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32 Light Houses

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale uses a number of "house" models to explore the design philosophy driving the work of thirty-two invited studios.

The Nordic Pavilion, designed by Pritzker Prize Laureate Sverre Fehn, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a conceptual exhibition that uses a number of "house" models to explore the design philosophy driving the work of thirty-two invited studios.

Eleven Finnish and Swedish studios plus ten Norwegians, all born after 1962 (the year the Pavilion was completed), explored social and environmental issues in encounters and workshops, before designing the exhibition for the 13th International Architecture Exhibition — Venice Biennale, curated by Peter MacKeith.

The thirty-two models are displayed on pedestals designed by Professor Juhani Pallasmaa , a colleague and friend of Fehn, and should be seen as metabolised and simplified versions of the thoughts developed on this creative path. Exclusively conceived for the Nordic countries' space in the Giardini, every model relates strongly to the Pavilion, playing with essential elements such as light, matter and pure forms to evoke the distinctive features of Nordic architecture.

The architects on show — including Finland's Avanto Architects, Norway's Fantastic Norway Architects and Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter, and Sweden's General Architecture and Nordmark & Nordmark arkitekter — decided to reproduce the "Nordic house" symbolically with a few simple architectural details.

As stressed by exhibition curator Peter MacKeith, this year's Nordic Pavilion shows the "common ground that is physically and metaphorically present in three different countries, Finland, Sweden and Norway." Fabrizia Vecchione (@fbrz_vecchione)
<em>32 Light Houses</em>, the Nordic Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibiton - Venice Biennale. On the foreground, a model by Anttila Oiva Architects
32 Light Houses, the Nordic Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibiton - Venice Biennale. On the foreground, a model by Anttila Oiva Architects
<em>32 Light Houses</em>, the Nordic Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibiton - Venice Biennale. On the foreground, a model by In primo piano la light house di Arkitektstudio Widjedal Racki
32 Light Houses, the Nordic Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibiton - Venice Biennale. On the foreground, a model by In primo piano la light house di Arkitektstudio Widjedal Racki
<em>32 Light Houses</em>, the Nordic Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibiton - Venice Biennale
32 Light Houses, the Nordic Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibiton - Venice Biennale
<em>32 Light Houses</em>, the Nordic Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibiton - Venice Biennale. A model by Petra Gipp Arkitektur
32 Light Houses, the Nordic Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibiton - Venice Biennale. A model by Petra Gipp Arkitektur

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