Architecture firm Caruso St John and artist Marcus Taylor have installed a huge platform atop the UK's Venice Architecture Biennale pavilion, to create a " place of both refuge and exile".
The curators chose to build scaffolding all around an empty British Pavilion, to support the wooden "island" perched on top.
The claim the project, called Island, is intended to address many topics, including colonialism and climate change. But, according to Caruso St John co-founder Peter St John, Brexit was one the driving force behind the concept.
Scaffolding shrouds the British Pavilion, obscuring the building. Drone photograph is by Cultureshock Media
"It doesn't feel like something that you could do at any other time than the year before we're leaving the European Union," he told Dezeen. The platform is deliberately simple in design. Square in plan, it features a patterned surface that recalls the impressive tiled floors of Italian palazzos.
The tip of the pavilion roof pokes up through the centre, like the mast of a drowned ship might extend above the water's surface.
A wooden "island" is perched on top of the building. Photograph is by He?le?ne Binet
The space will host a series of events, debates, installations and performances over the coming months, addressing a range of themes. St John said he hopes it will create a place for people to reflect on the current situation, but also to think optimistically about the future.
"There is ...