╳ Thread Count Lab’s, Alessia Giardino played ‘reporter-at-large’ last month when she attended the 12th International Architecture Exhibition, titled of ‘People Meet In Architecture’, in Venice. Directed by Kazuyo Sejima, the first woman to direct the Architecture Sector of the Biennale, it took place in various locations throughout the city. And significantly, Ms Sejima was also awarded this year with the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize 2010 together with Ryue Nishizawa. ╳ ‘People Meet In Architecture’ included 48 participants: firms, architects, engineers and artists from around the world, and as usual, the Exhibition presented National Participations, with first-time participations from Albania, Kingdom of Bahrain, Iran, Malaysia and (interestingly) Republic of Rwanda.
╳ “The 2010 Architecture Biennale should be a reflection on architecture,” said Director Sejima. “The twenty-first century has just started. Many radical changes are taking place. In such a rapid-changing context, can architecture clarify new values and a new lifestyle for the present? Hopefully, this show will be a chance to experience the manifold possibilities of architecture, as well as to account for its plurality of approaches, each one of them being a different way of living”. And her closing comment, excerpted from her Biennale introduction, are is one Thread Count Lab particularly appreciates: “The idea is to help people relate to architecture, to help architecture relate to people, and to help people relate to themselves.”
╳ The exceptional Ms Sejima, was born 1956 in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan, and after studying at Japan Women's University and working in the office of (the sublime) Toyo Ito, in 1987 founded Kazuyo Sejima and Associates. Eight years later she founded the Tokyo-based firm SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) together with her former employee Ryue Nishizawa. Commissioned to design of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City, SANAA additionally exhibited a selection of their previous projects there, which include the Christian Dior Building in Omotesando, Tokyo, Vitrashop Factory Hall in Basel, Switzerland and House in a Plum Grove, Tokyo, Japan to name a few. ╳ Images (top to bottom)
╳ Exhibition venue, The 2010 Architecture Biennale
╳ Brainstorming, The 2010 Architecture Biennale
╳ Suspended Pencils, The 2010 Architecture Biennale
╳ Lasercut Acrylic Panels, The 2010 Architecture Biennale
╳ New Museum of Contemporary Art, Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates
