The 2021 Venice Biennale asks “How Will We Live Together?” and Line Ghotmeh’s recently unveiled installation answers; With Resilience. The Paris-based architecture firm elaborates on their ‘Stone Garden’ housing project in Beirut, Lebanon through a 1:30 sculpture titled ‘Archeology of The Future’ that narrates the story behind their housing project in the Lebanese historical and urban context. The installation is displayed along with video footage of the recent explosion in the industrial port of Beirut city – another Lebanese trauma that calls for resilient acts to heal the city.
Courtesy of Lina Ghotmeh Architecture
Stone Garden is an apartment block designed by the Paris-based Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh and is located a mile away from the explosion outbreaking spot. The building was completed sometime before this tragedy. Yet, Lina Ghotmeh witnessed former mishaps in her birthplace. The innovative architect read into the architecture of the post-war city; bulleted and carved facades and open archeology – this is translated through the different scaled windows and the nature that invades the carvings of the facades. Furthermore, Garden Stone expresses a strong connection to the ground it emerges from; the material choices and texture imitate the appearance of the renowned Raouche Rock in the Blue Mediterranean Sea in Beirut. The facades were textured using a “building comb” to achieve this theme.
Courtesy of Lina Ghotmeh Architecture
Lina Ghotmeh expressed that Garden Stone both blends and stands out from its context, and this is why it is the “The Archeology of The Future”.
The sculpture displayed in Venice Biennale since May 2021 is 2.3 meters high. The architecture firm used visual materials in the form of photographs and video footage to familiarize the visitors with the urban context of Beirut. Furtherly, this material helped to express the design and construction process of Stone Garden. The installation scale allows you to closely watch into what is the life of the Stone Garden’s inhabitants and the scenes they see every day. These scenes are framed with the green lush of windows and balconies, expressing an even further interpretation of Living Together – the architect sees biodiversity as a part of this togetherness. The changing of the plants’ moods and colors over the seasons is a further act of resilience that we can learn from.
Courtesy of Lina Ghotmeh Architecture
Stone Garden stood resilient, physically and conceptually, against the tragic explosion in Beirut. Lina Ghotmeh expresses in an interview with Stirwold that: “It was as if both its conceptual narrative and the physical relation it establishes to its environment had met and became palpable at the time of the explosion where the building acted almost like a bunker and looked immutable. The future had literally met the past at this moment. This felt mythical.”
Courtesy of Lina Ghotmeh Architecture
Stone Garden is Lina Ghotmeh’s first completed project in her hometown. It is both retrospective and foretelling. It is a very intimate story that speaks to the collective memory of Beirut’s citizens.
What is Venice Biennale Architecture 2021?
Venice Biennale is an international architecture exhibition having its 17th run in 2021 and is curated this year by the architect and scholar Hashim Sarkis. Although the theme of the exhibition: “How Will We Live Together?” was developed way before the COVID-19 crisis and the arising crises around the globe, the theme is now growing relevant and its question demands strong and innovative solutions.
