greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010

'the ark: old seeds for new cultures', the greek pavilion at the 12th international architecture biennale
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'the ark: old seeds for new cultures', the official national contribution from greece
for this year's architecture venice biennale, aims to define, within the context of
greece's historic and current cultural climate, the relation between architecture,
civilization and agriculture.

the oldest definition of the ancient greek word for the act of building, ktisis, is
'weeding, preparation of the soil for sowing, and planting.':

'sowing and construction introduce at the outset a dual function for architecture
as the activity of organizing both buildings in space and, also, of open, natural spaces.
by means of the present project, we seek to reintroduce into contemporary architectural
practices the spaces of culture in its double meaning, of agriculture and of civilization.'



front view
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exhibition view
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the ark aims to symbolize through its design the responsibility of showcasing,
preserving and restoring biodiversity within the contemporary urban-agricultural space.
the wooden construction, measuring 12 meters in length, becomes a condenser of functions:
a movable bank of biogenetic plant materials (seeds, plants, fruit) , lodging, kitchen,
a networking pavilion, and a place to exchange both information and plant-seeding material.
the interior of the structure is lined with shelves which host an archive of plant material,
placed according to thematic units such as nutritional, therapeutic, decorative, aphrodisiac,
and poisonous.

 

interior space
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lodging area
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(left) entrance
(right) kitchen spaec
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exhibited archive of biogenetic plant material
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detail shots of the content of the material, ranging from sketches of the ark (top) to seeds, bread and dried fruits (bottom)
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image © designboom



exhibition view


also exhibited at the greek pavilion is a series of images that document the agricultural
landscapes of greece. produced from archival research of aerial photography, private collections,
and digital processing, the images together create a visual mosaic of the relationship between
greece's agriculture and civilization.

'the ark: old seeds for new cultures' attempts to expand the responsibility of architecture
beyond the bounds of construction to a set of practices that involve planning and management
of land space, cultivation, civilization, interconnections, communication and exchange.



exhibition wall of agricultural phtoography
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detail
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plan of 'the ark'

project credit:

commissioners-curators: phoebe giannisi, zissis kotionisark design:zissis kotionis, phoebe giannisi
ark construction: gavrilos michalis
collection of biogenetic plant material: orestis davias
layout of exhibition of agricultural landscape: kostas monalidis
video / sound installation: yannis isidorou
information layout: alexandros psychoulis
consultant for the installation: maria papademetriou
catalogue editors: phoebe giannisi, katerina iliopoulou, zissis kotionis
catalogue design & development: alexandros psychoulis, george kalaouzis
communications manager, secretariat: alexia katsigera
assistants: vasia lyri, thalleia melissa, artemis nikolopoulou, alina orfanou, nikos platsas,
michalis softas, anna vasof, niovi zarabouka