Spain 2016

Alejandro Aravena‘s proposal for the Architecture Biennale 2016, “Reporting from the front”, invites each country to share experiences and moments of crisis that architecture has experienced in recent years. The proposal calls for a reflection on the mistakes in order to share solutions that may allow other countries to anticipate and avoid similar situations.

During the last period of economic growth in Spain, construction became the main driving force of the economy. Today, reality reveals us the built presence and the unfinished remains of what once was the largest edificatory enterprise in Spanish history, leaving behind a difficult situation in which to deal with partially constructed large volumes which are not consolidated.

Under the title “Unfinished“, the exhibition in the Spanish Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2016 draws attention to these unfinished architectures in order to discover virtues that can become design strategies. Robert Venturi, referring to the Farnsworth House, points out how architects are highly selective in determining those problems they want to solve often giving up solving others.

“Unfinished” wants to be a reflection on the architectures born out of the resignation to respond to certain aspects. In order to do so, the exhibition will promote creative speculation about how to subvert the past condition into a positive contemporary action.

In order to show the largest possible number of architectural designs related to this theme, the Spanish Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale initially launched a call for selecting the built works to be shown under one of the following categories:

INFILL without facade
ELEVATIONS without land
CONSOLIDATE without autonomy
PATTERNS without deadlines
STRUCTURES without cladding
DEMOLITIONS without material
GENERIC without program
ADAPTABLE without permanences
REAPROPRIATION without new spaces
RAW MATERIAL without finishing
LOW COST without money
COLLABORATIVE without authorship
SUBVERSIVE without regulations

In addition to the process for selecting built works, a design competition has also been launched for new projects in connection with the ‘Unfinished’ theme explored by the Spanish Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale. These designs must come under one of the above mentioned categories.
Exhibitor: Contemporary Spanish Architecture.