PALAZZO

A-VENETIAN-TYPOLOGY-FOR-CO-LIVING

Groupmates: Cindy, Greta, Jose, Thomas Venice Studio, Jan 2022

Tutors: Oliver Lütjens, Thomas Padmanabhan

Collaboration: Lütjens Padmanabhan Architekten, Switzerland

Layering Towards A Monumental Illusion I RotundaStudy

We chose to study the Rotunda of the first / second floors of the Bozar, Brussels by Victor Horta. Importantly, as elsewhere in the Bozar, it must allow people to navigate between four different levels. The Bozar itself is not a huge room, but the feeling of arrival is amplified and exaggerated by the use of layering. This layering creates a sense of journey as you approach the rotunda, through the various smaller antecedent spaces, and allows for incidental views through and between them. The layering is also seen in the building elements used to make the rotunda. Whether they be columns or ceiling, surfaces and objects are broken down and peeled away to create a multiplicity of surface that belies the modest scale and materiality of the rotunda, thus creating an illusion of grandeur that makes this a monumental space.

Layering Towards A Monumental Illusion II Exhibition Artefact

Our artefact is a representation of our interpretation of Horta’s approach to monumentality as witnessed in the rotunda of the Bozar. It aims to combine the ideas of journey, arrival, views through and between, and the layering of surfaces. The elements themselves are made from layered white painted 20mm MDF except for the base / stair which will be made of layered ply. Each piece is separated by shadow gaps. The sub-structure would be an aluminium frame. From the outside the artefact reads as one, a white cuboid. Within, it reveals itself to be a multilayered and complex collection of space and view which reflects the nature of the Bozar itself, the silent giant.