‘the ark: old seeds for new cultures’, the greek pavilion at the 12th international architecture biennale image © designboom

‘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.’

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 front view image © designboom

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 exhibition view image © designboom

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.

  greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 interior space image © designboom

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 lodging area image © designboom

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 (left) entrance (right) kitchen spaec images © designboom

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 exhibited archive of biogenetic plant material image © designboom

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 detail shots of the content of the material, ranging from sketches of the ark (top) to seeds, bread and dried fruits (bottom) images © designboom

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 image © designboom

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 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.

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 exhibition wall of agricultural phtoography image © designboom

greek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 detail image © designboomgreek pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010 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