Venice Architecture Biennale 2010: this stepped wooden pavilion by Irish studio dePaor Architects is on show at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Called 4am, a sheet of pleated linen covers the walls and ceiling of the scented softwood frame.

Visitors walk up the steps of the pavilion to a half landing, only to descend almost immediately.

The project was presented in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in the Giardini of Venice.

The Venice Architecture Biennale continues until 21 November.

Photographs are by Alice Clancy.

See all our stories about Venice Architecture Biennale 2010 »

The following information is from the architects:

dePaor architects present a folly in pleated linen and lavendered softwood, called “4am”, in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in the Giardini of Venice. The project constructs a liminal space, between two bespoke subject objects, as a domestic shadowplay.

‘From this point on I came to regard architecture as the instrument which permits the unfolding of a thing’ A. Rossi, ‘A scientific autobiography’

The square footprint casts the shadow of Adam’s house in Paradise. A square plan is an economical speculation beyond the vernacular, which is difficult to extend. The approach is either oblique or flat and dictates the site. A cut pyramid roof denies the gable and the small politics of front and back.

Reduced continuity between inside and outside multiplies the encounter between here and there. The tactic and strategy of servant and served plot the room plan. At the half landing, nothing happens.

’Transformed and displaced images, impressions, occurances which have moved me deeply (often without my knowing it), forms which I sense are closely associated with me, even though I am incapable of identifying them, which makes them all the more troubling to me.’ A. Giacometti, The Palace at 4 am

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Drawings are copyright dePaor Architects

4am is staged between hylo and hedra, a shade and a stone after Dürer’s Melancholia I of 1514. At 4am the air duct fouls the upholstered dogleg staircase, which ascends to descend at the fire escape of the Palace. The planed and lavendered 2” x 4” softwood cribbage is glued and screwed at 400 mm centres. Beneath the transoms, the pleated 600 thread count linen closets the lambswool treads of the house at 4am.

‘The wardrobe is filled with linen. There are even moonbeams which I can unfold.’ A. Breton, ‘Revolver aux cheveux blancs’

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credit list:
Title of the project: ’4am’
Technique: 2” x 4” planed, lavendered softwood, linen, sisal, limestone, glass
Name of studio: dePaor architects
based in: Dublin, Ireland
Name of principal: T. dePaor

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Contributors:
architecture: A. Hofheinz
construction: R. Cullen
linen: J. Shields, K. McQuade (Classic Curtains), J. Devlin, P. Maybury
scent: D. Cox
hedra: J. Ellis
hylo: S. Walker
sisal: T.C. Matthews

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hylo was blown at Berengo Studio, Murano
hedra was direct-carved in Dunbeakin, Co. Sligo, from Butler’s Grove limestone.
lavender was harvested at Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow by Fragrances of Ireland.
linen was provided by Kvadrat.

Supporters: Culture Ireland

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