Mateo Arquitectura at the 13. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia
Aug
'12
In the framework of the Biennale di Venezia, the Palazzo Bembo hosts the group exhibition “Traces of Centuries & Future Steps”, bringing together 56 guest architects from 26 countries, in which Josep Lluís Mateo presents the montage “EARTH”.
Josep Lluís Mateo ©Jordi Belver
«EARTH
The earth is our support, our base, the root that will, eventually, allow us to fly.
To speak of the earth requires us to think about water, the slow force that moulds, cracks and bores. That transforms and sometimes also weakens it.
It also requires us to think about air, empty space, the wind that moves over the surface of the earth’s crust and which our buildings, extensions of that crust, channel or resist.
Speaking about the earth is another form of encounter with the local. An encounter with the remains of the wreckage: bones—the transformation of the organic into inorganic—, stones, old foundations, traces.
And an encounter with matter: red clay, yellow sand, the grey pebbles in strata or masses….
Our work with earth represents hollowing it out, boring into it, penetrating it. Guaranteeing the transfer of loads and fluids towards it, where they dissipate.
Vertical dimension: gravitational and spatial.
And also moulding it, reorganizing the topography (probably introducing geometry into it), reinforcing it, cladding its surface.
Horizontal dimension: superficial and open.
The earth—the start and the end of architecture»
Josep Lluís Mateo presents the foundations that have supported four chosen works, travelling through time, from the Bronze Age to the present day, connected by earth.
The principal example is the building for the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the construction of which uncovered the remains of a medieval prison for women and vestiges of the Bronze Age.
Film Theatre of Catalonia. Salvador Seguí Square Façade ©Adrià Goula
Archaeological remains found during the construction of the Film Theatre of Catalonia ©Mateo Arquitectura
Contrasting with the Filmoteca is the extension of the central headquarters of the company PGGM in Zeist (Holland), an avant-garde work where the greatest effort is concentrated on the basement floors that accommodate the car park, thereby allowing the restoration of the green spaces adjacent to the building.
PGGM Façade ©Adrià Goula
Sharing the spotlight with this building is the reconstruction of the old country house in La Garrotxa (Girona), where the entire intervention gravitates around the stone wall that anchored the house to the mountainside to retain the earth.
Interior of the country house in La Garrotxa ©Adrià Goula
Finally, the dwellings in the Borneo dock (Amsterdam) connect this concept of earth with those of air and water, elements that can be seen from the windows of the gallery, interacting with the content inside.
Dwelling in Borneo Dock (Amsterdam) ©Xavier Ribas
Palazzo Bembo is a splendid 15th-century palace overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice, its façade an example of the Venetian-Byzantine style. The gallery commands views of the canal, the water, and the sky, the air, that are outside, linked to the concept of earth that covers the gallery space.
Information:
Opening: 27 and 28 August 2012, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Exhibition: “Traces of Centuries & Future Steps”
29 August to 25 November 2012
Opening times: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Venue:
Palazzo Bembo
Gallery 6, EARTH
Riva del Carbon # 4793, 30124 Venice, Italy
(70 m from Rialto Bridge, on the Grand Canal)
See the making off here.
Posted in 2012
Tags: Architettura, Biennale, Earth, Josep Lluís Mateo, MAP Architects, MAP Arquitectes, Mateo Arquitectura, Mostra, Venezia, Venice
