The Swedish architecture at the center of the exhibition in Venice

The urban sustainability has always been the Swedish business card and is also the theme of "The Forests of Venice" (the side event of the Fifteenth International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale of 2016) that promotes the interaction between nature and urban environment. "The Forests of Venice" was made possible due to the initiative of the study "Kjellander + Sjöberg and Folkhem" with the Swedish Institute's support. Jan Åman was the exhibition curator, while Swedish Wood, Sveaskog and Martinsons have contributed to the project.

by 18 August 2016

forests-of-venice-installation-architecture-biennale-2016_dezeen_1568_3 — Photo credits www.dezeen.com

The urban sustainability has always been the Swedish business card and is also the theme of “The Forests of Venice” (the side event of the Fifteenth International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale of 2016) that promotes the interaction between nature and urban environment. “The Forests of Venice” was made possible due to the initiative of the study “Kjellander + Sjöberg and Folkhem” with the Swedish Institute’s support. Jan Åman was the exhibition curator, while Swedish Wood, Sveaskog and Martinsons have contributed to the project.

In a greenhouse built in 1894, between the two main venues of the “Venice Biennale” (the Gardens and the Arsenal) the exhibition offers an introduction to urban planning, while the climate change is challenging the coastal cities in a variety of geographical environments. Venice, because of its location, has been described by the organizers as “an utopia come true, where the founders have had to use the innovations of their time to build the city in the middle of the water”.

This urban design sample shows that technologies need to come together with nature, in order to stand the test of time: the aspect that attracted the exhibition curator Jan Åman and was the starting point of his research is that the lagoon city was built on a foundation made of ten million trees. A wooden installation (of Kjellander + Sjöberg) has been set up in a garden near Palazzo Ducale.

“We wanted to create a space for informal meetings that would evoke trees, branches and foliage – Stefan Sjöberg explained – thanks to innovation and technology, wood is cheap and has a low impact on the environment: the emission of carbon dioxide from wood is lower than the release from concrete.”

“The Forests of Venice” is structured, in the greenhouse, along seven selected Swedish architectural firms: Architects Without Borders Sweden, Arrhov Frick, DinellJohansson, Horn.Uggla, In Praise of Shadows, Carmen Izquierdo and Urbio. The exhibition focuses on the role of architecture in the everyday life, presenting the wood as the main material. The event, which opened in Venice on May 28th, will continue until 18th September 2016.

@AldoCiummo