Mashrabiya diaspora - New Spain - South America. The Umayyad Caliphate spreads the distinctive latticed mashrabiya to North Africa, the Middle East, and Spain, which in turn finds it appropriate to the tropical cities of its empire in the New World. Closed off but offering access to air, providing shade but also the ability to view the street without being seen, the mashrabiya is an in-between version of an in-between element, making it flexible, able to be exploited anywhere...
The Balcony at Casa Rosada - Buenos Aires - Argentina. The image of Eva Peron standing on a balcony, arms raised, is embedded in the world’s collective memory. But this image is so well known perhaps more through its portrayal by celebrities like Madonna and not because of any particular historic event.
Mashrabiya diaspora - New Spain - South America. The Umayyad Caliphate spreads the distinctive latticed mashrabiya to North Africa, the Middle East, and Spain, which in turn finds it appropriate to the tropical cities of its empire in the New World. Closed off but offering access to air, providing shade but also the ability to view the street without being seen, the mashrabiya is an in-between version of an in-between element, making it flexible, able to be exploited anywhere...
The balcony can be seen as the mediator between inside and outside, between private and public. Within this concept we defined the two mayor manifestations of a Balcony. The first one is the social democratic registration of mass individualism. The micro political balcony is used by its owners everywhere in the world to show who you are and what you stand for. But at the same time it emerges into the face of the skyscraper and the city.
The second manifestation is the balcony as political platform, the macro political balcony. Balconies by themselves are apolitical and need to be activated to be politicized. For example the balcony of Palazzo Venetia, which became famous after Mussolini used it as his platform to declare war again France and Britain in front of a large crowd. I recreated a selection of significant balconies, which have been on display in the Balcony room on the 14th Venice International Architecture Biennale.
Finished: 2014