Archinect - The Architectural Imagination Exhibition Fellows

Bread & Tulips

2016-06-07T15:54:00-04:00

When in Italy another wonderful way to see the city other than its architecture is to eat your way thru it, mangia tutto, eat all you can.

I was partial to gelato and fish, however not in that order. I’m generally not a fan of advertising places to go on blogs (unless I’m getting paid to do so ;P) but for Venice I will put my issues aside to help out the many that flock every year for one of the Biennales.

Here are a list of my favorite places that I visited and a few tricks, tips, and anecdotes to accompany them.

La Mela Verde

Not only a gelato haven but a true innovator in the world of consuming it. Specializing in what is called the “concreppe” a supremely heavenly combination of gelato, nutella, and warmth. The second you look at it you gain 5 lbs and honestly I indulged in everything I could get my hands on. You walk so much around Venice that you shouldn’t even try to limit yourself from anything because of weight gain, it practically melts off your body like this exquisite gelat...

US Pavilion Vernissage

2016-06-03T19:20:00-04:00

The opening day of the U.S. Pavilion was a moment of gratification and clarity. The countless hours of work from the Curators and Staff were greeted by thousand of visitors from around the world.

The exhibition rooms were full of guests who were actively engaged in asking curators, exhibitors, and fellows questions about the work and thoughts on the post-industrial city. In conversation with guests, many characteristics of the city of Detroit brought back memories of qualities and concerns from many of the guests respective home.

Experiencing the people and energy during the Venice Biennale Vernissage was opportunity to see the exhibition we had been working on for the past number of weeks with a new set of eyes. The following are a few images from the opening day.

Dequindre Cut : Work from Marshall Brown Projects, MOS, and Zago Architecture

T+E+A+M, Greg Lynn FORM

BairBalliet at Detroit Riverfront

Detroit Riverfront: Present Future, Preston Scott Cohen, BairBalliet

Andrew Zago, John R. ...

The Wonderful - Explorations in the Giardini : Japan

2016-06-01T17:49:00-04:00

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 furn...

An Arsenal of Models

2016-05-25T14:40:00-04:00

The 2016 Venice Biennale Vernissage is in full effect!

This post brings you snapshots of the Venice Arsenale exhibitions trough the deployment of the architectural model.

The following images are a few of the models presented from countries around the world, an architectural proposal through the bombardment of styles, materials, narratives, size, and scale!

Unpacking the U.S. Pavilion

2016-05-25T06:35:00-04:00

Here is a look back at the early stages of unpacking the work of 12 invited architects for the US. Pavilion. Careful storage of the fragile artifacts, some accompanied by diagrams and others with no instructions, echoed the theme of what the 6 Venice Biennale Fellows would face as we unpacked 49 Crates in 3 days!

Some crates contained tools to unpack more crates... others contained models, drawings, more tools, vinyl, parts of columns + other surprises; a bit like Christmas in May with a new appreciation for the process of gift wrapping.

Knolling was a must at all times! Knolling tools and crates. The process of storing 39 crates inside the US Pavilion, along with the size and fragility of all the work and models, was just as intense and required careful attention to where items in the room would be placed, as the team hauled the 39 empty crates back out to the front area of the Pavilion.

After the crates were covered for the rain the was about to follow that week, I was lef...

Seamless City

2016-05-25T05:39:36-04:00

It takes a short walk and a few wrong turns to understand that the city of Venice is a labyrinth. The seamless city is only heighten by winding perspectives of facades. Most importantly the seamless buildings, where program and housing come together with the narrow paths of strictly pedestrian space and the extension of building heights by the fantastic reflections of canals.

The Unforeseen

2016-05-24T14:54:00-04:00

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

We really had a crate week. Photo credit: Deniz McGee

The Most Important Room in the Pavilion. Photo credit: Kristen Gandy

The Unforeseen

After a night of adjusting to the time change, the first day was off bright and early at the pavilion. Thirty-nine giant art crates awaited us in the pavilion’s four rooms. First things first: unpack the tool crate. To un-crate the tool crate, however, we needed a power drill, and the power drills were in the tool crate. Hence, adventure number one. Luckily for everyone, I took a single semester of Italian four years ago in my undergrad, making me the most-fluent speaker of the team. So I wandered among the pavilions in Giardini to find someone kind enough lend a drill for a moment. So for all you future exhibition installers, here is the method of finding what you lack:

First, find an Italian construction team. Ask them, in Italian (very poor Italian, ...

The Unheralded

2016-05-22T14:45:00-04:00

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

The email congratulating us on being selected to serve as fellows to the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale came immediately following my final Propositions studio presentation and a full night of sleep, so I knew it couldn’t have been a delirious daydream. The only possible way to top a semester end with news like that is to be in Venice at the U.S. pavilion right after thesis and graduation.

What would it be like if you sent six pairs of shrewd, highly trained eyes to Venice to install a historically celebrated architecture exhibition? I wondered this myself months ago when Taubman College announced the fellows. Add to it the fact that there are twelve different projects to be installed and exhibited. How absolutely thrilling. I couldn’t wait for our team to start whirling through the pavilion with the curators, and I knew we could only guess at the wonderful moments that would come...

The Anonymous Venetian

2016-05-21T05:07:00-04:00

Walking into the wind, I am a bit uncomfortable but mostly enthralled by what’s around me. Venice. On my first day I was standing outside of a hotel that our water taxi driver casually dropped us off at, not the location we intended, but whatever, I’m just happy that I can smoke a cigarette and walk on land. I Immediately fall in love. The streets are entrancing, the original social network, where all people find a space to interact. Where our clothes are touched. Where our phones get crushed by the cobblestones. Where we eavesdrop. A space, despite all of these possible conflicts, still remains the spaces we pour into day after day. A stage upon which we demonstrate who we are and what we are made of. I must try to soak this all in.

The roman roads, the greatest military technology and an architectural labyrinth. The old roman empires rose and ended where their roads did. As I walk to my apartment I imagine for a second what it would be like to be a soldier fighting along these wal...

Body of Work to Work of the World

2016-05-21T04:28:00-04:00

Architecture: A formal language of communicative drawings that display a plethora of ideologies and thought. These drawings, not limited by line, represent a broad culture of world thinkers and opportunities that are both challenging and thought provoking. The Venice Biennale is a consortium of some of the planet's diverse countries that practice architectural thought in a variety of different multitudes. Italy, a country not devoid of historical architectural themes or literature, is a major epicenter for artistic endeavors which makes it a perfect location for the Venice Biennale. However, to be critical, as home to the world's largest and most prestigious architectural exhibition, how does some of the most intense and creative work begin to disseminate into the world beyond the pavilions they inhabit? It is a question not only for Biennale but also the profession of architects whom are no longer visual stewards of society but also critical problem solvers. We have skills to no on...

The Venice Arrival

2016-05-20T08:57:00-04:00

Architectural imagination is our ongoing intuition and ability as designers to ask; what if my home, my city, or building could be more like this?...

My fascination for the city of Venice was as immediate as our approach from the water taxi to the narrow mesmerizing canals of the city! The antiquity of Venice and it's preservation by contemporary fascinations was a sudden reminder that every site of admiration constitutes new customs, culture, unspoken rules, and moving parts that embody the mechanics of place and time.

As a Venice Biennale Fellow, I am interested exploring the drawings, details, and thoughts of the 12 invited guests in this years U.S. Pavilion as glimpses into this archive and, along the way, sharing my own stories, outlooks, and questions from this experience with you. A mental sketch, remix of images and thoughts on specific instances of architecture and urbanism.

From the North East Area of Los Angeles, California, my name is Ramon Hernandez. I am a recent Ma...

Rules on Arriving in Venice

2016-05-20T08:34:04-04:00

The Do's and Dont's of preparing for the Biennale as experienced by yours truly- Foodie, connoisseur of all things beautiful and recent M.Arch grad, Diana Tsai.

When packing for a Biennale place all drill bits, blue tape and scales in checked baggage
When bringing bags of modeling foliage through security it is best not to carry it in a transparent plastic bag
Don't tell children under 5 you have candy before a 10hr flight
Catch up on airplane movies and studio gossip (because let's be real- we've all been thesis zombies for the last month)
Take a water taxi from the airport; all 24 pieces of luggage included to the grand canal, have the bellboy bring in all the luggage to realize the driver dropped you off at the wrong location- well that's one hotel you can never go back to...
Make friends with your landlord, but don't pay $20 to duplicate your key.
Find the best gelato places and save to Google maps
Try to unpack your suitcase, but ultimately pass out- thanks Obama jetlag...
Follow my Ve...

Sketching Across the Atlantic

2016-05-19T21:06:00-04:00

The flight to Venice ended up being an excuse to sketch everything I saw around me, in the coach Delta cabin overlooking a plane wing with a trembling engine. That's certainly what I usually did, after all, and just because I was in - or above, I suppose - a different country didn't mean I'd stop. A bemused Italian businessman snuck peeks at my sketch as covertly as possible from the seat next to me. He chuckled softly and looked away after a while. Before I finished my drawing and drifted off to sleep somewhere over the Atlantic, I noticed he'd drawn a doodle of the complimentary blueberry muffin we'd gotten at dinner. It was the third-best muffin sketch I'd ever seen.

My name is Rubin Quarcoopome, a very recent Masters of Architecture graduate of U of M's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. All that means is that now, when I draw anything, people assume I'm being extremely deep and profound and architectural. And they're right, something like half the time.

Also, fee...