Venice Architecture Biennale: Jury Awards Silver Lion To Chile's 'Monolith Controversies'

The jury of the Fourteenth Bienniale of Architecture in Venice has awarded the Silver Lion to 'Monolith Controversies,' a project belonging to the Chilean Pavilion at the world's largest architecture fair. “Focusing on one essential element of modern architecture – a prefabricated concrete wall- it critically highlights the role of elements of architecture in different ideological and political contexts," said the Grand Jury in a statement during the award presentations.

The Monolith Controversies project is a work of more than seven years of research by architect and designer Pedro Alonso and Hugo Palmarola, who won the competition in 2013 at the National Council for Culture and the Arts, designed to find the project that would represent Chile the fair which opened this week in Venice. It is, in essence, a concrete wall, reminiscent of the installation of those built by the KPD factory, one donated by the Soviet Union in 1972 to build apartment buildings after the earthquake that struck the country in 1971.

During the inauguration of the KPD, President Salvador Allende and the Soviet ambassador put their signatures on the fresh concrete, an action that made the giant block unique - it was later installed in the entrance of the new factory, located in Quilpué. The Golden Lion for Best National Participation went to Korea for “Crow’s Eye View: The Korean Peninsula” The jury cited Korea’s “extraordinary achievement of presenting a new and rich body of knowledge of architecture and urbanism in a highly charged political situation.”