calendario eventi  :: 

X

25/5/2005

International Architecture Biennale

Two venues, Rotterdam

The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam will bring together more than a hundred models of waterside towns in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the exhibition Water City. Never before has such an extensive survey of the tradition of building alongside water been compiled. Included in the exhibition are 39 specially constructed models of, among others, the 17th-century towns of Rotterdam, Venice and Batavia, 18th-century Rio de Janeiro, 19th-century New York, and 21st-century Los Angeles. Moreover, twelve new designs for Dutch waterside towns in the future will be presented.

---

The Flood
The theme of the Biennale in 2005 is ‘The Flood’, a theme that has become more pressing in recent years and that is high on the agenda both nationally and internationally

Why The Flood?

Because a flood is upon us. In the Netherlands, and around the world, rising sea levels and increased precipitation due to climate change are making serious flooding a more common occurrence.

The Flood, the title chosen for the second IABR by curator Adriaan Geuze, is a metaphor for the situation in the Netherlands where water poses a permanent threat. Large areas of the country lie below sea level. Yet the Dutch have chosen to live here, combining the heroism of an almost Utopian existence with feet placed firmly in soggy soil. The Dutch have always been very practical in living alongside water. From early on they were constructing an artificial nature. The Biennale is examining the resulting cultural landscape of polders and waterside settlements.

Future
Rising seas, falling ground levels, and rising water levels in the major rivers will significantly alter the face of the Netherlands in the near future. Whether or not on a temporary basis, land once reclaimed will have to accommodate water again, through the realignment of dikes and bypasses, in the shape of overflow reservoirs and green rivers. At the same time, urbanisation continues to exert great pressure on the Dutch landscape of polders, and the demand for new nature areas and recreational green is growing.
The technology, management and politics of water have been the most important factors in how we have dealt with this issue up to now. One of the aims of the Biennale is to connect this sectoral, civil engineering and administrative involvement with the disciplines of architecture, urban design, landscape architecture and physical planning.
Such combinations could lead to solutions that amount to more than the sum of the parts. In the process, it is vital to keep both future and past in mind. The history of waterside settlement and polders in the Netherlands is the history of Dutch society and its relation with water.

The Netherlands has enjoyed a long tradition of constructing with nature, both physically and mentally. In the past that was always a source of great optimism. It was a way of creating space for the future, space for progress and change. But we are no longer careful in the way we treat land once reclaimed from the sea. Extensive residential development is damaging vulnerable low-lying areas. At the same time, there are no major land projects any more, and a progressive vision of the future of our landscape is lacking.

The Flood is also a reference to the Biblical story of The Deluge, which washes away everything and everybody and thus opens the way for a new beginning. Many cultures are familiar with the myth of the tabula rasa. The Biennale will seize The Flood as a fantastic opportunity to rediscover ourselves and the world and to look again at our water-dependent land with renewed optimism.

International
Water is an important theme outside the Netherlands too. Climate change means that the whole world must address the issue. Around the world cities are situated on low-lying coastal zones and in delta regions where rivers enter the sea. These are amongst the most fertile areas and are well linked by sea and land to the world. But these are also cities with populations in the millions that are now highly vulnerable because of the threat of flooding.
Another international subject that the Biennale will cover is the development of bathing resorts since the nineteenth century, in particular today’s coastlines that are swamped by tourism. The Biennale will look at more social themes such as the environment and globalisation in relation to the urbanisation of coastal regions.

Programme
The programme for the second IABR includes a number of exhibitions, a conference, lectures, an international master class, film screenings, and a city-wide series of events in various Rotterdam cultural institutions that address the theme of The Flood. In addition, two publications will be released to accompany the Biennale: one devoted to the polder landscape and one to waterside building and development in the Netherlands. More than just catalogues, these book constitute independent publications in their own right.

---

The Water City exhibition will be opened on Thursday May 26, by His Royal Highness Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands. It is just one of the exhibitions on show during the second International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, entitled The Flood, which takes place from May 26 to June 26 in Las Palmas and the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Dutch tradition
The Dutch people are famed for their tradition of building with water. The Water City exhibition presents the history, current situation, and future of waterside towns. The history of these towns, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere, forms an important source of knowledge for the development of new strategies in response to the current conflict between rising water levels and the need to expand our cities.

From early medieval Friesian villages like Sloten that sprang up around sluices, 17th-century fortified towns like Naarden and Breda, Hanseatic towns like Zwolle and Zutphen, Zuiderzee towns like Enkhuizen, trading posts in deltas, settlements on rivers and canals like Zierikzee, Zaltbommel and Gouda, all the way to early 19th-century bathing resorts, and the ramparts, canals and islands of Amsterdam. Also featured are recent developments such as the areas that stretch along the banks of the IJ in Amsterdam and the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam.

Models of waterside towns around the world will highlight the differences and similarities in how towns have overcome the threat of water. Among the highlights are: 17th-century Copenhagen, Saint Petersburg and Recife; 19th-century Oostende; 20th-century Rügen, Barcelona, Baltimore, Valencia; and 21st-century Oslo and Hamburg.

Future
Also on display in the exhibition will be models made as part of twelve studies of new Dutch waterside towns. Specially commissioned for the Biennale by Dutch as well as international architects, these studies will contribute to discussions on how to deal with water. Some designers propose major works of hydraulic engineering that result in new forms of urban development such as housing located in areas prone to regular flooding or on artificial islands. Other designers explore scenarios for different ways of living with water: from a new town in the catchment basin of the Biesbosch wetlands and ‘wet urbanisation’ in the town of Kampen, to a temporary ‘catamaran town’ on a sandbank off the coast and new burial rituals in Amsterdam.

Atlas Dutch Water Cities
Accompanying The Water City exhibition is the Atlas Dutch Water Cities, SUN Publishers. This publication traces the relation between urban development and hydraulic engineering.

International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam locations

Las Palmas
Wilhelminakade 66-68, Rotterdam
t. +31 10 2060033, info@iabr.nl
Open: Tuesday till Sunday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi)
Museumpark 25, Rotterdam
t. +31 10 4401200, info@nai.nl, http://www.nai.nl
Open: Tuesday till Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sundays and national holidays: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

stampa

permanent link