Stories from behind the curtains by Kristen Gandy, M. Arch – Taubman College University of Michigan

The Wonderful - Explorations in the Giardini : Japan

With many pavilions to see in the Giardini, it can be overwhelming to choose which to see in one day. Walking into the Japanese Giardini pavilion will immediately brighten the day of any architect, filled with models as full of life as the possibilities designed into the work. The theme of the pavilion is beyond Sharing, the models address possibilities for living in dense and thoughtfully designed apartments. The work in the pavilion addresses the current unemployment, especially seen in the younger generations.

Find models in a storehouse style exhibition on the contemporary work of Japanese architects.

Photos by Kristen Gandy

If you are looking to be surrounded by models and scaled projects from contemporary Japanese architects, this is the place to be. The small scale models look like the full scale counterparts even down to the furniture in place. The full scale projects show wonderful wall section detailing and spatial relationships of living in such close quarters.

Not only will you find models, but full scale installations of some projects have been constructed in the pavilion. Each with wonderful detailing and they operate as something between a wall section and a real life rendering.

Exhibitors: mnm (Mio Tsuneyama); ondesign (Osamu Nishida); Erika Nakagawa; Naruse Inokuma Architects (Jun Inokuma, Yuri Naruse); Naka Architects’ Studio (Toshiharu Naka, Yuri Uno); Nousaku Architects (Fuminori Nousaku, Junpei Nousaku); miCo. (Mizuki Imamura, Isao Shinohara); Levi Architecture (Jun Nakagawa); Shingo Masuda+Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects (Shingo Masuda, Katsuhisa Otsubo); Koji Aoki Architects (Koji Aoki); 403architecture [dajiba] (Takuma Tsuji, Takeshi Hashimoto, Toru Yada; BUS (Satoru Ito, Kosuke Bando, Issei Suma); dot architects (Toshikatsu Ienari, Takeshi Shakushiro, Wataru Doi).