"Lines of Movement," Venice Architecture Biennale

Weiss/Manfredi's immersive installation "Lines of Movement" at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale examines the new terms and conditions for design in a century when natural resources are limited and further challenged by the interconnected issues of climate change and social isolation. Through a selection of Weiss/Manfredi’s work, presented in dialogue with historic hybrid projects, "Lines of Movement" puts forth an open-ended ideal that connects and extends the lines of landscape and infrastructure to shape a new architecture for public life.

In its curving, open form, shaped by two monumental crescents, the installation creates a space to consider the impact of architecture, landscape, and infrastructure on the choreography of daily life. Through the presentation of models, sectional studies, and films, "Lines of Movement" illuminates the fertile ground in the space between city and garden, art and ecology, and infrastructure and intimacy to create lasting public settings.

Models of the firm’s projects, including the Olympic Sculpture Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center, Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park, and the Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology, are presented in dialogue with sectional studies of historic precedents, including the Galata Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey; Park Güell in Barcelona, Spain; the Khaju Bridge in Isfahan, Iran; Argrasen ki Baoli in New Delhi, India; and the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, among others. Despite their diversity of character and context, these hybrid projects are linked by the lines of movement that simultaneously serve public infrastructure and create places of unexpected intimacy. Accompanying images and texts consider how their legacies endure in the context of the continual erosion of public and natural realms that has characterized this century.

Following the installation's arc, visitors encounter dual projections of four newly commissioned films that transport visitors to the hybrid sites of Weiss/Manfredi’s presented projects. Viewed in a continuous loop, these films invite viewers to inhabit the firm’s topographical hybrid architecture and offer vistas of urban and natural beauty, engagement with urban infrastructures, and demonstrate that sites are not given, but constructed.