Timber iQ October - November 2018 // Issue: 40 | Page 8

NEWS
Landscape Architecture | Architecture Landscape will run until the end of November 2018 in the Arsenale.
Upholding SA
architecture in Italy
South African architecture has been placed on the international map
as one of the country’s foremost architects Peter Rich showcases
his solo exhibition of drawings at the 16th International Architecture
Exhibition in Venice, Italy.
By Candace Sofianos King
T
itled ‘Landscape Architecture | Architecture
Landscape’, the exhibition is made possible thanks to
the Biennale Foundation, Corobrik, PPC and Lamy.
Invited to exhibit by curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley
McNamara of Grafton Architects, Rich showcases 15
drawings of eight selected projects in Italy’s historic 13 th
century Arsenale hall.
The drawings focus on the organic aspect of the
architect’s work, which the curators felt best responded to
the ‘Freespace’ theme of this year’s Venice Biennale.
“Freespace describes a generosity of spirit and a sense of
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OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2018 //
humanity at the core of architecture's agenda, focusing on
the quality of space itself,” highlights Farrell and
McNamara.
Sketches of projects such as the Mapungubwe
Interpretation Centre and Rich’s latest project in China
called Stone House, have been reproduced at a
monumental scale on printed canvas and transparent
textile sheets. These are suspended from the Arsenale’s
six-metre-high ceilings from a mobile structure designed
and built in Johannesburg from South African kiaat
hardwood and aluminium.