UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE AROUND THE WORLD; INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE IN AMERICA

Eric Owen Moss Southern California Ins tute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)

A Proposal for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale

Contact: Eric Moss, 8557 Higuera Street, Culver City, CA 90232 [email protected] UNDER CONSTRUCTION: AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE AROUND THE WORLD; INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE IN AMERICA

ERIC OWEN MOSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE (SCI-ARC)

The Prospect and The Promise:

Architecture at its best suggests that the world could be other than it is, that the world progresses, and that architecture can facilitate that progress: New prospects for the city. New visions for design and building. A new built world for the inhabitants of a new world. Hope and optimism. That’s the promise.

Innovative conceptions from America’s architects extend around the globe, from East

Asia to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America. Reciprocally, contributions from our colleagues abroad are constructed in America. America re- imagines the art of building and city making in the world. Foreign architects re-imagine buildings and cities in America. America exports. America imports. New architecture

“under construction”.

The Exhibit

That dual capacity to contribute inventively and to welcome new possibilities openly are the essential strengths of the American architectural mind, and the subject of this exhibition proposal for the U.S. Pavilion in Venice, 2008.

4 The Content

American culture is culture “under construction” -- re-conceiving, re-evaluating, re- imagining its meanings. That on-going exploration can never appear simply as a homogeneous body of built work. Rather there are several powerful, alternative prospects which reflect an enduring debate regarding priorities: Architecture as poetry?

Architecture as sociology? Architecture as culture? Architecture and urbanism?

Architecture as an amalgamation of possibilities?

Architecture and urbanism propel cultures, re-inform sociologies, and explore technologies. American architects at work today are producing investigatory work which challenges the conventional pro forma with respect to aesthetics, technical means, relationships of art/media/architecture, ordering and organizational strategies, and alternative energy systems. Architects are also at work on the re-conception of the systems and methods that have traditionally governed contemporary cities - transportation, housing, and the use of natural resources; the inter-relationship of social, economic, and political concerns with the form of the city; and the integration of imported conceptions with local customs, traditions, and aspirations.

The Means

We propose to present the 2008 exhibition in the American Pavilion at the Venice

Biennale as a scaffolded building “under construction”, suggesting an international design discourse in process.

5 We propose to install modular, open scaffolding running the entire length of the entry elevation of the Pavilion, suggesting a building mid-way in the construction process.

Similarly, in the interior of the Pavilion, we intend to mount additional open scaffolding through the entire entry wing and adjacent wings on either side. In front of the entrance portico we will step the scaffolding down to form terraced, bleacher seating to accommodate audiences attending a series of scheduled debates and presentations by international architects. The design work of American architects outside of the U.S.A. will be displayed on the scaffold OUTSIDE the pavilion. The work of foreign architects within America will be displayed INSIDE the pavilion.

EXISTING PLAN OUTSIDE SCAFFOLDING INSIDE SCAFFOLDING

The specific projects to be displayed will be selected by a highly distinguished group of international critics, curators and professionals with long histories of involvement in the international architectural discourse. This proposal includes examples of exemplary projects that are under consideration.

The specific form for the exhibit of each project, the particular choices of media, models, drawings, and so on, will be determined in the course of the selection process in

6 consultation with a distinguished and experienced team of exhibit managers and construction advisors.

The Vision

The curatorial objective at the U.S. Pavilion is to use an imaginative design means to communicate the most imaginative prospects for contemporary American architecture and urban design around the world as well as to represent America as both a unique repository of architectural talent, and an attentive welcomer of a new spirit of foreign architectural invention.

7 SCAFFOLDING FLOOR PLAN

8 EXTERIOR SCAFFOLDING

9 INTERIOR SCAFFOLDING

10 Project Team:

Curatorial Director: Eric Owen Moss, Director, Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, California, USA

Curatorial Team: Sherry Geldin, Director, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, USA Casey Jones, Jones/Kroloff, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA Reed Kroloff, Director, Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA Jeff Kipnis, Professor, , Columbus, Ohio, USA** Joe Rosa, Curatorial Chair of Architecture and Design, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

**Jeff Kipnis will oversee the debate/discussion series

International Advisory Team: Jose Luis Cortez Delgado, Dean, Iberoamerican University School of Architecture, Mexico City, Mexico Peter Noever, Director, MAK Center, Los Angeles, CA / Vienna, Austria Dr. Suha Özkan, Founding Chairman of World Architecture Community, Geneva, Switzerland Huang Yan, Planning Director, Beijing Municipal Planning Commission, Beijing, China Livio Sachi, Architect / Professor, School of Architecture of Pescara, G.D’Annunzio University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy Luis Fernández-Galiano, Architect/Professor, School of Architecture of Madrid’s Universidad Politécnica, Madrid, Spain

Installation Team: Project Coordinator Julianna Morais, JMM Projects, New York, New York, USA Installation Project Manager Alexis Rochas, I/O, Los Angeles, California, USA Project Engineer Bruce Danziger, Arup, Los Angeles, California, USA / New York, New York, USA / , England / Milan, Italy

11 Architects/Projects/Cities Under Consideration:

American Architects Working Abroad

Morphosis Architects, Los Angeles, California, USA: “Phare” [“Beacon”] Tower, Paris Office dA, Boston Massachusetts, USA: Obzee Project, Seoul, Korea; New Kuwait Sports Shooting Club, Kuwait City, Kuwait Steven Holl Architects, New York, New York, USA: Vanke Center, Shenzhen, China David Clovers, Los Angeles, California, USA: Light Mass, Beijing, China Preston Scott Cohen, Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel; Taiyuan Museum of Art, Taiyuan, China Lebbeus Woods, New York, New York, USA: Sarajevo Projects, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Havana Projects, Havana, Cuba , New York, New York, USA: City of Culture of Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

International Architects in America

Coop Himmelb(l)au, Vienna Austria: Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio, USA Patterns, Buenos Aires, Argentina: 8746 Sunset Boutique, West Hollywood, California, USA Xefirotech, Buenos Aires, Argentina: “Fideos Brillantes”, Puerto Rico Bridging Strategy, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA Shigeru Ban, Tokyo, Japan: Metal Shutter House, New York, New York, USA Foreign Office Architects, London, England: Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

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