INS 022       Repair       Linda Tegg, Baracco Wright Architects       2018

Header image: Australian Pavillon
16. Biennale Architettura di Venezia © Rory Gardiner
Text: arch daily

It [the Australian Pavilion] consists of a living installation, Grasslands Repair, that presents more than 60 species of Western Plains Grasslands plants from South East Australia. By covering the ground of the pavilion with these plants, it explores the relationship between architecture and the natural environment, especially in regards to the ecologically sensitive landscape of Australiaand the cultural importance of the land for the Indigenous people.

Since the first European settlers arrived in Australia in 1788, nearly 99% of the country‘s native grasslands have disappeared — a result of both environmental changes and human influence. The pavilion offers a glimpse of the original landscape and is intended as a call to the country to re-envision and repair its relationship with nature.

"We have often struggled with our relationship as architects when considering the use of land — it’s no small act," explain curators Mauro Baracco and Louise Wright. "We believe there is a role for architecture to actively engage with the repair of the places it is part of: the soil, hydrology, habitat, connections, overland water flow, microorganisms, vegetation and so on."

Alongside Grasslands Repair is Skylight, a life-sustaining light installation providing the necessary light spectrum to the plants denied by the fabric of a building, as well as Ground, a video addressing the theme of repair. 

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