romanian pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010

'1:1', the romanian pavilion, at the 12th international architecture biennale in venice, italy
image © designboom


'1:1', this this year's official romanian pavilion at la biennale di venezia explores the very
essence of space by designing an inhabitable object that defines--almost violently--two different
worlds: the first being the communal, exterior, profane, public, tense, dense, and real;
the second, having characteristics of the individual, interior, sacral, private, calm,
rarefied, and abstract.



(left and right) exterior shots
images © designboom



the pavilion is a room within a room: a subtly skewed box dominates the interior of the exhibition
space, constructed out of panels of wood and washed, both inside and out, with white paint.
with a surface area of exactly 94.443 m2, this abstract object represents the demographic density
in the city of bucharest and illustrates both the situation of the individual and a collective state.
the structure can be entered, one by one, through a door on one side. the interior lacks any form
of opening with the exception of two small puncture holes on either ends and a larger disc form
carved out of the ceiling. upon entering, the individual experiences a space that is controlled and
profoundly personal.



interior view
image © designboom


the second word--the exterior--is circumscribed by the space between the built object and the room.
this narrow chasm, shared by all the visitors of the pavilion at once, defines a space which is variable,
dynamic, disquieting, and chaotic. by traversing this area before entering the structure, there is
tension and communication between the two worlds through the three apertures.

'1:1' aims to highlight the importance of architecture as a generator of space by re-establishing
the notion of a direct link between the individual, space and architecture.



visitor experiencing the interior, observed through one of the aperture on the side wall
images © designboom



interior view
image © designboom



the two small holes on either end of the structure
image © designboom



looking up through the ceiling aperture
image © designboom




diagram and dimension of exhibition



(top left) the city, bucharest - the area, 215 987 000 m2
(top right) the collective - population, 2 288 000
(bottom left) the individual - density, 94.4 m2 / person
(bottom right) exhibiting the space - scale, 1:1



(left and right) images of the model


construction shots
image courtesy 1:1 team



full credits:

general commissioner: monica morariu, ministry of culture and national heritage, romania
deputy commssioner: alexndru damian, ioan lucacel
curator: tudor vlasceanu
project team: romina grillo, ciprian rasoiu, liviu vasiu, matei vlasceanu, tudor vlasceanu
illustrations: dan perjovschi
structure: dragos marcu
construction: art-deco, atelier rd