In December 2006, close to Zurich airport, Opfikerpark was completed after a construction period of 79 weeks. Central element of the park is a concrete sculpture, over 500m-long, accommodating a lake surrounded by sandy beaches and a reed belt. The idea for the design of the park was the result of an international competition initiated in 2001 and won by Berlin practice Kiefer. As the second exhibition at gallery AedesLand, this project will be introduced in June 2007.
Contrary to the usual approach, the exhibition does not aim to present an already completed construction but rather make transparent the process of creation and realization of the building project ‘opfikerpark’. The efforts and challenges to create a complex and outstanding structure, which were faced by client, planners, engineers as well as executing contractors, shall be recorded in a commented illustration of the construction work.
Building sites are temporary production sites involving a multitude of disciplines and trades which need to be coordinated. The exhibition reflects the progressing technological, organizational and design process as well as the objective and subjective influences in effect and thus aims to convey a realistic image of the building activities. Photographer Hanns Joosten has documented the construction progress at regular intervals.
His high-quality, large-scale images communicate the special aesthetics of a building site in all its diversity and affect the atmosphere of the exhibition. The whole exhibition space will be part of the exhibition, even floors and ceilings. In addition, a media installation explains the progress of constructing Opfikerpark where viewpoints of diverse disciplines and participants meet. The players get a chance to speak and express their personal perspective on the building process with spoken commentaries. How is a large park constructed? How does a building site work? What do you need so many planners for? And how do they work together? Based on these questions, spontaneous contributions shall throw a critical and ironic light on the expert discourse.
Catalogue
An Aedes catalogue was published.
With a text by Frank Barkow
ISBN 978-3-937093-82-6
German/English
Price € 10,-
