Venice Biennale

This model, made for the Australia Stand at the Venice Biennale 2008, abstracts a number of themes explored in residential alterations undertaken by our practice. Traditional architectural model making techniques are combined with domestic and bush crafts, using new (gold wire and boxboard) and recycled (street sweeper blades and beer boxes). Our built work focuses on the fabric of building and the ritual of habitation. In this model the investigation of 'making' is separated from that of occupation. The inner spindle creates rooms with occupiable edges. It synthesises the connectedness of the modernist open plan with the spatial and social ordering of the Victorian parlour spaces. The golden screen is a technological experiment. It provides a protective skin for the delicate silhouettes, filtering light and mediating views.