Garden in the Garden

The 14th Venice Biennale, Outdoor Installation of the Chinese Pavilion 

As one of three architectural teams to design the Chinese Pavilion, OPEN focused on the outdoor pavilion in the virgin garden. In response to the Chief Curator Rem Koolhaas' theme of “Fundamental” and “Absorbing Modernity”, as well as Chinese Pavilion Curator Jun Jiang's theme of “Mountains beyond Mountains”, OPEN's installation "Garden in the Garden” reinterprets the Chinese concepts of "wall", "garden", "pavilion”, “house" and "standardized building system". The installation employs lightweight industrial materials in a subtle but playful manner which captures the interplay of light and shadow, within abstract geometry of golden sections.

The “walls” here are both spatial divides and inhabitable spaces with functions, by the virtue of gradually increased cavities between the inner and outer surfaces. The very definition of wall is blurred. The skeletons are made of modular light-gauge steel frames configured in various ways. The surfaces are created by wrapping industrial elastic bands on the skeletons. Employing different ways of weaving together the elastic bands, the “walls” are given varied degree of transparency and opacity, creating interesting links between the sceneries of the garden outside and the garden inside. One part of the façade is completely opened up to the beautiful view of the undulating greenery and the towers of the church beyond. The juxtaposition of the old and new, eastern and western garden elements, create exciting moments beyond nature itself.

Venue: Pavilion of the P. R. of China, 14th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia
Address: Virgin Garden, Arsenale, Venice
Duration: June 7 - November 23, 2014
Material: Cork Boards, Light Gauge Steel, Elastic Bands
Theme：Fundamentals | 1914-2014: Absorbing Modernity
Chief Curator: Rem Koolhaas
Theme of the Chinese Pavilion: Mountains beyond Mountains | 1914-2014: Reconcile Modernity
Curator: Jun Jiang  
Collaborating Architectural Teams for the Chinese Pavilion:
URBANUS Architecture & Design, Duoxiang Studio, OPEN Architecture 
Outdoor Installation：OPEN Architecture