2024-05-17T23:58:05-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150289813/the-nature-of-place-petra-kempf-on-architecture-virtual-media-our-shifting-urban-terrains Liam Otten 2021-12-01T12:13:00-05:00 >2024-03-15T01:45:58-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/ff/ff9b4b65b7df500b4746fef8f8981af0.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>Pink umbrellas tumble on hidden winds. IP addresses cross like city streets. Bright islands of community float like balloons tethered to gray infrastructural networks.<br></p> <p>In her wall-sized drawing &ldquo;Confronting Urbanization: The Interactive Tissue of Urban Life Pro[log]ue,&rdquo; Petra Kempf, assistant professor of architecture and urban design in the&nbsp;<a href="https://archinect.com/washingtonuniversity" target="_blank">Sam Fox School of Design &amp; Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis</a>, combines copious data and mischievous symbolism to explore how smartphones, online commerce, and global connectivity are reshaping the urban terrain.&nbsp;<br></p> <figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a6/a6121e4a5c94d0ae2b7dd0eba9c726ee.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a6/a6121e4a5c94d0ae2b7dd0eba9c726ee.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>Hires scan of Petra Kempf&rsquo;s &ldquo;Confronting Urbanization: The Interactive Tissue of Urban Life Pro[log]ue.&rdquo; The full drawing, which measures roughly four meters in length, is featured in the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. (Photo: Courtesy Petra Kempf)</figcaption></figure><p>Some two years in the making, &ldquo;Confronting Urbanization&rdquo; is featured in the <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/1689641/2021-venice-biennale" target="_blank">2021 Venice Architecture Biennale</a>, one of the world&rsquo;s premier architectural showcases, as part o...</p>