Notes for the Biennale - A dialog with Bogdan Tofan and Brian Spencer
Françoise Pamfil: Please explain what - in your opinion - is the most relevant interpretation of the term "fundamentals" in the field of architectural design?
Bogdan Tofan: Every time, the theme chosen by the director of the Venice Biennale is a surprise. Every year I expect the chosen theme to be general enough to cover the whole globe and specific enough to stir the dust off the national architectural gems.
This time, Mr. President of the Venice Biennale, a former Italian minister, has appointed as director of the 2014 Biennale a star of international architecture, the Dutch writer and architect Rem Koolhaas, professor of architecture at Harvard and a principal partner in the OMA Metropolitan Architecture Office. Rem Koolhaas has made it a condition of his involvement that the organization will take two years and not just one, as it was previously.
The structure of the Biennale has a title - "Foundations" - and 3 sections:
1. Central Pavilion - Fundamentals of Architecture
2. National Pavilions - Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014 - single theme
3. Arsenale Pavilion - the architecture of Italy
I believe there is an inextricable link between modernity and foundations. That's why Rem Koolhaas put them together. It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a story in which the characters keep meeting in a different form. It's as if Modernity and Foundation are two omnipresent, isotropic characters.
In answer to your question, I could say that the "Fundamentals" of architecture are the basic elements with which any architect operates when thinking of a building anywhere in the world. It is good to remember where we started from so that we always know where we are and where we are going. In the modern era, industrial and then electronic technology has changed the way we design architecture. Given our connection as architects with technical means, we have always been subject to centrifugal temptations. In the world today, through the media, the design of architectural objects has reached the sky, broken aesthetic barriers and entered the shocking zone of the extraordinary. For many people this has always been the 'unpleasant' side of modernity, the aspect that has always unsettled people. This approach has left many people feeling lost. This sense of being lost can always be alleviated by going back to "the basics". When you want to design something new, I think you should always keep in mind the normal, natural, functional and aesthetic basis of the things you invent, and modify these with imagination and restraint until you perfect the modern object.
When I was invited, in 2011, by the president of the Romanian Union of Architects to represent Romania at the Venice Biennale, I knew nothing about the inner and outer mechanisms that move such an event. I researched assiduously and began to understand. I was assisted by the scientific secretary, the distinguished Ms. lect. dr. arh. Marina Mihailă, whom I thank once again. The representation of Romania at B.A.V. 2012 with the interactive exhibition Play Mincu - "The Stamp of Architecture", curated by the team led by Emil Ivănescu, was honorable and did us honor. Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza was awarded the "Golden Lion" for lifetime achievement in 2012.
At the beginning of 2013, after the signing of the collaboration protocol, at the suggestion of the president of the Romanian Union of Architects, dr. arh. Curea Viorica, after the meeting with Rem Koolhaas in Venice, we organized a scientific collective from multiple fields to develop a Romanian theme for the national competition, in order to designate the projects that will represent Romania in 2014 in Venice. The team included architects: Luminița Machedon, Dorin Ștefan, Ana Maria Zahariade, Romeo Belea, Curea Viorica, Gheorghe Dorin, Nicolae Lascu, Alexandru Beldiman, George Mitrache, Marius Călin, Anca Mitrache, Françoise Pamfil, Emil Retegan, Sidonia Teodorescu, Alexandru Panaitescu, Dan Dinoiu, Augustin Ioan, structural engineer Gheorghe Dobrescu, psychologist Grigore Nicola - director of the Romanian Academy's Institute of Psychology.
Brian Spencer: In my opinion, "fundamentals" means understanding the function of the architecture and the method chosen to implement it.
F.P.: Can you give a prediction of the next theme of the architecture section - the 15th edition - of the Venice Biennale and give reasons for the connection (if any) with the previous ones?
B.T.: A preview for a future theme should contain an inspiring idea, a muse, a pretext for research and a dynamic, interactive, modern expression of anthropic architecture. How about "Architecture of the Future 100 years from now".
Thank you to all the participants of the competition, I think everyone won by participating.
Two prizes and three nominations were awarded as follows:
"Site under construction" - Award for the Pavilion in Giardini del Castelo, Venice, collective represented by Mihai Sima
"Exploring Identity"- Award - New Gallery ICR Venice, collective represented by Emil Ivănescu
"Dare to feel" - Nomination for New Gallery ICR Venice, collective represented by G. Mario Kuibus
"Just Now" - Nomination for Giardini del Castelo Pavilion, Venice, collective represented by Răzvan George Gorcea
"Tempo" - Nomination for the Giardini del Castelo Pavilion, Venice, collective represented by Robert Zotescu
B.S.: The title I propose for the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale is "The Soul of Architecture". Frank Lloyd Wright often paraphrases the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu in The Tea Book... "the reality of the building is not in its four walls and its roof, but in the space in which you have to live!".