Quite often in literary works or medical treaties, authors employed anthropomorphic metaphors that compared a town to a body or described anatomical phenomena with architectural structures, think about Thomas Mann and Venice, Walter Benjamin and Paris or volumes such as On the Fabric of the Human Body in Seven Books by Andreas Vesalius.
At the same time, metaphors from biology and natural concepts were employed to describe architectural spaces: Palladio compared for example the program of a villa to a "digestive system of service spaces functioning in support of the placid physiognomy of the served."
The Israeli Pavilion at the 15th Venice Architectural Biennale moves from such inspirations and employs biology and biomimicry as the starting points for state of the art architectural projects.
Entitled "LifeObject" the pavilion explores the relationships between human beings and their environment, and, while some of the projects featured could be directly linked with the local history of the Israeli settlements, the solutions proposed could be applied to global contexts.
Biomimicry has indeed given rise to a new approach to nature in architecture known as "biophilic design" that calls for achieving a reciprocal relationship between buildings and architecture.
The main structure greeting the visitors inside the pavilion is an architectural-biological object, a collapsible structure, based on the principles of knitting and weaving that spreads throughout the pavilion like a virus, but that is inspired in its structure, organisation and resilient properties by the nest of the Jordan sparrow.
The latter builds structures made of twigs woven together in a complex geometric space composed of diverse elements that are layered and interwoven.
The nest was studied via magnetic resonance instruments and an algorithm derived from a quantitative analysis of the scanned nest determined the classification of the rods in various categories – according to their thickness, length, and bending capabilities.
While the twigs that comprise the structure resemble branches of a nest, they are made of composite materials (Kevlar fibers and fiberglass or FRP, that is fibre reinforced polymers), characterised by extreme strength, high durability and low density.
Similar to the cellulose fibres of the twigs, the fibres chosen for this installation are glass and aramid (E-glass, Technora and Twaron, in different grades) that present excellent mechanical properties under forces of tension, with a specific tensile strength that exceeds steel and carbon fibre. Glass fibres are braided and aramid fibres are knit as sleeves, to form tube-like elements that incorporate inside them stoppers and joints.
The knit materials are assembled following a design code that combines randomness with preset values derived from the algorithmic analysis of the nest. The free-form shape of the complex LifeObject results from the mutual bending forces of its components, pressed between floor and ceiling.
There are eleven breathing cells within the LifeObject, smart units mimicking organs and acting like muscle tissue, but made of twenty-four strips of shape memory material that react to the visitors' presence, to environmental conditions or stimuli which cause them to change their form reactively, returning to their original state once the external stimuli has dissipated.
The breathing cells are connected to a large glass window located at the back of pavilion, which is covered with PDLC film (a form of liquid crystal glass) that enables changes in the glass' opacity. The window is divided into modular sections connected to the breathing cells: when the breathing cells open in response to the visitors' presence, a corresponding section of the window becomes transparent, letting in light and creating a connection between the pavilion and its external surroundings.
The rest of the exhibition explores the theme of resilience and features projects by seven teams of Israeli scientists and architects selected by the curatorial team, including architects Bnaya Bauer, Arielle Blonder and Noy Lazarovich, scientist Dr. Ido Bachelet and curator and researcher Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen.
These speculative scenarios present new mechanisms of resilience inspired by cancer research, synthetic biology, medical engineering, marine biology, crystallography, embryology and complex systems.
"Behave", by architectural office Shaga Shyovitz and scientist Erez Livneh, consists in a holographic microscope that analyses the breath of spectators, measuring oxygen, carbon dioxide and breath tidal volume.
An algorithm programming the behavioral patterns of bacteria uses these biomarkers to simulate the growth, organization and material deposition of a bacterial colony, constructing a virtual biofilm that interacts in real time with sensorial inputs.
"The Nanocellulose Desert Shelter" by architects Nir Chen and Guy Austern, and scientist Prof. Oded Shoseyov also operates at the material level. Through the application of molecular levels of nanocellulose the researchers created a series of ultra-thin nanocellulose dune-like resilient shells, customized to fit the environmental and the structural pressures to which they are subjected and designed to blend in with desert surroundings.
"The Breathing Building" by architects Moti Bodek and Farah Farah, and scientist Prof. David Elad, proposes a plan for a research center near the port of Ashdod, which relies on existing resources, and producing a greater synergy between the building and the environment based on the human breathing system.
Resilient systems are characterised not only according to the success with which they adjust to states of crisis, but also according to the possibility of predicting crises before they occur, in order to prevent or alleviate damage.
This is the basis for "Urban Angiogenesis/BIO Smart City 3.0", a joint project by architect Hagit Klimor and cancer researcher Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro. The project deals with the problem of densification in Tel Aviv, and relies on applying methodologies from the field of cancer therapy, with the aim of diagnosing in real time the potential collapse of urban infrastructures. The challenge is to use Big Data to leverage the benefits of densification.
"Diffraction of Urban Crystals, Haifa", by architect Einal Kalish Rotem, in collaboration with Madlan Company, and Prof. Dan Shechtman, develops a planning methodology based on analyzing the relations between spatial behavior patterns in the city and the physical urban tissues. As for the "Urban Angiogenesis project", the researchers working on this project gain their knowledge on behavioral patterns from various Big Data resources.
"Dead Sea Resurrection Project", by architects Dan Eytan and Ruth Lahav, and scientist Dr. Boaz Tadmor, deals with the man-made ecological disaster of the Dead Sea.
The condition of the lake is compared to Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, where one twin develops at the expense of the other, with separation being the operational way to save the pregnancy.
"Live it" is a project developed by "Commons" | Envisioning the new public space, a landscape architecture firm, in cooperation with Professor Uri Shavit, that proposes to adapt urban space to weather natural processes without attempting to prevent them.
Curator Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen highlights that, though the themes and issues tackled by the projects are different one from the other, they are all reunited by the theme of resilience, the central axis of the "LifeObject" installation.
Alejandro Aravena asked this years' Venice Biennale participants to “report from the front”, but the front at the Israeli Pavilion is multi-layered since it looks at biology, architecture, but also at geopolitical, cultural and environmental issues: was this a way from the curators' point of view to invite visitors to acknowledge the potential of architecture in covering and providing solutions about a wide range of issues?
Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen: Aravena's topic for this years' Biennale, "Reporting from the Front," frames architecture as a discipline with the potential for innovation, imbuing the future with hope, in parallel to the dystopian view it simultaneously presents. While his attitude focuses on processes that are "logical, institutional, legal, political and administrative," the"LifeObject" exhibition proposes to examine the way in which these processes interface with our biological realities from additional perspectives which are of great importance to the current architectural discourse. These perspectives relate not only in the context of 'new materiality' and production methodologies, but they are also part of a broader re-examination of the ways in which architecture continues to express humanist values, enabling human beings to live in an environment appropriate to their needs. These ideas are at the crux of the political approach which is at the heart of the Biennale's central exhibition and indeed acknowledge the potential of architecture in covering and providing solutions about a wide range of issues.
The curatorial team of the Israeli Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition features both architects and scientists: how did they approach their work for this event and how was it working together on this project?
Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen: LifeObject's curatorial team, has invited Israeli scientists and architects to form seven additional teams, gathered especially for this exhibition, to take part in a multidisciplinary research platform that would hopefully evolve to further collaborations in the future. The team's mission was to propose architectural speculations, whether applicable in practice or as indicators of possible directions for continued future development, based on the study of the scientists whose research focuses on various scientific specialization areas: from cancer research through synthetic biology, medical engineering, marine biology, crystallography and embryology. The teams collaborated in different ways in accordance with the different projects. In some cases the joint works were based on the implementation of scientific methodologies in architectural thinking, while in other cases they initiated new directions for further scientific research. Although most of the team's work were based on discussions and conceptual dialogues, there were groups in which the architects took an active part in the scientific lab, while in others, scientists were involved in the design processes. The curatorial team itself, which consists of architects, a scientist and a curator, has also developed a research project based on multidisciplinary collaborations. All together, this project involved a big variety of experts, working in different academic and commercial scientific labs as well as in architectural firms and design and manufacturing studios.
"LifeObject", the opening fibre structure at the pavilion, may call to mind knitted medical prostheses such as polyester vascular implants: were the projects included in the pavilion also inspired by medical (rather than just biological) studies and ideas?
Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen: Two of the teams' projects are based on medical ideas. They both offer original diagnoses to urban and ecological problems. The Dead Sea Resurrection Project, by ELR/ARC Architects and scientist Boaz Tadmor, proposes an analogy between the environmental disasters of the Dead Sea and a medical disorder. The project suggests to adopt the principles of the medical treatment for the Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), where identical twins relying on the same source of nutrients no longer receive a balanced blood supply due to an anomaly in the fetal blood vessels, to the degeneration process of the Dead Sea. Through external intervention to the biological fetus, it has become possible to divert the transfer of blood from one fetus to another. Were a similar intervention applied to the Dead Sea lakes, it would enable a separation of water flow, adequately supplying each lake with its necessary sustenance. BIO Smart City 3.0 project, by Knafo Klimor Architects and Prof. Ronit Satchi Fainaro, refers to the densification problem in the city of Tel-Aviv, and examines whether tackling urban sickness could be pioneered according to biological principles and methodologies governing cancer research. It suggests to implement nano-technological approach used in cancer treatment to treat diseased areas before they reach their pathological stage, to urban zones, analyzed by Big Data through communication systems, sending 'intelligent agents' to identify, detect and treat the affected area without destroying healthy tissue.
According to you, which speculative architectural and theoretical scenario included in the pavilion is the most utopian? And the most challenging?
Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen: The project which can be seen as the most utopian is the conceptual project BEHAVE by ShaGa Shyovitz architects and scientist Erez Livneh which considers future spaces where "living" materials interface with human biotic indicators. It extends advances in genetic engineering to the realm of spatial and interactive design by activating synthetic living materials with sensorial biomarkers from our human body. It suggests a bio-systemic approach rendering human interaction, social behavior and even human emotions as substance, and provokes our ability/consciousness to communicate and synergize with our environment through such intricate resolutions of material responsiveness. It is based on the information-matter duality, connecting the real and the virtual, and enabling the existence of communication within physical substance. Diffraction of Urban Crystals, Haifa, by Dr. arch. Einat Kalisch Rotem & Madlan and Prof. Dan Shechtman, a Noble Prize Laureate is a particularly challenging proposal which will hopefully lead to further stages of research. Its goal is to define a Fourier transform (diffraction pattern) tool, used by Prof. Shechtman in his research, which have granted him with Nobel Prize, as a tool for urban planners that will enable scientific analysis of urban-crystals (fabrics). By using this tool it attempts to find hidden patterns relating to lifestyle and human behavior which have emanated from distinct architectural paradigms. Likening these neighborhoods to Petri dishes, which host and foster the growth of various life forms, it seeks to identify patterns of living within these urban tissues. This understanding can shed light on the behavioral logic of urban 'tissues' or 'fabrics', which reveal organizing patterns within urban space.
Which scenarios presented in the Israeli Pavilion could maybe help us providing solutions or envisaging a future for other places as well, including Venice where biology and architecture could be employed on different levels to regenerate the place?
Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen: There are many examples of possible implementations of building methodologies and use of biological materials, presented in the exhibition that could be applied also in the case of Venice or in different locations worldwide. But what I find more essential is the fact that the different projects presented in the pavilion relate in one way or another to the concept of resilience which is a central biological principle. This concept which is in many aspects contradicting the modernist concepts of efficiency and standardization, is offering a way to think of an environment through its ability to anticipate, cope, and recover from states of potential and actual danger without collapsing. The ability to adapt to new situations through processes of learning, enhances its flexibility and ability to absorb and react to changing contexts. Adopting these principles, while being aware of its resulting consequences, could be very sufficient in thinking about future scenarios in degeneration places, instead of thinking in terms of specific problem solving.
The parallelism between architecture and biology inside the pavilion is intriguing: do you feel that in future we may have more hybrid professions that will combine different disciplines together?
Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen: Absolutely yes. But actually it is not a new phenomenon. We have noticed this process of hybridization already in the last decades of the 20th century. We have to understand that it is not only about hybridization. The phrasebook which functions as a kind of "conceptual envelope" of the whole exhibition, demonstrates also the conceptual gaps between the two disciplines and the role of interpretation in the process of the merging between them.
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