The cultural journey recounted in the new issue of QAD_Quaderni d’Architettura e Design by Terreal Italia arrives at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale
The publication of Terreal Italia’s QAD_Quaderni d’Architettura e Design continues with a special itinerary: the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale. Precisely in the context of this important international exhibition, which will bring millions of visitors to Venice from May to November, Terreal Italia has collaborated in the creation of two important installations, the construction of a pavilion and the restoration of the Procuratie Vecchie, a historic palace in Venice.
Terreal Italia at the Venice Biennale 2023: installations at Palazzo Mora and the Marinaressa Gardens
Terreal Italia’s four important collaborations at the Venice Biennale 2023 are the theme of the latest issue of QAD_Quaderni d’Architettura e Design.
Two of the brand’s collaborations are part of the activities of the European Cultural Centre (ECC) in Venice. The “Angelus Novus” Vault is composed of 2,000 red and pinkish tiles sized 12x25x3.3 cm, handmade at the company’s factory in Noale. The Vault was built without supports or guides, relying only on the self-balancing of the structure with the aid of augmented reality. A data-driven augmented reality (AR) interface, in fact, guided a skilled mason in the placement of each brick in a complex geometric model. Inspired by Brunelleschi’s dome of Florence’s Cathedral S. Maria del Fiore, the project is the result of a collaboration led by Princeton University’s Form Finding Lab and UCHV Research Film Studio with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).
The second installation is located in the Marinaressa Gardens and is a self-supporting parabolic concrete vault covered with a layer of 12x25x5.5 cm red bricks that shows a possible solution to the shortage of school buildings in Nigeria. This project, in fact, combines the adoption of materials that can also be found locally with the efficiency of the parabolic geometry to create a school that is sustainable, bio-climatic, thanks to the inertia of brick. The arched section shown at the Marinaressa Gardens represents the basic model of the project developed by ACTA (Action through architecture & CISP International Committee for the Development of Peoples).
The Brazilian Pavilion
Entitled Terra, the Brazilian participation at the Venice Biennale 2023 invites us to consider our planet as soil, land, and home to all life forms. The Brazilian pavilion, curated by Gabriela De Matos and Paulo Tavares, therefore has the earth as its protagonist. The floor is made of stabilized clay by Terreal Italia and the parallelepiped reading stands are also made of raw clay, mixed with inclusions of various grain sizes.
Terreal Italia in Piazza San Marco
An iconic place for Venice, the Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco recently underwent a thorough restoration that brought them to new life. The intervention, led by London-based architect David Chipperfield on the building owned by Generali Real Estate spa, allowed the entire third floor to be used for exhibitions and cultural events, including some installations related to the 18th Venice Biennale. The role of Terreal Italia’s brick was significant both in replacing large parts of masonry on the ground floor, which had been damaged by high water, and in repairing the walls on the upper floors using the indenting technique with bricks from Terreal Italia’s Dogi San Marco line. Terreal Italia also supplied material for the integration and replacement of terracotta roofing tiles and special handmade L-shaped elements for roofing sunshades.
3D tour
Also for this itinerary of QAD_Quaderni d’Architettura e Design it is possible to take a virtual tour from the comfort of your couch by clicking the QR code and downloading the customized itinerary on Google Maps with the possibility of having additional content, information and images directly from the web.
