Photograph by Alessandra Chemollo
Venice Biennale, May 2021
Venice, Italy
2nd May 2021 - 21st November 2021
Complete
‘High-performing Urban Ecologies’ Installation Venice Biennale
Photograph by Alessandra Chemollo
Venice Biennale, May 2021
The ‘High-performing Urban Ecologies' installation by ZHA responds to the ‘Resilient Communities’ theme of this year’s Italian Pavilion curated by Alessandro Melis for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021.
Presenting ZHA’s Unicorn Island masterplan that is currently under construction in Chengdu, China, the installation incorporates the Alis pod and is situated within the Giardino delle Vergini at the entrance to the Italian Pavilion in Venice.
Integrating architecture, engineering and urbanism to develop low carbon solutions that conserve energy and resources, ZHA’s holistic approach is redefining the built environment’s true measure of efficiency as the improved well-being of its inhabitants.
With China’s economy evolving from traditional heavy industries to technology-based organisations, the country is now home to a third of the world’s technology companies valued at over a billion US dollars - termed ‘unicorn companies’.
Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, has developed into a centre of excellence in next-generation information technologies, intelligent manufacturing, and new energy. The Tianfu New Area to the south of the city is being developed as an ecologically sustainable civic, business and residential centre.
The 67-hectare Unicorn Island masterplan within the Tianfu New Area is a mixed-use masterplan for 70,000 researchers, office staff, residents and visitors.
Driven by Tianfu New Area’s ongoing programme to re-establish its natural wetlands, Unicorn Island borders Xing Long Lake and incorporates natural water management and conservation systems. The parkland design includes many green civic spaces and increased connectivity to create living and working environments that enhance well-being.
Integrated clusters of buildings surround Unicorn Island’s central plaza and metro station; its radial masterplan enables the entire island to be accessed by a few minutes’ walk or bike ride.
Directly responding to varying requirements of function, programme and efficiency, the masterplan’s diversity of interconnected buildings at a human scale cultivates a sense of community.
Courtesy of ZHA, render by MIR
Start-up exhibition and conference centre
Project
The 67-hectare Unicorn Island masterplan within the Tianfu New Area is a mixed-use masterplan for 70,000 researchers, office staff, residents and visitors.
Addressing new requirements for contemporary meeting areas, Alis is designed to enhance collaboration and cooperation within a space that integrates flexibility and comfort with advanced information technology.
In a design informed by the petals of an orchid that envelop the pod to provide privacy and shelter with optimal visibility, Alis is constructed by Tecno with precision manufacturing techniques including 3D printing and CAD/CAM tooling.
Its modular design enables Alis to be easily be disassembled, transported, repurposed and re-used in different configurations for alternative functions.
Each component of the pod is integral to its circular design cycle that ensures long-life durability and minimal waste with components that can be recycled or upcycled into second life applications.
Alis at Statale Milano, June 2022
Project
Addressing new requirements for contemporary meeting areas, Alis is designed to enhance collaboration and cooperation within a space that integrates flexibility and comfort with advanced information technology.
Photograph by Zhu Yumeng 朱雨蒙
Venice Architecture Biennale
'High-performing Urban Ecologies' is an installation for ‘Resilient Communities’ exhibition curated by Alessandro Melis for the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. It is running until 21st November 2021.
Installations & pavilions
ZHA's installations and pavilions utilises our cutting-edge research to push material capability to its full potential. At the forefront of innovation, we explore the limits and possibilities of contemporary construction methods.
Installations + Pavilions
Samsung collaborated with ZHA and digital art and design collective Universal Everything, to present ‘Unconfined’, an installation showcasing the story of the Galaxy S8 that centres on the unity of design, technology and experience. Visitors journey through an immersive environment inspired by the new device, creating digital installations that bring to life the Galaxy design philosophy.
Photograph by Paul Warchol
Retail
Il Makiage has launched a collection with a pavilion at 490 Broadway by ZHA that is informed by the label’s characteristically bold graphic identity.
Image © ZHA, Refik Anadol Studio, with OpenAI DALL-E 2
Virtual Spaces
Installations + Pavilions
Exhibitions
Architecting the Metaverse’ is an immersive art project at the intersection of architecture, art, technology, and artificial intelligence (AI). It is the result of a 6-month collaboration between Refik Anadol Studio (RAS) and ZHA.
Courtesy of Studio Naaro
Striatus 3D Printed Concrete Bridge
Installations + Pavilions
Striatus is an arched masonry footbridge composed of 3D-printed concrete blocks assembled without mortar or reinforcement. The first of its kind, the project is a collaboration between the Block Research Group (BRG) at ETH Zurich and ZHA Computation and Design Group (ZHACODE), in collaboration with incremental3D (in3D), made possible by Holcim.
Photograph by Hélène Binet
Installations + Pavilions
A new bottle for an old wine: a design to safeguard one of López De Heredia’s treasures. Originally commissioned as a new pavilion to contain an older pavilion restored from the early 20th century, this became a bridge between the past, present and future evolution of its world-famous bodegas.
Photograph by Luke Hayes
Thallus White in The City 4-9 April 2017
Installations + Pavilions
Named after the Greek word for flora that has no differentiation between stem and leaf, Thallus is an experimental structure investigating form and pattern generated by advanced manufacturing and computational methods.
Photograph by Juan Pablo Allegre
Installations + Pavilions
KnitCandela is a thin, sinuous concrete shell built on ultra-lightweight knitted formwork that was carried to Mexico from Switzerland in a suitcase.
Courtesy of ZHA
Installations + Pavilions
A temporary pavilion designed and erected in Chicago’s Millennium Park as part of the Burnham Plan celebrations – reflecting the Chicago’s long tradition for embracing cutting edge architecture in an in intricate but fluid structure that incorporates hidden traces of Burnham and Bennett’s original 1909 plans to redevelop the city.
Photograph by Joel Chester Fildes
Manchester International Festival July 2009
Installations + Pavilions
A unique chamber music hall specially designed to house solo performances of J S Bach works – enhancing the multiplicity of his music by using a single, continuous ribbon of fabric which continuously changes, stretches, compresses and moves around itself to cocoon both performers and audience within an intimate fluid space.
Photograph by Virgile Simon Bertrand
Hong Kong : 27 February - 5 April 2008
Installations + Pavilions
A unique sculptural pavilion created as an exhibition/event space for Chanel – inspired by the brand’s distinctive layering of exquisite details within an elegant, cohesive whole – created as a series of continuous arches, sequencing towards a central courtyard – the entire structure ‘flooded’ by through translucent walls and ceilings.
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