Type
Exhibition Pavilion
Construction years
Date completed: 1962
Location
Biennale Garden in Venice Italy
Travel Directions
Take one of the water buses to the Biennale Garden. Upon entering the garden the pavilion is on your right hand side next to the Danish Pavilion.
Architect
Sverre Fehn
About
Sverre Fehn won an international competition to design this pavilion. The concept is bringing the Nordic Light (not the northen lights, Aurora Borealis) to Italy. The site had some really old trees and Mr. Fehns proposal incorporated them in the building instead of pulling them down.

sad to say, most of my earlier pictures are lost due to a double hard disk failure. Most of these pictures where taken by my good friend Mats Thomassen. Except for this one (apparently he didn't take a picture of the front of the building so this one I found through google).

front of the building

the splitting tree, the corner of the building splits around this tree, beautiful work.

close up of the split

roof and a tinsy bit of the context

underside of the roof

stairs to the back platform

steps from the pathway

platform

interior (sorry for the black and whites (we thought they were really cool way back when))

color one (that's me right there)

light and trees meet roof

some of the trees are gone by now, hopefully the others will last

more light coming through the roof

more roof

sorry about all the roof pictures but this building is more or less the amazing roof and the quality it brings to the exhibition space (which is one big volume)

detail of the roof

interior, the small sliding doors are the side of the building, the higher ones are the front.

sorry for the lack of interior photos, but there was this huge monstrosity in the middle of the exhibition space (and a homeless guy living there)

more interior

interior and the monstrosity

detail of roof

oh I just found this one of the back corner, behind the monstrosity

This must be one of my favorite buildings in the world, easily top 3. You just HAVE to go there to really get the feel for this building. Simple and elegant, perfect for its purpose, respecting its context and adding to it. The concept is clear and the execution flawless. Sverre Fehn is truly a :craqueur:

Stunning photo essay about a gem of a building. Thank you Kristov.

oh I just found this one of the back corner, behind the monstrosity

Monstrosity?

Why is it unused and in such a state of disrepair?

Fantastic building, and wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Yes I always wanted to visit this building.
It is sad that the building is not used properly but it looks good even with wild vegetation around.
I'm jealous with the homeless guy for being able to occupy the space all by himself.
What I dont understand is the delineation of outside/inside. Is this structure like a pagoda,
the outside is more or less continuous with the inside, or is there clear delineation somewhere
between the two? Do your pics show that delineation?
The B&W photos are good, especially when light is the theme. Thank you, Kristov!

Monstrosity?

Why is it unused and in such a state of disrepair?

Fantastic building, and wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing it with us.

It actually isn't "unused". There just wasn't anything happening at the Biennial Garden at the time. I only know of the Architecture Biennale and then the Art Biennale that take turns on running during the summer seasons. Apart from that I think all the buildings stand empty.

The monstrosity was some heap of a former exhibition stand, ugly thing and totally blocked the "view" internally.

Beautiful and unknown to me. :( Thank you for posting.

A beautiful building, thanks for posting!
Interesting how the rigorous layout of the concrete roof structure reacts to light and is respectfully interrupted around the trees. The interior light is just beautiful, and that despite all the dirt accumulated on the roof, visible in some of the pics.
This building deserved to be better taken care of, apparently you almost had to break in (if I remember correctly you mentioned something like that in another thread some time ago - was it this time?).
Any chance of adding a plan and maybe some elevations / sections to the thread?

void:
after posting this I actually found the urge to do a skippy, but I found next to nothing on the internet about the building so I'm of to the library.
and yeah I had to break in, but I did it as respectfully as a breaking and entering can be done, didn't ruin anything and closed the house up before I left.
In regards to the "taking care of". I think that they maintain the building, but they just don't keep it clean until they need it clean.

I've always liked his work, and this pavilion in particular. I always wondered how they were able to form and pour those thin concrete joists so well. The placement of the concrete had to have been done so carefully to avoid spaces and voids in the final work.

I also agree that the building is nice. To bring northern light with a northern Pavillon to the place is a nice thing. Normally Pavillons "just" bring the way of building, materials or the matching of them, ideas (...)from a country.Northern Light brings the deeper sense of the mentioned country.
To build around the trees integrates them and gives them protection too, although they get limits, are limited -in growth f.e. by them.

The condition is bad. I also ask myself why it isn`t used in our time too. One thing in a Pavillon is its often temporal aspect. It is built for an exhibition and has so a very short time of living.
The condition of a building often shows the thinking on values of a society too.

I think an important point to make, which it seems hasn't been properly mentioned yet. The pavilion is not meant to be boarded up, the glass opens out and have views. It is boarded up during the winter months when the Venice Biennale is not running. In fact, when we visited, it was like they had a big party and then just left. All the drinks and bottles are littered across the place (outside) and the inside were not accessible (yeah, how DID you manage to get in and take those shots!?). The first time I went it was open and had a completely different feel.

I love this building, one of my favourites in fact. I too thought about doing a sketchup model of it but really struggled to find any drawn information. I have attached a plan I found but as you can see its pretty small!

I visited it in 2000 and it seemed to be in pretty good condition, its used every year for either the art bienalle or the architecture one so it does get plenty of use, they probably just have a big spring clean every year.

Swank E: I had to break into the building, I removed one of the plywood boards and managed to open one of the sliding doors.
Apparently I wasn't the only clever one on the premises as a homeless guy was living in the pavillion at the time we visited.

Apparently I wasn't the only clever one on the premises as a homeless guy was living in the pavillion at the time we visited.
Hey you could just give him a knock to let you in! ;)

this is also one of my favourite buildings! When i was there, it got named 'the Aalto pavilion'...i mistakenly thought this was built by Aalto for the next 3 months haha

got some great photos of the building, lemme post them

the entrance towards the pavilion. I was there at the 2007 Biennale

closer view onto the steps

The Roof

One of the exhibits...sorta an accidental photo which came up really really nice. The ambience is really nice inside, you enter the pavilion, and you're basically drenched in unfiltered pure sunlight. Not the glaring hot sunlight you experience if you've been anywhere near Italy, but the white soft light you would experience if you're standing in a nordic forest.

Me, and another one of the exhibit

Man I was there also for the 2007 Biennale, probably just missed each other :)