![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio photograph by Roland Halbe](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-photograph-by-roland-halbe-1.jpg)
Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio
Venice Architecture Biennale 2010: two enormous girders slice through the Arsenale exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale thanks to Madrid architect Antón García-Abril of Ensamble Studio.
![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio photograph by Roland Halbe Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio photograph by Roland Halbe](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-photograph-by-roland-halbe-2.jpg)
Above and top photographs are copyright Roland Halbe
Entitled Balancing Act, the installation comprises one girder balanced across the other, supported at one end by a metal spring.
![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-4.jpg)
A rock perched atop the other end acts as a counter-weight.
![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-3.jpg)
The installation forms part of the exhibition People Meet in Architecture, directed by Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA (see our earlier Dezeenwire story).
![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-5.jpg)
The Venice Architecture Biennale continues until 21 November. See all our stories about it in our our special category.
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![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-6.gif)
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See also: Trufa by Anton García-Abril, a house cast in the earth and hollowed out by a cow.
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![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-7.gif)
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The text that follows is from Ensamble Studio:
BALANCING ACT
Balancing Act is a play of balance. Two structural lines in the longitudinal space of the Arsenale buildings, which operate as a reagent to modify the original space.
![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-8.gif)
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The interference caused by generating a diagonal incision, cuts on the bias the previous line marked by the old structure. The harmony between the two structures now contiguous forms a space from the two systems that meet, face and compare each other.
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![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-9.gif)
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Click above for larger image
The Arsenale will be a complex compositional series, an architectural “fugue”, in which different spaces follow one another, and in which the dissonant balance of the Balancing Act is just one chord.
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![Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio Balancing Act Balancing Act by Ensamble Studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/09/dzn_Balancing-Act-Balancing-Act-by-Ensamble-Studio-13.gif)
Click above for larger image
Project: Balancing Act
Location: Venice Biennale
End of building construction: August 2010
Author of the project: Antón García- Abril
Collaborators: Ensamble Studio:
Débora Mesa
Ricardo Sanz
Alba Cortes
Juan Ruiz
Tomaso Boano
Federico Letizia
Quantity surveyor: Javier Cuesta
Sponsor: Positive City Foundation
See also:
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