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Design

90,000 Eye Shadow Containers Make Waves in Venice

Using Shiseido clé de peau BEAUTÉ eye shadow containers as a medium, Shigeru Ban Architects raises a different kind of pavilion.
Photos by Didier boy de la Tour, used with permission from Shigeru Ban Architects

A giant wave is rolling through the Venice Art Biennale, but instead of water, it's made up of 90,000 Shiseido clé de peau BEAUTÉ eye shadow containers. Shigeru Ban ArchitectsREVERBERATION - Pavilion of Light and Sound is a tensile structure that fills the historic Palazzo Pisani with reflective surfaces, a dark hue underneath, and harmonious sounds produced from the naturally suspended parabola it creates.

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"The first time I saw the palette of, the dark blue colors looked to me like a tile that reflects and absorbs light. So I've taken this case and stuck them on both sides of the acrylic sheets, spaced in 9 mm gaps, just like tiles," Ban explains on his website. "They reflect light, and make darkness in the interior and through the spaces between them, a wavering light which is characteristic of Venice, flows into the structure reflected from surface of the water functioned as a fixed weight." Using only the canisters themselves and acrylic sheets for the pavilion's exterior, REVERBERATION becomes a transformative experience, turning the space into one of sound, tension, harmony, and reflection.

Ultimately, says Ban, "This is not makeup applied to a historical facade, but rather a method for drawing out the charm of the existing context."

Check out REVERBERATION - Pavilion of LIght and Sound below:

making of “REVERBERATION — Pavilion of Light and Sound” designed by Shigeru Ban in Venice from Clé de Peau Beauté – SHISEID on Vimeo.

Click here for more from Shigeru Ban Architects.

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