titled architectural ethnography, the japanese pavilion’s exhibition at the venice biennale showcases 42 projects from all over the world, ranging from design specifications and spatial-activity charts, to maps of urban hybrids and large studies of rural farming and fishing villages following natural disasters. through these projects, curators momoyo kaijima, laurent stalder, and yu iseki explore how city life is depicted in architectural drawings in the last 20 years.

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
view into the exhibition
image © designboom

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture

yukiko suto W house drawing by take ninagawa

 

the exhibition is an extension of an ongoing project by atelier bow-wow cofounder momoyo kaijima, where, since the early 90s, she has been compiling people’s life and the reality of cities in a form of guidebook using architectural drawings as references.

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
image © designboom

participants range from university design studios and architectural offices to contemporary artistic practices, all reflecting the relationship between architecture and access to environmental resources and human behaviors. according to the curators, architectural ethnography is composed in four parts: collecting guidebooks and mapping them, analyzing and presenting the expansion of guidebooks and interviews with producers of guidebooks, reporting projects derived from guidebooks with miniature models, and videos, creating a ‘yokocho’ (a bar and cafe alley typical of japanese cities), and managing it as a discussion platform for developing architectural and urban theory.

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
‘flexible signposts to coded territories’ by florian goldmanb and ‘do you hear the people sing?’ by crimson architectural historians with hugo corbett, seen through a magnifying glass
image © designboom

 

‘life obviously exceeds architecture.
what does this mean for architecture? how can the myriad situations that both feed into and result from the design of a building be effectively mapped? how does one address architectural drawings, not just as simple notational systems but as instruments to document, discuss, and evaluate architecture? how can they work to explore people’s actual usages, needs, and aspirations, and moreover to give shape to individualized life forms in today’s globalized society? the exhibition in the japan pavilion showcases a collection of forty-two projects from all over the world from the last twenty years, ranging from design specifications and spatial-activity charts, to maps of urban hybrids and large studies of rural farming and fishing villages following natural disasters, originating from university design studios, architectural offices, or artistic practices. they all reflect the search for a new approach in drawing—of, for, among, around—society, which we term ‘architectural ethnography’.
curatorial statement by momoyo kaijima, laurent stalder and yu iseki

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture 
image © designboom

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture

momoyo kaijima’s conceptual sketch of the japan pavilion exhibition

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
general views
image © designboom

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
image © designboom

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
image © designboom

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture

drawing architecture studio: a drawing from ‘a little bit of beijing: 798 2013’

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture

‘refugee republic’ by jan rothuizen, martin van tol, dirk-jan visser, aart jan van der linden
image © designboom

 

coupe! is titled after the theme of section, this series of drawings pivots on the shopping mall of bercy 2 that was completed by renzo piano building workshop in paris in 1990.

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture

‘coupe!’ by éva le roi (2008)
image © designboom

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture

detail of ‘coupe!’ 

 

‘let’s make kamiyama landscape with toy blocks’ by landscape designer hajime ishikawa is a case study for a fab-lab campus plan.
toy blocks were used for a photo book focusing on the small and aging town – kamiyama – of 5,600 citizens on shikoku island.

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
‘let’s make kamiyama landscape with toy blocks’
image © designboom

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
‘let’s make kamiyama landscape with toy blocks’
image © designboom

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
‘let’s make kamiyama landscape with toy blocks’
image © designboom

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
‘let’s make kamiyama landscape with toy blocks’
image © designboom

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
exhibition – exterior of the japanese pavilion
image © designboom

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
image © designboom

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture 
image © designboom

 

the japanese pavilion uses 42 drawings as instruments to document and evaluate life and architecture
press conference with founder of atelier bow-wow: momoyo kaijima (associate professor at university of tsukuba, ETHZ professor of architectural behaviorology)
image © designboom

SGHS korean pavilion venice biennale

designboom’s coverage of the 2018 venice architecture biennale is in partnership with leading energy company edison. edison is taking part in the 16th international architecture exhibition of la biennale di venezia by initiating a path towards sustainability and the efficient use of resources. the collaboration between edison and la biennale is based on awareness that energy is one of the fundamental elements of architecture and of the places, spaces and cities of contemporary life.