The courtyard at the Delano & Aldrich–designed U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale plays host to Commonplace, an installation by Interboro Partners based on the passarelle (the emergency sidewalks deployed during Venice's legendary floods). Commonplace will host a series of programs and informal gatherings during the Biennale, after which the installation will be disassembled and the components given to the city of Venice to be deployed around the urban environment.
Inside the pavilion, visitors can see the 124 projects that are featured in the Spontaneous Interventions exhibit. Each intervention is featured on a banner that can be pulled down from the ceiling for a closer read.
The backs of the banners feature a coded system of colored stripes that correspond to the themes present in each project.
Each banner is hung on a pulley system; when the banner is pulled down, a corresponding counterweight (inscribed with keywords relating to the project) is lifted.
The floor of the pavilion is covered in a timeline that records major events in the history of urban development.
