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Nov. 25, 2005
The big orange lodge
Giant fleece sweater is Canada’s Biennale entry.
Monika Ullmann
Bill Pechet and Stephanie Robb, a Vancouver interdisciplinary design
team with a sense of humor, knew that they were taking a chance
when they turned an orange fleece into a “Sweaterlodge”
– their entry into the architecture section of the Venice Biennale,
an international art exhibition.
“We knew they were either going to love it or hate it, and
we weren’t going in quietly,” said Robb. Though the pair
got the nod from the Canada Council (the third time that a Vancouver
team has been selected to represent Canada at the Biennale during
the last decade), they have a challenging year ahead of them. Not
only do they have to get their giant fleece sweater stitched together
and shipped to Venice for the opening of the Canadian Pavilion in
September 2006, they also have to find sponsors to join those they
already have in place – Canada Council, the Department of Foreign
Affairs, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the University
of British Columbia School of Architecture. The cost of the project
is $400,000, and Sweaterlodge spokeperson Miriam Blume hopes the
prestige and global media exposure of this event will draw some
major sponsors. “The Jewish community is known for its generosity
and commitment to the arts, so we’re hopeful,” she said.
Pechet, who is Jewish, was born in Edmonton and attended a Talmud
Torah school there in his youth. He went to high school in Victoria
and is a graduate of UBC’s School of Architecture. Robb, whose
credentials include degrees in architecture and theatre design,
jokes that she’s “the shiksa,” but it’s clear
that she and Pechet are equal collaborators in a wide-ranging portfolio
of projects that include public spaces (one of their best-known
is the giant picnic table in the park on Beach Avenue at Howe Street),
private residences, schools, memorials and set design.
They enjoy bridging the worlds of art and everyday life, and part
of their witty design aesthetic is playing with scale. As Robb points
out, when you expand something ordinary like a sweater, it becomes
a sculpture, while retaining some of its functionality. This is
what they’ve done with the Sweaterlodge (www.sweaterlodge.ca)
– an idea that grew directly out of Vancouver’s unique
urban environment.
“Vancouver has a really long tradition of producing innovative
and exploratory architecture and design,” said Pechet. “People
come here from all over the world to study how we build density
and sustainability into our city. The Sweaterlodge is in that tradition,
because it cuts across disciplines, resonating with a large audience,
not just architects and designers.”
The project is already getting rave reviews. The Italian ambassador
to Canada, who came to visit Pechet and Robb’s studio recently,
was quite smitten with it and even remembered an Italian pop song
that refers to “my little Canadian lodge in the woods.”
Canadian officials are also praising the team. Foreign Affairs minister
Pierre Pettigrew called the project “original and innovative,”
while Canada Council director John Hobday said the Sweaterlodge
“offers a sharp and witty slice of Canadian life to the world.”
Okay, but how do you actually make something like this?
“Well, Vancouver is probably the only city in the world where
you can pick up the phone and call someone in the movie business
to make you a sweater out of 350 square metres of fleece without
any problem,” laughed Robb. The Sweaterlodge will be stitched
together in Vancouver by Linda Chow, who has a background in costume
design. The fabric is Polartec fleece, made of 100 per cent recycled
bottles.
The recycling theme carries through the entire project. Part of
the exhibition involves three stationary bicycles that project movies
about Vancouver’s urban yet green lifestyle as soon as someone
starts pedalling.
Aside from the international prestige of this project, Vancouverites
who might not make it to the Biennale also get something out of
it. Once the exhibit closes, the Sweaterlodge is coming back for
further recycling into our urban landscape. The designers are planning
a big thank you party for all their sponsors and friends, during
which the Sweaterlodge will be disassembled.
“We’re going to have a big sew- in,” said Robb. If
she and Pechet have anything to do with it, the citizens of Vancouver
will be cozying up in orange toques and matching scarves –
thus recycling the Sweaterlodge architecture into everyday life.
Monika Ullmann is a freelance writer and editor living
in Vancouver. She can be reached at proword@shaw.ca.
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