To put "architecture, not architects" in the limelight was stated by Rem Koolhaas as one of his main aims for the Venice Biennale this year. The exhibition "Elements of Architecture" is designed to deliver the core argument for this statement, with each of the fifteen galleries of the Giardini’s Central Pavilion dedicated to the display of one basic architectural element or component.
We asked Stephan Trüby, who’s been the Research Director behind the "Elements" exhibition over the last two years, to take us on a grand tour around the "Wall", "Floor", "Ceiling", "Stair", "Door", "Corridor"... He explains that the idea of the exhibition was to take architecture itself apart – as though it’s "a drone from another world that’s crashed in the desert and which is now being dissected" – in order to study its DNA and better understand it – before putting it all back together again. Perhaps this time, in a different order...
– Florian Heilmeyer
The 14th International Architecture Exhibition
La Biennale di Venezia
Until 23 November 2014
