An Open Laboratory
Louisiana Channel has followed architect Søren Pihlmann's restoration of the Danish Pavilion at the Giardini della Biennale since its inception, documenting the process in a just-released 15-minute film. In Make Materials Matter, Pihlmann explains how materials drive the process, and how all construction waste is reused on site.
Visitors to the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia opening on May 10 will see piles of debris inside the Danish Pavilion, much like the film still below, where even the tables displaying materials are made from pieces of the building. In addition to restoring the building designed by Carl Brummer in 1932 and extended by Peter Koch in 1958, Pihlmann and his eponymous firm are also curators of this year's exhibition, Build of Site, which was commissioned by the Danish Architecture Center. Exhibition and container effectively merge, becoming a demonstration of hands-on maintenance and on-site reuse.
World-Architects recently featured pihlmann architects' Thoravej 29, the transformation of a 1960s factory in Copenhagen into a community hub, as a Building of the Week. Similar to the Danish Pavilion, the architects repurposed nearly every component the existing building: “Slabs tilted into stairways, facades reorganized into pavement, doors morphed into furniture.”
Watch Make Materials Matter below or on the Louisiana Channel website.