The Library
While the bookstore at the Arsenale exhibition area is located just before the entrance gate, in the Giardini, the outdoor part of the Venice Biennale, Stirling's bookstore was situated past the Scarpa turnstile. Over the years, Stirling's pavilion ceased to serve its original purpose (the showroom for the publishing house Electa) and the bookstore was moved to the central pavilion, which, however, is undergoing extensive reconstruction this year. For this reason, the New York studio Diller Scofidio+Renfro was commissioned to design a temporary bookstore, which is located in front of the southern entrance to the Giardini during the 19th Architecture Biennale.
The bookstore project was developed in collaboration with Belgian fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg. The shape of the 24-meter long pre-stressed steel structure simultaneously draws from the work of French inventor and self-taught engineer Robert Le Ricolaise. According to the authors, the resulting design is intended to “support literacy and a love of reading”. In any case, the semi-transparent shell reveals the internal activities, and the extensions of the cable structure above the entrances are so striking that most passersby will at least take a brief look into the unusual building. With two entrances at opposite ends, you can freely walk through the linear structure without browsing a book or purchasing anything. The cladding (STFE - flexible membrane with high light permeability) is similar to what Diller Scofidio used for the cultural center The Shed in Manhattan. The structure is not anchored to the ground. Overall stability is provided by the books stacked on the shelves on both sides of the pavilion.
Although the pavilion was designed to be easily dismantled and relocated, its fate after the biennale has not yet been announced. It is possible that it will end up similarly to the seasonal Finnish pavilion, which was designed by Alvar Aalto for the Giardini in the mid-1950s and, after ongoing reconstructions, still serves its purpose today.
The bookstore project was developed in collaboration with Belgian fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg. The shape of the 24-meter long pre-stressed steel structure simultaneously draws from the work of French inventor and self-taught engineer Robert Le Ricolaise. According to the authors, the resulting design is intended to “support literacy and a love of reading”. In any case, the semi-transparent shell reveals the internal activities, and the extensions of the cable structure above the entrances are so striking that most passersby will at least take a brief look into the unusual building. With two entrances at opposite ends, you can freely walk through the linear structure without browsing a book or purchasing anything. The cladding (STFE - flexible membrane with high light permeability) is similar to what Diller Scofidio used for the cultural center The Shed in Manhattan. The structure is not anchored to the ground. Overall stability is provided by the books stacked on the shelves on both sides of the pavilion.
Although the pavilion was designed to be easily dismantled and relocated, its fate after the biennale has not yet been announced. It is possible that it will end up similarly to the seasonal Finnish pavilion, which was designed by Alvar Aalto for the Giardini in the mid-1950s and, after ongoing reconstructions, still serves its purpose today.
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