This article by Vanessa Quirk appeared in archdaily.com. Here’s an excerpt to access the full article and a gallery of photos follow the link below.

Under the direction of Laboratorio de Arquitectura Dominicana (LAD), the Dominican Republic’s first Pavilion at the Venice Biennale explored the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and politics through the lens of the Feria de la Paz y Confraternidad del Mundo Libre (The Fair of Peace and Brotherhood of the Free World), celebrated in 1955 in Santo Domingo. The fair was an attempt by the dictator Rafael Trujillo to project to the outside world a vision of a modern country firmly under his dictatorial control.

The Fair – today the site of governmental institutions – was a turning point for Santo Domingo and modern architecture, forever altering the city and its urban limits.

From the curators: Dominicans are modern in attitude and by necessity, having had to continually set aside previous efforts and reset. Patterns of destruction caused by hurricanes crossing the country have created a permanent state of crisis and tabula rasa. The coming to power of the dictatorship in 1930 and the impact of Hurricane San Zenon only three weeks earlier redefined the architectural, social and political climate of the Dominican Republic.

Continue reading and access Nico Saieh’s gallery of photos at http://www.archdaily.com/515835/fair-concrete-la-feria-concreta-dominican-republic-pavilion-at-the-venice-biennale-2014/