usa pavilion at the 9th biennale international architecture exhibition 2004
9th international architecture exhibition in venice, italy, 2004 / usa pavillion
‘transcending type’
by kolatan/macdonald studio, reiser + umemoto,
lewis.tsurumaki.lewis, george yu architects,
studio/gang/architects, predock_frane
the ‘parking sections’ project by lewis.tsurumaki.lewis
brings together with retail, commercial, and residential
components. a new ‘suburbanism’ section overlaps
suburban houses with big-box stores, and intersects
parking garages with athletic fields.
the light bridge model by reiser + umemoto has a
strong sculptural character.
ONE DEGREE OF LATITUDE = ONE KILOMETER OF
ALTITUDE this is a crucial equation in the understanding
of the potential of the alishan mountain as a tourist site.
it allows both an ecological and cultural connection
between taiwan and a family of nations via a material
argument about culture in the new global society:
that new regionalisms can be constructed at all levels
of material practice.
reiser + umemoto propose transforming the alishan
railroad right-of-way into an agricultural strip,
supplying a series of specialty restaurants and a
microeconomy of taste tourism.
‘the opposition of nature and culture can no longer be
conceived of as a simple dialectic. indeed, models
of thought and technique compel us to achieve our
goals, paradoxically, through deeper levels of artifice.
agriculture maintains a varied and dynamic landscape
of extreme variance. a Journey up the alishan mountain
is a journey through four distinct ecosystems.
we propose to harness this difference and accentuate it,
so that the different climactic regions are reflected in a
gradient of culture, cuisine, and landscape along the line.
what we are proposing is the development of
micro-agriculture to support international cuisine tourism
along the alishan train line.’ they say.
the installation by predock frane architects was just
amazing: its title is ‘aqua alta’ or, ‘just add water’.
made with nearly 5000 invisible filament, painted
white and green, held in position by a lead, ...
to evoke the high-tide water patterns of flooding venice.
the resulting space is meant to encourage contemplation,
but when you pass the room you loose your equilibrium.
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