VENICE BIENNALE 2012: SHIFTING GROUNDS
HENEGHAN PENG ARCHITECTS IRELAND PAVILION
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VENICE BIENNALE 2012: SHIFTING GROUNDS - IRELAND PAVILION DESIGN BY
HENEGHAN PENG ARCHITECTS
The Irish Pavilion, designed by Heneghan Peng Architects with the support
of Arup, and curated byJohn McLaughlin, charts a position for Irish
architecture in a global culture where the modes of production of architecture
are radically altered. Ireland has developed a national culture
of architecture derived from local place as a material construct. They now have
to evolve our understanding in the light of the globalized nature of economic
processes and architectural production which is largely dependent on
internationally networked flows of products and data. They have just begun to
represent this situation to themselves and others. How should a global
architecture be grounded culturally and philosophically? How does it position
itself outside of shared national reference points?
From John McLaughlin:
Heneghan Peng Architects were selected as participants because they
work across different continents on a range of diverse projects. Our dialogue
led us to discussing the universal languages of projective geometry and number
shared by architects and related professionals. In their work the specific
embodiment of these geometries is carefully calibrated by the choice of
materials and their detailed design. The stone facade of the Giant’s Causeway
Visitor Centre in Antrim takes precise measure of the properties of the
volcanic basalt seams from which it is hewn. The extraction of the stone is the
subject of wall drawings which record the cutting of basalt to create the
façade of the Causeway Centre.
We also identified water as the element which is shared across the
different sites. Venice is a perfect place to take measure of this element
which suggests links to another site – the Nile Valley. An ancient Egyptian rod
for measuring the water level of the Nile inspired the design of a responsive
oscillating bench which invites visitors to balance their respective weights.
The bench constitutes a shifting ground located in the unstable field of
Venice. It is about measurement and calibration of the weight of the body in
relation to other bodies; in relation to the site of the installation; and in
relation to water. It is located in the Artiglierie section of the Arsenale.
Its level is calibrated against the mark of the acqua alta in the adjacent
brickwork of the building which marks a horizontal datum in a floating world.
Some photographs taken by © Nico Saieh
You may read Heneghan Peng Architects’s technical
information to click there web page links.
http://www.hparc.com/work/ia
HENEGHAN PENG
ARCHITECTS
Heneghan Peng Architects is a design partnership practising
architecture, landscape and urban design. The practise was founded by Shih-Fu
Peng and Róisín Heneghan in New York in 1999 and in 2001 was relocated to
Dublin, Ireland.
We take a multi-disciplinary approach to design and have collaborated with many
leading designers and engineers on a range of projects which include larger
scale urban masterplans, bridges, landscapes and buildings.
Current projects include the Grand Egyptian Museum, at the Pyramids, the
Giant’s Causeway Visitors’ Centre, Central Park Bridges at the 2012 London
Olympic Park, a Library and School of Architecture at the University of
Greenwich in Greenwich, London and a Mittelrheinbruecke in the Rhine Valley.
http://www.hparc.com/about/
