Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15, curated by Lateral Office of Toronto, wins a special mention at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia. The project was selected from 68 national participants, and it marks the first honour for a Canadian pavilion at the Architecture Biennale.
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Arctic Adaptations explores the evolving role of architecture in extreme climate and unique culture of Nunavut, Canada’s youngest and most northerly territory. The exhibition looks at the past 100 years through a series of soapstone carvings by Inuit artists illustrating important buildings; it presents the current context through a series of milled, bas-relief Corian models describing every community in Nunavut, paired with photographs taken within each community; and it projects forward 15 years, through a series of speculative projects looking at housing, health, education, arts and recreation typologies. A series of 15 ‘living models’ brought to life by time-based animations, hover in the exhibition space, describing proposals at territorial, community and architectural scales.
Image Courtesy of Sergio Pirrone
This award is important because it highlights the key role that architecture has played and could play in the future, in a region where architecture and urbanism have been largely overlooked, except as tools of colonization. The exhibition brings together a remarkable team of students, architects, Nunavut organizations, Nunavut artists and amateur photographers, to document, reveal and speculate on the region’s future. The exhibition celebrates the remarkable resilience, adaptability and innovative nature of Inuit culture, one able to bridge tradition and modernity in remarkable ways. To have this work internationally recognized is fantastic.
– Lola Sheppard – Principal of Lateral Office and one of the exhibition’s curators
Image Courtesy of Sergio Pirrone
Arctic Adaptations was curated and designed by Lateral Office. Lighting, conceived with CS Design in Montreal and iGuzzini North America, evokes the dramatic horizon and long days and nights in the Arctic. Airport Railings in Toronto contributed to the exhibition fabrication.
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
The Canadian exhibition is presented by Manulife, and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. The Royal Architecture Institute of Canada is the exhibition commissioner. After the Biennale, the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) will tour the exhibition across Canada, beginning with a display at the WAG, in the spring of 2015.
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Sergio Pirrone
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Latreille Delage Photography
Image Courtesy of Sergio Pirrone
