Searching for Meaning Amid the Jumble, at the Venice Architecture Biennale

Searching for Meaning Amid the Jumble, at the Venice Architecture Biennale

To walk into the main exhibition at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale is to plunge into disorienting darkness, oppressive tropical humidity and haunting music over the throb of air-conditioning units. A disturbing — if visually arresting — vision of Venice in 100 years. And an admonition on the consequences of the overuse of A.C. Passing into a much cooler space, a concave wall of white bricks rises sharply. Dates on the side mark the expone…