Design III_stage two

For the second part of our design course, we started with a visit to the Venice Biennale, where we received a new assignment: to create a 120cm-diameter environmental model. The model needed to be original, with the option to draw inspiration from a Belgian artist.

Once again, we chose clay as our primary medium—perhaps out of a sense of nostalgia, or maybe sheer inspiration, depending on how you look at it. Our chosen artist was Berlinde De Bruyckere, known for her large-scale, haunting works that breathe life into themes of decay, vulnerability, and the raw power of nature. Her art sparked us to view the project from an ecological perspective and envision what the Biennale site might look like in a future state of ruin.

This led us to a concept of designing a dilapidated, almost forgotten version of the Biennale—capturing the remnants of a space reclaimed by nature and marked by the passing of time. From this imagined ruin, we would develop ideas for a new pavilion. A key focus of this design process is that we are instructed to start from the interior—thinking first about how people will experience the space—rather than beginning with the exterior walls.

This approach challenges us to prioritize atmosphere and experience over form, and it’s exciting to see where this will lead. Updates soon!