Elements of Architecture — Yingzao Fashi
Exhibition design for the Venice Biennale
Scope: Research, curation, exhibition design, coordination
Location: Shenzhen, CN and Venice, IT
Year: 2014
Client: Venice Architecture Biennale
Collaborators: With AMO/OMA
Concept
Artwork production and exhibition design for the Roof room of the Elements of Architecture exhibition in the Central Pavilion on the 14th Venice International Architecture Biennale, curated by Rem Koolhaas.
Only rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century – at almost the exact moment when concrete and steel would start to replace traditional Chinese architecture – a literal translation of the Yingzao Fashi into a foreign language doesn’t exist to date. Together with a group of 18 Chinese students and supported by a number of Chinese expert, AMO looked at the text’s central component – the construction of the Chinese roof – and attempted a first translation. Puzzled by the text, we re-prototyped the roof construction using blue foam in two workshops in early 2014 at the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture.
