David Adjaye’s Black Timber Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023

Kwaeε, the timber pavilion designed by Adjaye Associates for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale and installed at the Arsenale; photo © Riccardo Bianchini/Inexhibit.

Kwaeε, David Adjaye’s Black Timber Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023

In the Twi language, one of the most spoken Ghanaian dialects, the term Kwaeε means “forest”.

That’s why David Adjaye’s Kwaeε wood pavilion, installed at the Venice Arsenal for the 18th Architecture Biennale, has been designed to create patterns of lights and shadows that evoke in the people entering it the sensation of walking in a forest.

Externally, the structure has the aspect of a triangular prism, while internally it is shaped as a rounded cocoon, a cavern-like space into which sunlight enters discretely through two oculi and hundreds of slots that separate the black-painted wood planks that form the pavilion’s structure.

Deconstructing the traditional concept of solid walls punctured by well-identifiable windows and replacing it with a porous enclosure permeable to light and wind, the ingenious envelope of Asjiaie’s pavilion is arguably one of its most interesting features.
As the Ghanaian-British architect says: “Taking the form of a triangular prism, the 13m tall sculpture merges doorway, platform, assembly, and window into a single, unified entity. (…) By minimizing solid surfaces, the all-timber structure cultivates a forest of light and shadow, creating an immersive, cave-like atmosphere.”

Situated next to the Arsenale’s Italian Pavilion, Kwaeε is intended as a place for people to meet and relax, as well as as a venue for special events, lectures, and live performances.

Kwaeε is shaped as a 13-meter high black pyramid; photo © Riccardo Bianchini/Inexhibit.

The pavilion has a porous enclosure, entirely made of black-painted wood, through which sunlight pours into the internal space through hundreds of slotted openings and two oculi; photo © Riccardo Bianchini/Inexhibit.

A close-up of the pavilion’s timber structure; photo © Riccardo Bianchini/Inexhibit.