The exhibition pavilion was designed in the central nave of the sixteenth-century Scuola Grande della Misericordia by architect Jacopo Sansovino on the occasion of Aldo Amoretti's personal photographic exhibition "FUNDAMENTA", curated by Giovanni Menna and Olga Starodubova on behalf of the Department of Architecture of Federico University II of Naples and hosted by Casa Platform in Venice, as part of the “The New Together” event on the occasion of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition.
Given the extraordinary nature of the historic place, a new autonomous, austere and abstract volume was designed, strictly composed on the metric marked by the ancient colonnades which allows to guarantee a visual distance between the elements (the historical and the contemporary); inside it contains a central hall made up of ten small cells, arranged on the two long sides, which house the nine photographic diptychs created by the author on nine central themes of architecture chosen by the curators and represented by the architecture of Peter Zumthor, Hans Kollhoff with Christian Rapp, John Pawson, Peter Märkli, Aldo Rossi with Gianni Braghieri, Baukunst, Dorte Mandrup, Johansen Skovsted, Didonè Comacchio, Marco Ciarlo Associati with Studio Daniele, Hans van der Laan.
In addition to the contemplation of the photographed architecture, punctuated by small partitions covered in fabric stretched over wooden hollow-core panels, the gaze can only escape upwards, towards the tops of the columns and the beams of the wooden ceiling.
The rich dark drapery, supported by simple metal frames magnetized to the corten steel flooring, are moved slightly by the precious current of natural air. They occupy space by configuring a clear, powerful, unequivocally distant reaction, in a temporary balance made of deep and vibrant matter that reacts to natural and artificial light.
Two benches designed and built specifically for the occasion were inserted into the space, so as to allow visitors to rest and stay.
The Apta bench, produced by Saporiti Italia, was designed for the occasion and can adapt to the places in which it is inserted by choosing different materials to insert into the steel mesh base.
