Grafton Architects –
headed by Yvonne
Farrell
and
Shelley
McNamara – received an invitation to exhibit soon after winning an architectural competition for a new University in Lima, Peru.
Their exhibit interprets this year’s theme, Common Ground, by rendering works of Pritzker-laureate Mendes da Rocha as well as their own work in a common language: stone. The exhibition is comprised of monolithic models arrayed beneath large color prints of Skellig
Michael
off the Irish coast and
Machu
Picchu in Peru.
Grafton
Architects
collaborated
with
Sculptor
Eileen
Mac Donagh,
who produced a number of monumental (they appear to be stone) sectional models. Three are models of Mendes
da
Rocha’s work: one, a fragment of Sao
Pedro
Church; the other two are the architect’s proposals for
Montevideo
Bay, themselves inspired by the canal city of Venice
.
There are also models of Grafton’s work: the Univeristy in Lima as well as a School of Economics they built in Toulouse, France. Stripped bare, the models’ abstractness accentuates their pure mass and the voids exposed within. The curators’ investigation of stereotomics cleverly engages the Biennale’s theme beyond the general level of cross-cultural exchange.
The jury was also impressed, remarking that “the
conceptual
and
spatial
qualities
of
this
installation
demonstrate
the
considerable
potential
of
this
architectural
practice
in
reimagining
the
urban
landscape."
Grafton
Architects
was
established
in
1978.
They are
winners
of
numerous
international
awards
including
the
World
Building
of
the
Year
Award
2008
for
their
acclaimed
building
for
the
Universita
Luigi
Bocconi
in
Milan.