In other editions of the Venice Architecture Biennale there were definitely more projects that tackled the intersection between architecture and other disciplines, including fashion and textiles in particular.
At the 16th International Architecture Exhibition there are fewer ones and among them there's Benedetta Tagliabue-Miralles Tagliabue EMBT's "Weaving Architecture" installation that represents a fragment of their project for the Clichy-Montfermeil metro station.
The project for the wicker Spanish Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 event was the starting point for other projects by this architecture practice such as this one for the station (part of the Grand Paris Express, Europe's largest infrastructure and development project with 200 km of automatic metro lines and 68 new stations) located at the border of two suburb small towns, Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil (in the outskirts of Paris).
The architectural practice hopes to transform this grey and abandoned place into a vivid and colorful square where the shapes of the pergola roofs, based on traditional decorative geometrical motives from Africa combined with the colours of local graffiti, cover the area with a canopy made with wood and fibers, a delicate and light yet solid and resistant material once tightly woven.
Weaving represents a metaphor for the architects behind this project - it is a physical act involving tangible fibers, but it also refers to something invisible, that is the power of weaving people together, inviting to social inclusion.
Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, this year's curators at the Biennale, also point out that the suspended woven canopy of wood and fibers, is reminiscent in their view of the poem "Psalm" by Wislawa Szymborska.
Written in 1976, the poem is very apt for our times, as it states "How leaky are all the borders, we draw around our separate nations! How many clouds cross these boundaries daily, without even paying the toll!"
While the canopy is supposed to create a shelter its fragmented configuration hints indeed at mobility and liquid borders, a relevant theme in Europe where the debate about migrants and borders is verging on hostility rather than openness.
In Venice the practice has recreated sections of the canopy that will provide shade and protection in the metro station, offering a semi-open space for communal activities.
A series of large cushions with digitally printed images showing the renderings for the project and the background research behind it, creates a space where visitors can relax and think about the power of weaving and handcrafts in modern architecture.
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