Commissioner: ELIZABETH
FRANCIS
Curator:
JOHN
MCLAUGHLIN
Participants:
HENEGHAN
PENG
ARCHITECTS
CURATOR’S STATEMENT – John McLaughlin
Ireland is one of the most globalised countries in the world, and this exhibit looks at architecture’s relation
to networked flows of products, data, and knowledge. It asks how could a global architecture be grounded
culturally, philosophically and spatially? How can it situate itself outside of shared national reference
points?
heneghan peng architects were selected as participants because they work across different continents on a
range of diverse projects. Our dialogue led us to discussing the universal languages of projective geometry
and number shared by architects and related professionals. In their work the specific embodiment of these
geometries is carefully calibrated by the choice of materials and their detailed design. The stone facade of
the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre in Antrim takes precise measure of the properties of the volcanic basalt
seams from which it is hewn. The extraction of the stone is the subject of wall drawings which record the
cutting of basalt to create the façade of the Causeway Centre.
We also identified water as the element which is shared across the different sites. Venice is a perfect place
to take measure of this element which suggests links to another site – the Nile Valley. An ancient Egyptian
rod for measuring the water level of the Nile inspired the design of a responsive oscillating bench which
invites visitors to balance their respective weights. The bench constitutes a shifting ground located in the
unstable field of Venice. It is about measurement and calibration of the weight of the body in relation to
other bodies; in relation to the site of the installation; and in relation to water. It is located in the Artiglierie
section of the Arsenale. Its level is calibrated against the mark of the acqua alta in the adjacent brickwork of
the building which marks a horizontal datum in a floating world.
PARTICIPANTS’ STATEMENT – heneghan peng architects
The Pavilion of Ireland is located at the end of the Artiglierie in the Arsenale; it is composed of a series of wall
drawings and a bench for resting. The two opposing walls transcribe the cutting matrix for the individual
stones which form 2 folds in the landscape of the Giant’s Causeway Visitor’s Centre; the fold of the building
and the fold of the car park. A long 12 meter bench, constructed of 6 interlinked sections, 6 rotation‐only
fulcrums & 5 translation pivots, provides a place to sit at the end of the Artiglierie. The bench, when at rest
in balanced equilibrium is horizontal.
The soldier course, at 805mm above slab level, on the Artiglierie brick walls measures waterline and sets
the height of the bench. This simple machine is brought out of stable equilibrium by sitting, changing the
body’s relation to the set 805mm geometric horizon. 12 interlinked lever arms rotate; responding to a
precise mechanical relationship set up between variable constraints, mass & position and fixed constraints,
11 pivot axes. A second person sitting sets in motion a second series of interconnected movements and so
on with every subsequent visitor. Motion can be varied by sliding the body horizontally. This translation of
mass along the bench length varies the lever arm and the resultant applied moment. Force applied at any of
the 6 fulcrums (which are marked) does not vary motion; the bench remains static. The bench returns to
stable equilibrium when no acting bodies are present.
The 2 opposing scripted walls are the geometric instruction set for stone fabrication both fixed & variable;
that define the final cutting & set‐out dimensions for the 186 basalt columns at the Giant’s Causeway
Visitor’s Centre on the North Antrim Irish Coastline. The original architectural instruction set was designed
to be adaptive to the unpredictable nature of the basalt extraction process. This final matrix transcribes
information for each cutting template, position index, wastage/re‐use ratio and maximum yield size per
stone block based on inherent and induced fractures, during the 12 blast‐extractions that occurred at local
quarries in the 18‐month construction programme.
