Corpora in Si(gh)te

Here is the motivations of the Jury of the projects of the Hungarian Pavilion of the 11th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. There were 9 applicants, the winner is the Corpora in Si(gh)te project.

Corpora in Si(gh)te – Generative Architecture in Public Space

Project Leader: Gyula Július

The winning project is the work of international creative group doubleNegatives Architecture, presented as lead by curator Gyula Július at the Hungarian Pavilion in Venice.

The work under realisation through the collaboration of Japanese, Hungarian and Swiss artists examines the bottom-up organisation of cellular systems, inspired by natural processes, on the boundary of architecture operating under traditional planning direction. The project has been prepared for the pavilion itself, the model springing from this on the basis of information taken from the direct environment, continually reacting to it and growing in an evolutionary system, making its decisions in accordance with it.

The architectural structure representing the primary part of the exhibition exists in symbiosis with the Art Nouveau pavilion, comprehending it within its system and reinterpreting its spaces, taking these as its point of departure in building into it the stimuli of the environment as well as those generated by the visitors. With the aid of the techniques of representation, the physical space expands into a complex, poetic, experiential system, in which the intervention of the viewer determines viewpoint and orientation, as well as the development of the structure. The installation creates a possibility for the investigation of correlations between historical architecture and its contemporary approaches, and for the exploration of new domains of interpretation.

The strength of the project lies in the fact that it has been realised as the result of a productive collaboration between the representatives of a variety of disciplines, in which the common work of the creators and the curator with his wide range of experience anticipates the further enrichment of the continually developing project. The poetic employment of technology emphasises the human factor – the importance of individual participation – alongside invention in the process of planning, providing a new role for both the architect and the user. Nevertheless, locality and the thinking that proceeds from it constitutes an integral part of the installation that voices the universal vocabulary of architecture.

The jury has proposed the Corpora project for the Hungarian Pavilion of the 11th Venice Architectural Biennial due to its rich stratification, potentials for development and innovative approach. We suggest that in the further development of the work, practical application, connection with the cultural and professional, theoretical context, further potentials for implementation and a particular weight on communication be incorporated.