14th INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION to Feature Collateral Event TIME SPACE EXISTENCE, June 7-Nov 23

The 14th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, which opens to the public from June 7 through November 23, 2014, will feature a collateral event titled TIME SPACE EXISTENCE. Barcelona-based Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura (RBTA) will contribute an exhibition to TIME SPACE EXISTENCE, at The Palazzo Bembo, located at Riva del Carbon, 4793-4785, Venezia 30124.

The exhibition presents an architectural narrative based on La Fabrica-the firm's well-known headquarters in a former cement factory in Barcelona. The exhibition extends the space far beyond its physical existence in Spain, to consider how it can also exist in other places, most specifically in Venice. Drawing upon past, present, and future similarities between Barcelona and Venice, the exhibition will reimagine La Fabrica as the Venice-based starting point of a communal/individual journey and thought process that transcends physical and mental frames.

Visitors will enter the exhibition through an anteroom-a reinterpretation of a traditional Venetian room. Inside, a sequence of images narrates the physical transformation of La Fabrica from a polluted cement factory into a design office and residence, inundated with lush gardens. Visitors are invited by a sound to then enter a rotunda where they are surrounded by imagery that maps the transformative design process and principles of RBTA, moving from what Ricardo Bofill refers to as, "death to life." Using 3-D mapping and sound, the visitor is inundated by an abstract sensorial experience that narrates the progression of RBTA's design process throughout the past 50 years, looking into the future. The overall experience will communicate RBTA's narrative of TIME SPACE EXISTENCE.

Ricardo Bofill, Chairman of RBTA, believes that La Fabrica, even before it was purposed 150 years ago as a cement factory, was closely connected to its future more than a century later as an architecture office. He explains, "The creation and subsequent narration of this journey details a sequential notion of time constructed with and informed by human and social thought. The exhibition will show how narrative programming reflects diversity in architecture, not just through stylistic differentiation but also through stories of origins, as well as present and future influence."

Furthering the concept of the narrative, RBTA's exhibition will define the plot, the key characters, the pivotal turning points, the climax, and an epilogue. Bofill, an acknowledged architectural master, will use the space inside Palazzo Bembo to narrate the transformation of the factory's decaying noJman's land to a new community, from a deadJuse space to a progressive design hub. The structure will represent the evolving manifestation of a specific history.

As a cement factory, La Fabrica bred death and decay; organically though, through the eyes of a visionary architect, it rose from the ashes to thrive in ways once thought unimaginable. Today, it emerges from lush gardens overflowing with eucalyptus, palms, olive trees and cypresses. Bofill describes the factory as "a magic place with a strange atmosphere... where life can be perfectly programmed, ritualized; in total contrast with the turbulence and nomadic nature of modern daily life."

Ricardo E. Bofill, President of RBTA, adds, "Even after a leap 100 years into the future, La Fabrica's evolution does not end. What was once unimaginable will continue to unfold. The story told at Venice will describe La Fabrica's transformation from a 100-year-old cement factory to an office for architecture and will imagine what it could become in the future--perhaps it will become a wastewater treatment plant."

The use of a narrative for an architecture project incorporates memories, stories, and social perceptions to create a psychological as well as a tangible space. Space-time design vectors enhance the narrative's vocabulary to create new forms of culture. To accommodate future use and necessity, architects must draw on the past and present.

Architects are not fortune-tellers, but instead they create fables in the hope that they will manifest an accurate reality. The narrative takes into consideration issues that are dealt with by architects daily, and over periods as long as an era. These issues include environmental problems caused by traffic congestion, pollution, insufficient infrastructure, and the depletion of national resources. Using an architectural narrative, architects propose a range of solutions to problems for which there is no singular remedy, customized case-by-case to a location's particular time, place, and DNA.

RBTA is a leading international design studio that utilizes architecture, planning, ecological analysis, landscape and interior design, and digital narration to shape large scale urban design. RBTA's fabrication includes all scales, from cities and buildings to master plans and furniture. Ricardo Bofill serves as Chairman to the firm, founding it over 50 years ago, and is chief designer. RBTA is also led by his two sons Ricardo E. Bofill, Pablo Bofill, and lifeJlong partners Jean Pierre Carniaux and Peter Hodgkinson, as well as associates Eduardo Wachs, Gabor Somssich, Giorgio Cui, and JoseJMaria Rocias, A multidisciplinary team, consisting of over 20 nationalities currently works to incorporate their diverse backgrounds in architecture, urbanism, fine arts, literature, sociology and economics to influence the built environment.

The scope of RBTA has a comprehensive vision of architecture that includes urban planning, landscape, lighting, and furniture design. To date, RBTA has over 1000 projects in over 40 countries around the globe. Current RBTA projects can be found throughout the world-Marrakesh, Lima, Shenyan, Delhi, Moscow, Almaty, Prague, Dallas, and many more. Notable projects include La Economia Newspaper HQ (Czech Republic 2014), Médiathèque (France 2014), Renovation of Beijing Domestic Airport Terminals (China 2014), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (Morocco 2014), Desigual HQ (Spain 2013), Barcelona Airport (Spain 2010), W Hotel Barcelona (Spain 2009), Cartier Headquarters (France 2002), Shiseido Headquarters (Japan 2001), United Airlines Headquarters (USA 1992), Les Espaces d´Abraxas (France 1982), Walden 7 (Spain 1975) and La Fabrica (Spain 1973).

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