Dis-engaged

“Detached” is an examination of the architectural tension between context and object.

“Detached” was Chilean architect Pezo von Ellrichshausen’s installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale recently. It explored the results of two buildings of similar size located in two vastly different settings. "Detached" sought to highlight how architectural creations rely on a given context to provoke a specific meaning.

A light gray concrete piece is made to rest in the middle of a natural scene while a copper oxide green prism is placed in the middle of a suburban setting. These opposite conditions are presented by a disproportionate relationship between figure and background.

These proposed building structures are represented as small sculptural models against a huge urban and natural landscape, to emphasise the contrasts. The architects explain that “the objects, autonomous from their location, seem insignificant in front of the monumental effort of trying to capture most of the details and complexities of the surroundings”.