Site-specific pavilion design made of Korean paper folding technology in Venice,
Stefano Boeri Architetti designed a site-specific pavilion, using the traditional Korean paper folding technique and tangram.
The design is for the 59th Venice Biennale of the Arts, which will be open to the public from April 23 to November 27, 2022 in Italy.
Design Features
Visible from the Grand Canal of Venice with its four pyramidal roofs,
the pavilion is designed to be in dialogue with an exhibition entitled Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined.
As part of the Art Biennale, it will be called Hanji House.
The exhibition features 40 extensive mulberry-paper engravings, sculptures, and installations,
created by Korean artist Chun Kwang-yeong at the Contarini Pulignac Palace in Venice.
Hanji . Technology
“Hanji” is the name of a traditional Korean papermaking technique derived from mulberry,
also known as “thousand-year paper” due to its great resistance.
This technique is also used as Chun’s main tool of creation,
which he uses to form metamorphic objects reminiscent of living creatures or fantastic scenes with historical and cultural symbolism.
The Boeri Pavilion is installed in the Palazzo Gardens, overlooking Venice’s Grand Canal,
as the Hanji House is a wooden pavilion.
A working model of “paper tree architecture” that looks like a lantern from a distance,
Boeri takes inspiration from the playful and contemplative practice of folding paper in an infinite number of ways.
Design shape
The shape of the pavilion is reminiscent of the ancient East Asian practices of paper folding and tangram,
as well as traditional homes in Korea and East Asia, based on a simple geometric pattern.
The pavilion consists of a simple mixture of volumes: four pyramids above a parallel line,
defining the flat surface in the form of a regular rhombus in the middle.
From the outside, the enclosure gives the Hanji house a precious look and at the same time a playful object,
seeming to be a beacon to illuminate the magnificent Renaissance architecture in which it is located and the artwork that surrounds it.
Inside the Hanji House, visitors will encounter a real-time, interactive art installation being developed by media artist Calvin Jie Lee.
Lee converted the hanji triangle bundles created by artist Chun Kwang-yeong into a virtual form.
The serene environment within Hanji House also provides an immersive space for visitors to relax and explore their inner selves as if they were walking inside Chun’s works.
Chun Kwan Young has worked for 30 years on the topic of the interdependence of organisms and the social and environmental values of their relationships in ecology.
Interdependence is an absolute factor for the reproduction and survival of all living things,
as well as essential to ensuring biodiversity and promoting sustainability in any adverse conditions.
Hanji House will be open to the public from April 23 to November 27, 2022 during the Venice Biennale of the Arts.
Design Location
The official opening of Chun Kwan Young: Times Reimagined and Hanji House Academic Forum will take place on Thursday,
April 21, 2022 at 2 pm and opening ceremony at 7 pm.
Academic Forum entitled “Art and the Built Environment in the Era of the Environmental Crisis”.
The Forum will bring together biologists, philosophers, artists, architects, activists, critics,
and curators, to propose constructive plans to respond to current situations.
And also to address the rapid decline of biodiversity and the staggering ecological imbalance.
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