Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore
16th International Architecture National Pavilions
Biennale
Pavilion of the
Holy See – Vatican Chapels
Commissioner: Cardinale Gianfranco Ravasi
Curators: Francesco Dal Co, Micol Forti
Curators: Francesco Dal Co, Micol Forti
Exhibitors: Andrew Berman, Francesco Cellini,
Javier Corvalàn, Eva Prats and Ricardo Flores, Norman Foster, Teronobu
Fujimori, Sean Godsell, Carla Juacaba, Smiljan Radic, Eduardo Souto de Moura,
Francesco Magnani and Traudy Pelzel
The pavilion of the Holy See at the 16th
International Architecture Exhibition, until November 25, is based on a
precise model; the “woodland chapel” built in 1920 by the architect Gunnar
Asplund in the Cemetery of Stockholm. To help visitors understand
this choice, an exhibit space has been set up at the entrance of the pavilion
of the Holy See, displaying the drawings and model of Asplund’s chapel. This
theme has been proposed to the ten architects invited to build ten
chapels, gathered in the wooded area in the Isola di San Giorgio
Maggiore in Venice, to form the pavilion of the Holy See, named Vatican Chapels. The request
addressed to the architects implies an unusual challenge, since the
designers had been asked to come to terms with a building that will be isolated
and inserted in an utterly abstract natural setting, characterized
by its openness to the water of the lagoon. In the forest where the “Asplund
Pavilion” and the chapels have been located there are no destinations, and
the environment is simply a metaphor of the wandering of life.
Asplund Pavilion
Francesco Magnani and Traudy Pelzel
with
Alpi
with
Alpi
Asplund Pavilion
Gunnar Asplund -
Woodland Chapel - 1920
model and drawings
Stockholm cemetery
A Precise Form of Anonymous Origin
Andrew Berman – USA
with
Moretti - Terna
Entirely covered in transparent polycarbonate,
the structure
is a precise shape of anonymous origin, an indefinite presence
in
a natural landscape. It offers a basic level of shelter and protection, and
is built with readily available material.
Andrew Berman
Not a Project; a Reflection
Francesco Cellini
– Italy
with
Panariagroup
Not a chapel, but a reflection on chapels.
The
layout of the garden around it allows the removal of part of the casing from
the structure, relying on the surrounding environment for a sense of interior.
Space and material are elemental, dry, almost abstract.
A Nomadic Chapel
Javier Corvalan – Paraguay
with
Simeon
A twenty-meter-large cylinder balanced on a
support, which happens to be a bricola, one of those poles that mark the
waterways in the Venetian Lagoon. All tensions resolve into an embrace in the
shape of three-dimensional cross between the circular space and the forest that
surrounds it.
The Morning Chapel
Ricardo Flores, Eva
Prats – Spain
with
Saint-Gobain
Italia
Derived from drawings by Ivan Leonidov,
one
of Russia greatest constructivist architects, the chapel is carved out of a
partition wall opened on one side. An uninterrupted, compact surface, midway
between
a forgotten fragment of an existing building and an open-air chapel.
Eva Prats and Ricardo Flores
Crosses Morphed into a Tensegrity Structure
Norman Foster – UK
with
Tecno – Terna -
Maeg
Following the practice of Buckminster Fuller,
Foster created a tensile structure or a tensegrity structure based on
cross-shaped elements and built with a complex construction of cables and
struts. Tensive elements dominate compressive ones.
Cross Chapel
Terunobu Fujimori – Japan
with
Ligno Alp – Barth
Interni
Inspired by an existing church in Japan from
around 1719. It has been built with the Shou Sugi Ban Japanese technique, an old
method for improving the durability of cedar tree planks by burning their
surface.
A Dynamic Entity Capable of Surviving Thousands of Kilometers
Away
Sean Godsell – Australia
with
Maeg -
Zinteck
This chapel has no roots, so it can be moved
anywhere in the world. It is 11 meters tall and has a square base 2.5 meters
wide. Its galvanized iron structure stretches up while leaving the altar clear.
A Bench and a Cross
Carla Juaçaba – Brazil
with
Secco Sistemi
A cross and a bench. Four stainless steel
beams (8 meters long and 12 centimeters large) mirror what is around them on
their polished surface. At given moments in the day, they almost disappear from
sight. A chapel en plein air.
A Chapel as a Roadside Shrine
Smiljan Radic - Chile
with
Moretti – Saint-Gobain
Italia
A small, tapering cylinder (6 meters) with
thin reinforced concrete walls and an open roof. The outer surface is rough,
while the inside has been decorated by printing bubble wrap on the cement. The
chapel is situated on the side of the road.
No, It is Not…
Eduardo Souto de
Moura – Portugal
with
Laboratorio
Morseletto
Pietra di Vicenza stone blocks, of 40 centimeters by 2.60
meters, enclose the tiny building, inspired by the memory of a journey to Machu
Picchu the architect took with close friends Álvaro Siza and Fernado Tavora.
many thanks for
captions – courtesy
The BAG-Biennale Architettura Guide
www.venezianews.it
www.venezianews.it
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