Acting as an inverted sun dial with shadow patterns that track the position of the sun throughout the day, Kwaeε aims to cultivate and renew celestial, human, and cultural connections across time. Composed entirely of Douglas fir timber with a black-stained finish, the structure takes on the qualities of its name, which translates as ‘forest’ in Twi. Kwaeε is envisioned as a pavilion, a social sculpture, and a temporary installation for both reflection and active programming.
Taking the form of a triangular prism, the 43-foot-tall pavilion merges doorway, platform, assembly, and window into a single, unified entity. The sculpted internal space emerges as a distorted ovoid and cavernous form that punctures the prism to create a 18-foot-tall canopied passage for entry and exit. Two oculi at the north and south elevations frame views of the sky from the inside. The use of wooden slats further minimizes the solidity of the all-timber structure’s surfaces, cultivating a serene, forest-like atmosphere of light and shadow.
Kwaeε was erected in 2023 for the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale “The Laboratory of the Future” curated by Lesley Lokko. Sited outside of the Arsenale on the docks overlooking historic Venetian boatyards and workshops, the pavilion was assembled on site in Venice, utilizing approximately 3,000 timber components.
Kwaeε is at once an active and passive inhabitable structure, a temporal device for gathering and recording—a viewing platform; an activated space for live lectures, panel discussions, and performance; and a venue for auditory experiences in which thematically relevant archival storytelling, music, poetry, recitals, debates, and lectures are played. In the spirit of continued renewal, the form is also designed as a modular, prefabricated structure that can be reused and relocated to other sites around the world.
View Original