Miralles Tagliabue EMBT at Venice Biennale

The prestigious Venice Biennale hosted this year the sustainable art of the architecture firm Miralles Tagliabue EMBT. The Architecture International Show at Biennale was cured by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara and saw as protagonist Tagliabue's architecture philosophy: new experimentations, architecture conceived as a fabric and the use of innovative materials, such as the American red oak – one of the most sustainable materials in the world - and the glass fibre.

Benedetta Tagliabue is a very skilled Italian architect who founded in 1994 the international architecture firm Miralles Tagliabue EMBT. In partnership with Enric Miralles, Mrs Tagliabue gave life to a new concept of architecture that led them to several remarkable projects. For instance, Miralles Tagliabue EMBT designed the Parliament in Edinburgh, the Diagonal Mar Park, Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona and Shanghai World Expo in 2010. Benedetta Tagliabue is also a well appreciated lecturer at Harvard and Columbia University.

Miralles Tagliabue EMBT participation to the Venice Biennale aimed at celebrating a participative space as an expression of freedom. This is the idea at the base of the art installation of Weaving Architecture. Miralles Tagliabue EMBT project demonstrates how manual techniques – such as weaving – can humanize public spaces. The poetic installation is made up of two levels: the first one was built using the American red oak while the second level with steel. Both materials weaved with glass fibres of different colours.

The final visual effect is outstanding: the borders of the structure are not clear and the whole installation stands in harmony with the surrounding space. Weaving was the leit motiv of the whole architecture section of Biennale: weave the city through the subway and weave the different activities of people in the public space. This architecture work of art connects the territory and enhances the sense of social inclusion.