Mateo Arquitectura at the 13. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia

In the framework of the Biennale di Venezia, the Palazzo Bembo hosts the group exhibition “Traces of Centuries & Future Steps”, bringing together 56 guest architects from 26 countries, in which Josep Lluís Mateo presents the montage “EARTH”.

The Palazzo Bembo is a beautiful palace of the XV century located opposite the Grand Canal of Venice and whose facade is an example of the Venetian-Byzantine style. From the showroom we observe the canal, the water and the sky (air) from the outside in connection with the concept of land that covers the room.

«EARTH

The earth is our support, our base, the root that will, eventually, allow us to fly.

To speak of the earth requires us to think about water, the slow force that moulds, cracks and bores. That transforms and sometimes also weakens it.

It also requires us to think about air, empty space, the wind that moves over the surface of the earth’s crust and which our buildings, extensions of that crust, channel or resist.

Speaking about the earth is another form of encounter with the local. An encounter with the remains of the wreckage: bones—the transformation of the organic into inorganic—, stones, old foundations, traces.
And an encounter with matter: red clay, yellow sand, the grey pebbles in strata or masses….

Our work with earth represents hollowing it out, boring into it, penetrating it. Guaranteeing the transfer of loads and fluids towards it, where they dissipate.
Vertical dimension: gravitational and spatial.

And also moulding it, reorganizing the topography (probably introducing geometry into it), reinforcing it, cladding its surface.
Horizontal dimension: superficial and open.

The earth—the start and the end of architecture»

Txt by Josep Lluís Mateo

Opening: 27 and 28 August 2012, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Exhibition: “Traces of Centuries & Future Steps” 29 August to 25 November 2012. Opening times: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Venue: Palazzo Bembo. Gallery 6, EARTH. Riva del Carbon # 4793, 30124 Venice, Italy
(70 m from Rialto Bridge, on the Grand Canal)

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Josep Lluís Mateo shows us the foundations that support 4 chosen works, traveling through time, from the Bronze Age to our days connected by the earth.

The principal example is the building for the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the construction of which uncovered the remains of a medieval prison for women and vestiges of the Bronze Age. Headquarters of the new Film Theatre of Catalonia in the Raval district of Barcelona. Photography © Adrià Goula.

Contrasting with the Filmoteca is the extension of the central headquarters of the company PGGM in Zeist (Holland), an avant-garde work where the greatest effort is concentrated on the basement floors that accommodate the car park, thereby allowing the restoration of the green spaces adjacent to the building. New Headquarters of PGGM insurance company in Zeist (Holland). April 2011. Photography © Adrià Goula

Sharing the spotlight with this building is the reconstruction of the old country house in La Garrotxa (Girona), where the entire intervention gravitates around the stone wall that anchored the house to the mountainside to retain the earth. Interior of the country house in La Garrotxa. Photography ©Adrià Goula

Finally, the dwellings in the Borneo dock (Amsterdam) connect this concept of earth with those of air and water, elements that can be seen from the windows of the gallery, interacting with the content inside. Dwelling in Borneo Dock (Amsterdam). Photography ©Xavier Ribas

Exhibition plan. Palazzo Bembo. Mateo Arquitectura at the 13. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia

Model exhibition. Palazzo Bembo. Mateo Arquitectura at the 13. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia

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JOSEP LLUÍS MATEO

Josep Lluís Mateo was born in Barcelona (1949) and graduated in Architecture in 1974 from the ETSAB, later obtaining his PhD (cum laude) from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 1994. He is also Professor Emeritus, Doctor of Architecture and Design at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). He has taught and lectured at major academic institutions worldwide, including the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles (Scholar), the Berlin Sommer Akademie, and Harvard Graduate School of Design (Guest Professor), among others.

In 1991, he founded mateoarquitectura, a practice based in Barcelona that has developed a broad range of projects—office buildings, urban planning, public spaces, housing—always with a strong international focus. Mateo’s practice is currently involved in a number of local and international projects such as the new Film Theatre of Catalonia in Barcelona, the new headquarters for PGGM Pension Fund Company in Zeist, Holland, and the office building on the former site of Renault factories in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, among others.

With each of his projects, Mateo seeks to connect the practice of construction with research and development in both intellectual and programmatic terms. His work lies at the intersection between conceptual thinking and built reality, combining technical rigor with ongoing inquiry. His architecture has been widely published and exhibited globally, receiving numerous awards and honors. In 2011, he received the Aplus Award for Best Career Achievement; in 2019, DOMUS named him among the 100 best architecture studios worldwide; and in 2021, he was named Author of the Year by the Juanzong Archive Awards (China).

Among his most significant projects in Spain are the Toni Catany International Photography Center in Mallorca, the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the renovation and extension of the Mercat del Ninot in Barcelona, and the paving of the historic center of Ullastret. Internationally, his work includes the headquarters for PGGM in Zeist (Netherlands), La Factory office building in Boulogne-Billancourt, the ESMA School in Montpellier, and the Castelo Branco Cultural Center.

Academic collaborations and teaching:
Josep Lluís Mateo has been Professor of the Architecture Department at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich (ETH-Z) since 2002. He has also taught and lectured at numerous institutions around the world, including Princeton, Columbia University in New York, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, ABK Stuttgart, UP8 Paris, OAF Oslo and ITESM Mexico. He was Visiting Scholar at the Jean P. Getty Center in Los Angeles from 1991 to 1992. Josep Lluís Mateo is President since 2009 of the Board of Directors of the Barcelona Institute of Architecture. He has been a member of a number of juries and expert committees, including the Quality Committee of Barcelona City Council (2000-2008), and for prizes such as the European Landscape Award and the Thyssen Award.

Recent exhibitions and prizes:
The practice’s work has been exhibited on numerous occasions thanks to its international influence. New York’s MoMA devoted a space in the exhibition “Spain: On Site” (2006) to its apartment building in Valencia for the Sociopolis Project. Individual exhibitions include those at Ras Gallery (Barcelona, 2009), Architekturgalerie Aedes (Berlin, 2004), Architekturzentrum Wien (Vienna, 1998), Col•legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (Barcelona, 1998),Galerie Fragner (Prague, 1998), Galerie Aedes (Berlin, 1994), Architekturgalerie Luzern (Luzern, 1992) and Architekturgalerie Munich (Munich, 1991).

The work of Josep Lluís Mateo has been awarded many prizes, including:
- Top International Purpose-Built Venue 2008, First Prize. Best International Convention Centre category.
Organized by C&IT magazine, London. Project: CCIB-Barcelona International Convention Centre
- 2008 Archizinc Award, First Prize. Collective Housing category. Project: Sant Jordi Students’ Hall of Residence, Barcelona
- European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2005, Runner-up. Project: CCIB- Barcelona International Convention Centre
- 15th Award of Grupo Dragados de Arquitectura.