zava illuminates wave wall at the venice architecture biennale

Zava’s Wave Wall at the Korean Pavilion

At the Korean Pavilion within the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, Zava curves a luminous seven meter Wave Wall through the heart of the exhibit. The installation lights up as visitors interact with the questioning centerpiece entitled ‘The Game’. The questions posed respond to the pavilion’s title ‘2086: Together How?’, which focuses on the year that the UN predicts the human population will reach its peak. Wave Wall illustrates the powerful emotions provoked by the hard hitting questions that the exhibition asks regarding the future of humanity and climate change.

Zava curves a luminous seven meter Wave Wall through the heart of the exhibit

all images courtesy of Zava unless stated otherwise

combining advanced technologies with craftsmanship

Zava are specialists in the field of metalwork and lighting and have operated out of Italy’s Veneto region for over four decades. The artisans teamed up with curators of the pavilion, Soik Jung and Kyong Park, as well as their team of designers, to realize Wave Wall light panel. The purpose-designed manufacturing project is the ‘beating heart’ of the exhibit, skillfully combining advanced computer and electronic technology with Zava’s traditions of craftsmanship and customized design.

the installation lights up as visitors interact with it

the sustainability is bright in Wave Wall

Wave Wall, the interactive curving light panel, comprises seven side-by-side elements, 13 meters long and over 2 meters high. Through a grid of LEDs with three differing colors, The Game allows visitors to choose actions to take in order to better understand global environmental challenges and create a more sustainable future. Wave Wall is made in metal and utilizes 420 LED plates controlled by 105 electronic boards, specially designed for this project. A total of 2000 meters of cables operate the lights of the Wave Wall.

Wave Wall illustrates the powerful emotions provoked by the hard hitting questions

measuring our environmental impact

Wave Wall is conceived as a ‘video quiz’, which questions on social, political and economic issues. The aim is to ‘measure’ how our actions affect the environment in which we live. In front of the Wave Wall light panel, a table with four game stations sees players answer the questions displayed via video monitors. Each player chooses the answer they think is correct via three buttons of different colors, amber, green and blue. With each answer, the light corresponding to the color lights up on the panel.

The scores of each player are translated into indicators showing climate changes of individual actions: global CO2 level, temperature, sea level, refugees, population, water and Gini coefficients. These indicators are displayed on the seven light panels created by Zava with the daily scores becoming an annual register that tracks results until the end of the exhibition period.