The last two years I’ve been photographing a number of projects in the Canadian North and have become deeply interested in the way in which buildings are resolved in climatic, social and cultural conditions that until my first visit, I had never contemplated. Lateral Office, the curators of this years Canadian Exhibit have been researching, questioning and asking how and where architecture in these regions will progress to for close to a decade.

Lateral Office approached Architectural Firms from across Canada: all recognised for their expertise in working in the Arctic. Connecting these firms with schools of Architecture (again from across the country) the team was one of multi-generations, backgrounds and ideals and totally Canadian.

The Canadian Pavilion is not an easy space to exhibit in. One of the oldest buildings in the Giardini (completed in 1958) it is an approximately snail like shape, and demands a strong dialogue to keep a viewer engaged.

The 2014 exhibit was just this. With deep roots in research and the breadth of knowledge from across the entire country, the exhibit used light, texture and scale models (both architectural in style and soap stoned carved) to guide and describe this research to the observer. As a visitor this total interaction and variety of delivery methods for the information held your attention. The information in the various sections; Recreation, Health, Housing, Education and Arts regularly prompted people to return to another section, to circle back and look again at something they had studied just a couple of minutes ago.

A dark space filled with white objects and bright lights, as you left the pavilion, you wondered, have I ever thought about living in a climate so different to the one I do now…Could I?

To see more Venice Bienalle Photographs go here

Brick exterior of the 1958 Pavilion, juxtaposed against the new black cladding.

Into the courtyard

A tree grows through the pavilion, and is used to divide the exhibit into sections

Models of various scales are grouped together in the various sections; Recreation, Health, Housing, Education and Arts work together to deliver information at differing levels of detail

Digital projections bring the models to life

Small scale model and large

Visitors circling back to review something previous

Carvings of various communities in Nunavut

Carving detail

Tied together under a curving panel of carvings.