Author: Marianna Wahlsten

Boa Nova restaurant re-opened

Nestled on the romantic Atlantic coastline, the Boa Nova restaurant and teahouse is one of the architectural landmarks by Alvaro Siza just outside Porto. Now re-opened after restoration it is a must-see place if touring anywhere near Porto this summer.
Close-by there is also the oceanic pool of Leça, another significant design from the 1960s by Siza. Each site demonstrates Siza’s mastery in the way his designs respond to the surrounding nature, but they are both also very different, as Nelson Mota pointed out in a previous article on Porto architecture:
The diversity and abundance of materials used in Boa Nova reveal an almost obsessive exploration of the interplay between volume and substance, a far cry from the stark relationship of copper, concrete and black painter wood of the oceanic pool. However, the essential qualities of both projects are similar. In Boa Nova, as well as in the Leça pools, Siza delivers a clear account of the architect’s role in the delicate dialogue between the artificial and the natural.

Main photo by Fernando Guerra

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New Serpentine Pavilion by Chilean architect Smiljan Radic

KENSINGTON GARDENS, LONDON It was a beautiful day once again for the preview of the Serpentine Pavilion, this year designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radic. And the pavilion itself once again a real surprise, completely different from any previous ones. It’s a fusion of ideas, where Radic’s obsession about forms in nature is expressed in a sturdy composition of a donut shaped space sitting on heavy rocks. The way he has combined a thin fibreglass material against the stone looks futuristic and pre-historic at the same time.

For the relatively unknown Radic it was a challenge to create something for the central London site, which is so charged with history. Radic has a calm, bear-like presence, and he works with a very small team in Chile. “The commission in this symbolic space was a problem first”, Radic said ” I don’t think so fast, and to come up with something in just two months is a short time”. He describes the outcome as “crude architecture”, assembled “a little bit like papier-mâché” aiming for “a handmade look, which is really difficult to do in this scale”.

The pavilion is more like a piece of sculpture and shows the 1960s architectural sensibilities that Radic draws ideas from: “Cedric Price, Superstudio and Archigram”. He created several models before deciding on the final form “I created maybe five models, it’s not a linear process” he described the design stage before he found the right form.

More on the Serpentine Pavilion the next issue

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Sound and space at Prada Foundation, Venice

In an 18th century palazzo by the Rialto market along the Canal Grande the new show Art or Sound at the Prada Foundation is showcasing art works exploring music and sound. The exhibition is curated by long term Prada collaborator Germano Celant and will be open for the duration of the architecture biennale until November.

The building itself is exquisitely detailed and is being completely restored. The second floor piano nobile is open to the public for the first time. In a space like this there is a theatrical aspect, where the exhibited works blend with the setting – a very different experience from the traditional clinical gallery space.

With a range of works from the 16th century, including instruments, paintings and clocks to musical installations of the 1960s and the present day, the show explores formal, sensory and abstract qualities around music. One of the central works is Jannis Kounellis‘ performance piece from 1972 Sensa tilulo. Da invent are sul post (Untitled. To be Invented on the Spot), which is recreated here to a score of Igor Stravinsky with a dancer, a violinist and a painting. It’s a delicate piece on repetition and improvisation and was presented at Documenta 5 in Kassel, which was curated by Harald Szeemann. SEE VIDEO

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Venice Biennale talks and responses

From political satire to performance and archive, responses to this year’s theme ‘Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014’ at the Venice Biennale www.labiennale.org/en/architecture are varied and interesting. At the Swiss pavilion a marathon program of talks during the opening days was orchestrated by London based curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist around the legacies of sociologist Lucius Burckhardt and architect Cedric Price’s 1960’s concept the Fun Palace.

On day two Swiss architectural duo Herzog & de Meuron discussed the question of preservation with Chris Dercon, the director of Tate Modern in London. The modernist project was famously all about creating new structures, better designed to increase well-being, health and prosperity, but preservation is an “eternal issue in architecture” as Dercon pointed out, and a political one: “less money, less preservation”

The radical visions of high modernism, perhaps Le Corbusier, a fellow Swiss who dreamt of re-organisning the centre of Paris, were considered by Jacques Herzog as modernist provocations. Herzog spoke about Burkhardt’s influence: “Lucius was sharpening our awareness to ask other possibilities and not always do the big gesture. You have to keep stuff.” He said that one of the big challenges in architecture is “dealing with pre-existing forms”.

Elsewhere the question of preservation was raised at the Arsenale in the Albanian exhibition overseen by Beyond Entropy. Simple urban structures are significant as part of the country’s heritage that should be preserved from radical master planning. Atelier Albania is a Dutch-funded organisation that looks for the creative potential in Albania’s future by restoring organic systems instead of radical redevelopment. It’s an interesting situation, where real possibilities could be explored by saving informal aspects in cities.

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For the first time Venice Architecture Biennale launches in June

The 14th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale opened for the public yesterday. For the first time it was launched at the start of the summer and will run for six months until the end of November (7.6-23.11.2014) www.labiennale.org/en/architecture

Rem Koolhaas accepted the invitation to curate the program, which explores key elements and ideas of modernity, the past 100 years of architecture. In the press preview Koolhaas said that he felt intuitively that this was the right moment for him to take up the job – which he had previously declined. Koolhaas’ status as a visionary thinker within contemporary architecture is without comparison. The preview days attracted a record number of journalists.

The main program is exhibited in the Giardini park inside the national pavilions and continues in the Arsenale docks amongst film and dance installations, where Koolhaas wanted to bring new energy and life to architectural presentations. The pavilions themselves are beautiful examples of 20th century architecture. This year the Korean pavilion’s exhibition was awarded with the Golden Lion award.

Throughout the city there are exhibitions and events, organised by international teams. By the Accademia bridge a huge installation by Ai Wei Wei, made of 1179 bicycles, occupies the courtyard garden of Palazzo Franchetti. It’s part of the Genius Loci art exhibition, which continues inside the 16th century Gothic style palace. The exhibition is curated and presented by the Lisson Gallery, including works relating to space and architecture by Julian Opie, Anish Kapoor, Spencer Finch and Joana Vasconcelos www.lissongallery.com/commissions

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Film about the human side of Rem Koolhaas

Tomas Koolhaas has been working on a film showing the human side of his father Rem, the famous Dutch architect, who is also the curator of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale starting this weekend. It has clearly been a special project for him, getting to understand his father’s work on a different level. His favourite building… the beautiful Casa da Musica (opening image) in Porto.

How long have been working on the film?

I’ve been shooting bits and pieces for a long time with the knowledge that one day I would make a film, but I’ve been working on it full time for two years now.

What is it like working with your father?

It’s super interesting. Everyone always warns you against it (working with family) and there are pitfalls -of course- but it has actually been really good. I find that as an adult you rarely spend a lot of time with someone unless you are working on something together, just because everyone has there own projects going on, and in our globalized culture that often involves being in different countries. To work on this with Rem has meant I have got to know him and his work in a way I probably wouldn’t have without the film.

Was there a specific aspect about his work that you wanted to emphasise in the film?

Yes. I think what you could call the “human” dimension of the work has been something that has traditionally been underexplored in architecture films and has always interested me the most. Also, stylistically I feel that a focus on hyper-intellectual information is good for a lecture or book, but films need to have a more dynamic visual quality and be more evocative, even touching in some way. I have tended to focus more on subject matter that enables those things, which for me means including more people and less talking-head interviews and shots of empty buildings.

Which one of his buildings do you like best?

That’s hard to say, they are all interesting in different ways. CCTV is very impressive from a technical point of view, incredible visually and interesting because of it’s cultural/sociological context. On a purely personal level I think my favorite is the Casa da Musica in Porto. I have never seen another building that has so many elements that are so radically different and unique and yet these elements all seem to work and flow incredibly well together.

Did you ever want to be an architect yourself?

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