Germany | 14th Architecture biennale

above: Photo by Bruno Cordioli

Bungalow
German Pavilion

The German pavilion at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale is focused on the symbolic role of architecture as well as on the relationship between national identity and architectural expressions.
The theme of the exhibition is developed through a comparison between two buildings, both symbolic of Germany, that shared the same destiny, namely to lose their physical identity while becoming places for almost theatrical renditions. One is the German pavilion in Venice itself, which in 1938, under Hitler’s order, was renovated to get its current appearance, the other is the less-known Kanzlerbungalow, the residence of the Prime Minister realized in Bonn, the former German capital, in 1964.
The “bungalow”, which in 1999 had lost its original function and that for a long time has been publicly seen only through press and television images, since it was secluded by a fence and concealed by high trees, is replicated inside the pavilion at the Biennale; it can now be visited by all and has eventually regained its nature of the architectural organism.

In this 1972 photo, the Secretaries of State of the two German Republics are portrayed in the garden of the Kanzlerbungalow, visible in the background.

Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014
Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014 is an invitation to the national pavilions to show, each in their own way, the process of the erasure of national characteristics in architecture in favor of the almost universal adoption of a single modern language and a single repertoire of typologies – a more complex process than we typically recognize, involving significant encounters between cultures, technical inventions, and hidden ways of remaining “national”.

See all Inexhibit magazine articles on the 14th Venice Biennale from the link below to the index page!