Collateral event of 14th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale Venezia

Part of 14th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale Venezia, the exhibition Arquitectures Empeltades/Grafting Architecture, will take place at Cantieri Navali, from 7 June to 23 November 2014.

This proposal, chosen through a public competition held by Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), seeks to elucidate the changes taking place in contemporary Catalan architecture, by comparing the process of grafting with process of overlapping new and existing architecture. The starting point of the research is the restoration of Casa Bofarull (1913-1933), one ofthe key works of Josep Maria Jujol (1879-1949).

Grafting is a process that involves inserting part of a tree with one or more buds into the branch or trunk of another tree such that a permanent union is established between the two, in the same way as the viticulturist who grafts a scion from the desired grape variety onto the rootstock and where the subsequent grape quality and the excellence of the resulting wine stem from correct union between scion and rootstock. In architecture we can identify a number of processes that bear a great similarity to this botanical process.

Preexisting structures, physical or otherwise, are grafted with the new proposal, generating a building that brings together and harmoniously fuses the characteristics of what already exists and what is new. We can find this grafted architecture across the centuries in a great many examples. However it is in the last quarter of the 20th century and the early 21st century where we find a great number of projects in Catalan architecture in which proposals of different types and scales achieve brilliant results.

Grafting transmits the idea of a new organism that combines the strong points of its original components and is more vigorous than either of them on their own, an idea of renewal and growth. Grafting Architecture speaks of a contemporary attitude shared over time by many projects and many architects wherein each building is understood from within itself, through its uniqueness, and noticeably enriches the place where it is located.
(From exhibition catalogue)

Curator: Josep Torrents i Alegre
Assistant curators: Guillem Carabí Bescós, Jordi Ribas Boldú
Organization and production: Institut Ramon Llull
Executive production: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA)
Coordination: Carlota Gómez
Editorial coordination Aina Mercader
Exhibition and catalogue graphic design: Bildi Grafiks
Translations: Tiffany Carter
With the collaboration of: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC)
Sponsor: Lamp
With the participation of: Ajuntament d’Artesa de Segre, Ajuntament de Ripoll, Ajuntament de Els Pallaresos, Arxiu Jujol, Casa Bofarull, Grisart - Escola Superior de Fotografia, IES La Llauna

More information about this interesting exhibition can be found at  venezia2014.llull.cat .