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Wood, forest and urbanity - highlighting Swedish
architecture at Casa dell'Architettura in Rome, 26th May 2017
The Swedish exhibition The Forests of Venice has been selected
by international press as one of the most interesting projects
at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale
di Venezia. The initiative brings together some of Sweden’s most
prominent architectural practices and highlights wood as a
sustainable construction material of the future, while
illustrating the interaction between nature and the man-made
human habitat in order to respond to climate change and limited
resources.
The Forests of Venice is initiated by Kjellander Sjöberg and
Folkhem, who have produced the exhibition together with the
support of the Swedish Institute. The point of departure for the
exhibition is Venice’s built environment in a time when climate
change and rising sea levels impose similar threats to coastal
cities globally.
– Venice, with its exposed geographical position, is a realized
utopia where its founders had to utilize innovations of their
time in order to build a city. The city shows how architecture,
urban design and technical innovation have to be in a symbiosis
with nature in order to create long term living conditions. It’s
a city built on the foundations of ten million trees, explains
Stefan Sjöberg, founding
partner of Kjellander Sjöberg architects.
In
a dialogue with one of the most public buildings in Venice - the
Doge’s Palace, Kjellander Sjöberg created an installation in
solid timber, where by inverting the Doge’s Palace, KS
investigated our contemporary democratic structures.
– We want to combine the tactile qualities of wood and its
potential as a sustainable construction material with innovation
and technology. Building in wood is faster, cheaper and has
lower impact on the environment. Furthermore wood is the only
renewable building material on Earth, differently from other
resources that are limited and will no longer be available in
the future. With wood we can literally grow new cities for
tomorrow, says Sandra Frank at Folkhem, a housing
development company using entirely wood.
The Forests of Venice showcases seven selected architectural
practices – Architects without Borders Sweden, Arrhov Frick,
DinellJohansson, Horn.Uggla, In Praise of Shadows, Carmen Izquierdo
and Urbio – interpreting and translating classical Venetian
architectural and urban elements into new strategies for our
time. Once again presenting wood as the main material.
The Forests of Venice explores the role of an architect in the
struggle of improving the quality of life worldwide. The
exhibition opens at Casa dell’Architettura in Rome on the 26th
of May and runs until the 8th of June 2017.
Casa dell’Architettura, open Mon-Fri 10-19,
www.casadellarchitettura.it/
www.kjellandersjoberg.se/the-forests-of-venice