Domus Article | Rowing towards the future, remembering the past

Via: Domus

Vogadors, the Catalonia and Balearic Islands Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, is notable for its narrative consistency, presenting nine works with various common nodes, including materiality and permeability, tradition and contextualisation. An architecture report from Venice by Ethel Baraona Poh

“Rowing. An extraordinarily difficult period for architecture in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands has seen the emergence of a new generation of architects trying to make their way through the turbulent waters of the present towards the future, with a knowing nod to the past.”

The idea of moving forward towards the future while learning about, remembering and re-thinking the past is a good maxim for reflecting on the transformations that have taken place in architecture over the past five years. It is a different way of viewing the past, critical and yet pessimism-free, establishing what we can learn from years prior to and since the real estate bubble and what we should cast aside in order to refocus on a kind of architecture that is more accessible and valid for today’s times. In order to achieve this, curators Félix Arranz and Jordi Badia have selected, for Vogadors, the Catalonia and Balearic Islands Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, nine works with various common nodes, including materiality and permeability, tradition and contextualisation. Working out how to delineate the desired message and the characteristics to convey is hard, and this is why Arranz and Badia have focused on the architecture of one generation, young architects who have achieved recognition for work that is painstakingly executed, regardless of its scale.

More info »