British Pavilion  
Architecture Biennale 2010, Shortlisted Proposal 
Venice / Italy 2010

Collaboration with Alexandra Stara

Client: British Council

Team: Karsten Huneck, Bernd Truempler, Alex Stara

The following excerpt from Kazuo Sejima’s statement for the Biennale has been particularly influential for our British Pavilion concept: ‘ Perhaps the oxymoron can represent a productive new paradigm; can these binaries (intersections of public/private, global/local, artificial/natural, monumental/mundane, complex/simple, symbolic/ pragmatic, fake/authentic, active/passive, thickness/ thinness) lead to a duality capable of blurring these boundaries?

How can the unexpected interdependency of extraordinary spaces create a communal/symbiotic dialogue between adjacencies?‘ We believe in architecture’s transformative powers and its ability to reconcile opposites, open up boundaries and create possibilities. We wish to engage the imaginary and extraordinary to expand the realm of the real and the ordinary.

We propose to transform the British pavilion into an enchanted castle transporting its visitors into a fairytale.