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Olanda
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International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam
Westersigel 52, Rotterdam
http://www.biennalerotterdam.nl
In
a country like The Netherlands, a large part of which lies below sea-level,
the problem is particularly acute. The Dutch have been coping with
floods as long as anyone can remember. Things seem to be looking stable
now, but Dutch government has calculated that by 2070 it will be impossible
to guarantee that large areas of the land will not be flooded. Many
other countries face similar problems. The 2nd IABR aims to raise
(and, if possible, find answers to) questions, such as: What kind
of solutions can we come up with? How can we respond in time and in
a creative way? What will our version of The Ark look like? And above
all: how can we welcome this Flood as a chance to reinvent ourselves
- and re-design the land we live on?
There is another side to the theme as well. Water is significant for
the world economy, which the IABR has chosen two examples of. One
is the pull of coastal areas, where more and more people will be travelling
to or settling in, creating coastal metropolitan cities. The second
is the way container handling in major ports is growing ever more,
turning these port cities into ‘container metropoles’. The Flood is,
of course, a reference to the biblical story (and common myth in many
cultures) of a great flood which washes everything and everyone away,
making a fresh start from tabula rasa - and serving as a marker that
divides old and modern times. The 2nd IABR wants to focus on the crossroads
we find ourselves upon today.
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26may05 |
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19jun05
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