By Dominique Godreche
October 29, 2014, Indian Country
For the first time in the 14-year history of the International Venice Biennale of Architecture, the Nunavut flag flew at the entrance to the Canadian Pavilion, an Inukshuk floating at the entrance of “Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15.”
The exhibit, curated by architects Lola Sheppard and Mason White, from Toronto-based design firm Lateral Office, coincides with the 15th anniversary of the territory’s creation. Arctic Adaptations documents architectural history in Nunavut, describing the realities of its communities, introducing the future role of architecture, and responding to the theme suggested by the director of the Biennale, Rem Koolhaas: Absorbing Modernity, 1914–2014.
“We hope that people will not settle for generic architecture,” said White, “but instead, celebrate contemporary traditional culture, through traditional contemporary buildings. This is what we wished to show, that it is possible to envision buildings that respond to the culture, geography and territory of Nunavut.” Read more…