The business of architecture
I’m in Venice. It’s hot and humid and teeming with tourists, a cacophony of languages and accents, cheap souvenirs and selfie sticks. The water is aquamarine and pungent, a bouquet of toxic algae and dead fish. The ancient buildings guard the banks of the canals, their mostly shuttered windows reinforcing a pervading sense of decay.... Continue Reading →
Variations of the Interstitial by Robert Ventresca What is it? Last year, we ran a Design Thesis studio for final year students in the Masters of Architecture degree at the University of Melbourne. The studio was entitled Ubi Consistam and the Venice Biennale. A synopsis of the studio is as follows: Ubi consistam comes from the... Continue Reading →
What is it? Along with 30 other national pavilions, the Australia Pavilion is located in Venice's Giardini, the site each year of the extraordinary Biennale di Venezia. In the late 1980s, Australia was given the opportunity to take one of the last plots within the Giardini, however it was necessary that we occupy the plot immediately lest we... Continue Reading →
What is it? First seen on an Inhabitat post, Watervilla De Omval is a floating 2-bedroom house on a canal off the Amstel River in Amsterdam. Designed by Dutch architecture studio +31 Architects, the houseboat is permanantly moored and has no means of propulsion, but does rise and fall with the tides and also has a jetty... Continue Reading →
What is it? The Australian exhibition at the 2010 Venice Biennale, open these past three months and closing in just 3 days. Curated by the well-known architectural photographer, John Gollings, together with architect, Ivan Rijavec, it comprises two spaces of stereoscopic projections accompanied by a haunting soundtrack by Nick Murray and Carl Anderson. The first space, Now,... Continue Reading →