Convertible City

The concept of this year’s German pavilion was first presented by its authors on June 2, 2006. Berlin architects Almut Ernst and Armand Grüntuch based their work on the assumption that the image of the city as a living environment and residential space must be strengthened. Under the title of the exhibition “Convertible City - Formen der Verdichtung und Entgrenzung” (Convertible City - forms of densification and the dissolution of boundaries), the curators turned away from ambitious, glossy projects and looked instead for ways to reuse existing things and regenerate existing places. They selected 36 projects, including a floating pool and a project for a football field on a building’s roof. Almut Ernst adds: “Instead of demolishing buildings we no longer need or simply do not like, conversion offers us a way out of our way of thinking of using everything as disposable.”
The projects showcasing new architectural paths through flexible thinking and sustainable concepts are divided into three subgroups:
Re-late: The criterion was architectural additions to existing buildings. By overlapping, shifting, and penetrating, the existing structures are expanded, merged, and redefined.
Re-play: The criterion was a playful and spontaneous process in the perception and use of urban spaces. This can involve both a media game of urban surfaces and the revitalization of vacant urban spaces.
Re-charge: The criterion is the abolishment and redefining of old ways of using buildings and providing advantages to existing structures. For reconstructions and changes in use, it is necessary to add the architectural and urban planning “heritage burden.”
Upon entering the central space of the pavilion, visitors will see large-format posters arranged to depict the stage of urban life and architectural diversity. The city is staged as an inspiring field of possibilities. In contrast to the main hall, the side wings provide a quiet atmosphere inviting concentrated study of selected projects.
The central artistic element of the main space is the staircase leading to the roof of the pavilion. The installed roof pavilion—a typically Venetian architectural element—is used as an observation platform and meeting place. The staircase— a new architectural addition to the German pavilion—serves as a transport space that activates the existing flat roof and transforms it into a new living space with surprising views. The German pavilion does not only serve as a box or container for exhibits; during the biennale, it itself becomes an exhibit. The installation of a temporary structure on a historical building is visible from afar.
The general commissioner of the German contribution is also the publisher of the architectural magazine “archplus”. He took over the editing and graphic format of the catalog, which ultimately was published as a standalone issue of “archplus.” This bilingual (German/English) one hundred and twenty-page magazine can, in addition to being found at the pavilion in the Venetian Giardini, also be purchased regularly at German newsstands. Besides the exhibited projects, the catalog also features a selection of interdisciplinary articles critically discussing the phenomenon of urban life.