David Adjaye, "Europolis" 2008 Manifesta 7

"If Europe were condensed into one piece and combined as one cell, what would be left behind as residue? Two extremes: a very dense condition and a big void.

Primarily, European cities have not been planned; they have emerged and evolved over time. They are the result of layers of history and war, development, destruction, mixing, migration and changing populations. They are a collage of ideas, profound and superficial.

In conceiving Europolis David Adjaye has extracted information from the capital cities of the European Union and condensed it into a single entity. Europolis is not a traditional city but the idea of the city as phenomenon. Its organic form contains all the information about those cities from which it is drawn: material texture, population, time, scale and occupation.

David Adjaye is a British architect whose work is characterized by the originality of its materials and a sculptural approach to light. Alongside many international commissions, his work spans exhibitions, private homes and artist collaborations."

http://www.manifesta7.it/artists/355