist at New Museum, New York (2016), Philippe Parreno at Tate Modern, London (2016), Goschka Macuga at Fondazione Prada, Milan (2016), Philippe Parreno at HangarBicocca, Milan (2016), Shilpa Gupta at la Biennale de Venezia, Venice (2015), Günther Vogt and Olafur Eliasson at Your Glacial Expectations, Kvadrat Headquarters, Ebeltoft (2012) and Thomas Demand at Städel Museum, Frankfurt (2011).
For further information, please contact: [email protected]
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