Nordic Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, Art museum in Venice, Italy
The Nordic Pavilion of the Venice Biennale is an exhibition building in the Giardini della Biennale in Venice, jointly owned by Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The structure is made of light-colored concrete with an open roof of thin concrete lamellae through which three large plane trees grow, and it can be opened to the outside through large sliding glass doors.
The pavilion came out of an architecture competition held in 1958, open to architects from Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn won the competition, and the building opened in 1962. Fehn later became the only Norwegian to receive the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest award.
The pavilion is jointly managed by Finland, Norway, and Sweden, with each country taking turns organizing the exhibitions. The building was originally intended for the art Biennale but also hosts the Architecture Biennale in even-numbered years.
The pavilion is only open during the Biennale and sits inside the Giardini della Biennale, which are easy to reach on foot from the Giardini vaporetto stop. Visiting early in the day is a good idea, as the gardens can get crowded on weekends, especially during opening weeks.
Sverre Fehn deliberately avoided wood, the typical Nordic building material, and instead used concrete made from white cement, white sand, and crushed Italian marble. The concrete surfaces carry a texture that resembles wood grain, created during the casting process by using wooden formwork.
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