2024-12-19T04:55:41-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/149949395/dispatch-from-the-venice-biennale-ikea-meets-super-realism-nostalgia-and-nationalism-british-pavilion-and-russian-pavilion Ed Frith 2016-06-04T16:39:00-04:00 >2016-06-08T01:14:15-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/0d/0dp69p9opkj88oqh.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p><a href="http://archinect.com/news/tag/611513/2016-venice-biennale" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The 2016 Venice Biennale</a> challenged, through its theme, architects to engage with the pressing concerns of the world, issues that affect the majority of the world population, whether it is safety and security, the quality and quantity of housing or the cost and scarcity of materials. It raises the question of what is architecture and what impact can it have and what is the role of the architect, the news on the British and Russian Pavilions is that they have very different takes on that position.</p><p><img title="" alt="" src="http://cdn.archinect.net/images/650x/7w/7wpg0txkzu07j6z9.jpg"></p><p><a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/149943348/previewing-the-2016-venice-biennale-the-british-pavilion-s-home-economics" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The British Pavilion</a> is slick and sophisticated, with finely crafted elements and objects. One enters a strange world of Super-Realist <a href="http://archinect.net/news/tag/67774/ikea" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">IKEA</a>. It is a serious work, no Monty Python humour here, which was enjoyable with the <a href="http://venicebiennale.britishcouncil.org/timeline/2014" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">2014 installation</a>. It takes the future question of housing and living through five time frames, with installations by different designers, from minutes to years, looking at shared living, &lsquo;shell&rsquo; housing, and re-functioning. A projection of future living, asking some fundame...</p>