venice architecture biennale 2010 preview: austrian pavilion

‘under construction’, the austrian pavilion, by eric owen moss image courtesy of EOMA

‘under construction‘ is this year’s official austrian pavilion at the 12th international architecture biennale in venice. commissioned by american architect eric owen moss, the first foreign architect to be appointed for the design of the austrian pavilion in the history of the biennale, the exhibition explores the country’s export and import of architecture by presenting the works of internationally practicing austrian architects as well as the projects of international architects who are building in austria.

to translate the meaning of a culture ‘under construction’–one that is constantly re-conceiving, re-evaluating, re-imagining, and exploring itself–the pavilion is presented as a building under construction. a modular, open scaffolding system runs along the entire length of the entry elevation, while the main interior space houses a spiral scaffolding unit that extends to the ends of the hall. to present the exhibiting works in a creative and imaginative way, banners featuring the projects are incorporated into the scaffolding itself.

front bannerimage courtesy of EOMA

front scaffold image courtesy of EOMA

rear bannerimage courtesy of EOMA

rear scaffoldimage courtesy of EOMA

spiral bannerimage courtesy of EOMA

spiral scaffoldimage courtesy of EOMA

floor planimage courtesy of EOMA

cross sectionimage courtesy of EOMA

section of the pavilion displaying works of international architects building and teaching in austriaimage courtesy of EOMA

section of the pavilion displaying works of austrian architects building and teaching internationallyimage courtesy of EOMA

eric owen moss explaining the pavilion at the vienna press conference image courtesy HBF

moss at the new york press conference photo courtesy david plakke