Taiwan will make its eighth appearance at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which will open in July this year, with an exhibition titled "The Small City Within.” The unique construction echoing the biennale's 2014 theme of "Fundamentals” will be unveiled in Venice on June 4.
Representing Taiwan at the biennale is the work of Taiwan-born architect Jimenez Lai (賴彥吉).The project has nine installations of architectural units representing different functions of a home, such as "the house of rest” or "the house of social activities.” The nine components will be distributed around the Palazzo delle Prigioni in Venice during the duration of the 14th biennale.
Lai believes that "fundamental” means "basic” or "origin” in an academic context, so he adopted the idea of a "domestic diagram” as the basis of his architectural concept for the biennale. In addition to studying how Taiwanese people eat, sleep, and interact, Lai also explores the various aspects behind the function of each room, including physiological behavior, social norms, and religious beliefs.
The nine miniature buildings also embody the concept of an "indoor city,” an apt reference to Taiwan's densely populated environment where people quickly learn how to adapt and take advantage of narrow hallways and limited space.
Lai and his team conducted intensive research prior to starting this particular project. For example, they studied the structures of 50 classical houses as well as the iconic pop art collage "Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?” by the late British collage artist Richard Hamilton (1922-2011).
The resulting nine miniature house installations — which are too small as architecture, yet too big as furniture — are defined as "super furniture” and independent structures that can be assembled on site. Lai attempts to bring together all the functions of a house with each of them, all the while preserving the essence of Taiwanese living conditions and preferences.
Born in 1979, Lai went to study in Canada at the age of 12. His first book titled "Citizens of No Place: An Architectural Graphic Novel” was later published by the Princeton Architectural Press with funding from the Graham Foundation.
The Taichung native has had his works collected by the likes of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was awarded the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects in 2012, and appeared on the cover of the American Institute of Architects' magazine "Architect” in January 2013.
Before launching his own architectural career, Lai worked for theOffice for Metropolitan Architecture, a Rotterdam-based design firm co-founded by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.
Read more about the Taiwan-born architecthere.
