Norwegian architecture studio Helen & Hard has built a 1:1 cross-section of a co-housing project made from spruce wood in the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Commissioned by the National Museum of Norway, the exhibition is named What We Share and demonstrates how architects can design and build communities "based on participation and sharing".
Helen & Hard hopes it will also demonstrate how co-living can be used to help tackle various environmental issues, increase residential security and combat loneliness.
Helen & Hard has curated the Nordic Pavilion
"Within the theme of the biennale, 'How will we live together"', we wanted to emphasise the main environmental and social challenges we face today, such as the increasing loneliness and segregation in our society and the negative impact of the building industry in terms of carbon dioxide emissions," said the studio's founders Siv Helene Stangeland and Reinhard Kropf. "The Scandinavian co-housing model and our own experiences with co-housing projects inspired us to explore an experimental model that can help to face these challenges," they told Dezeen.
It contains a 1:1 cross-section of a co-housing project
"The idea to share spaces, resources and services can help to reduce our carbon footprint by living more efficiently while at the same time increasing our social welfare and quality of life," the founders added.
"In our installation, we want...