WE ARE COMMON GROUND
Curating proposal entry for Cyprus Pavilion_ 13th Architectural Biennale of Venice 2012
Status: shortlisted
Curators Architects: Yiorgos Hadjichristou & Maria Hadjisoteriou.
Collaborators: Alessandra Swiny & Veronica Antoniou
assistants: students at ARC, University of Nicosia
Date: November 2012
Location: Venice, Italy
Client: Ministry of Education, Cyprus Architects Association
We refer to the ‘Occupy’ movement as the starting point of our proposal. A group of people seeks to claim a public space in the Buffer Zone of the Divided city of Nicosia.
We read the Green line as a significant ‘vague terrain’ of the city, together with the unexploited but significant terraces of the old town and the informal public spaces along the Pediaios River’.
These ‘ambiguous spaces’, seen under the prism of the ‘occupy’, trigger new ways of approaching the notion of ‘common ground’. Consequently and inevitably, this investigation generates insights on the ‘general common ground’ and give new perspectives in cities like Nicosia where the historical conditions didn’t promote the development of Public Space.
We interpret the thematic of the ‘common ground’ not only as a territorial entity1 but as the result of the network of people entity2 involved in forming these spaces in the cities. We consider this network of the people involved as one of the most important parameters for the creation of our cities: Architects are the designers, but not the absolute ‘masters’ that define the end result. Rather we see the participatory approach as an indispensable parameter for the creation of urban topographies. This process relates to the collaboration of various architects, professionals of relevant fields as well as other diverse disciplines, together with social groups and of course the users themselves.
Accordingly to constituent elements of this ‘collaborative entity’ we may result to the desiring result of spaces and towns that continuously change and evolve in order to respond to the ever-changing needs of the society.
The application of participatory design, can attain a desirable result for the evolution of public space, where continuous change and evolvement, in order to respond to the ever-changing needs of the society is the main objective of urban-scapes.
We understand the buildings as not isolate, static objects within a town. We perceive them in relation to the notion of ‘Flow’ as one of the main ingredients of “cooking” architecture and the city. Flows and buildings are interwoven into a unified urban entity.
We question the notion of the space between buildings through the prism of the ‘in between conditions’ and the prevailing blurring zones. We would like to further investigate the understanding of what is in and what is out, the limits of a building and the ground between the buildings. The notion of Flow and building are interwoven into a unified urban entity.
Pavilion_ Intangible qualities of space. Atmospheres. Triggering of the senses
Our intention is to transfer the above notions in the Cyprus Pavilion. To create a space that the various groups of participants (architects, artists, designers, authorities, poets, historians), together with the visitors of the Arsenale and the participants in the Cyprus Pavilion events may re-create, re-work and alter according to their needs.
The pavilion space can be easily changed. People can create small structures by knitting and adding recycled materials to overlapping surfaces. Fabric, Graffiti, Vegetation.
Walking through the pavilion
Visibility replicated perception as it takes place in the buffer zone: glimpsing through holes, narrow passages, standing on stools, watching over, peeping towards hidden spaces in the ceiling.
Change of the spatial milieu periodically, through sound, light, projections engagement.
Parallel Events in Cyprus. Events in the pavilion. Continuous activities that make a big impact on the pavilion, constantly changing it.
1 - …“Common Ground” also has a strong connotation of the ground between buildings, the spaces of the city ... David Chiepperfield
2 - …things that architects share in common, from the conditions of the practice of architecture to the influences, collaborations, histories and affinities that frame and contextualise our work, will encourage the collaboration and dialogue that I believe is at the heart of architecture … David Chiepperfield