Venice Architecture Biennale 2014: one of the grandest installations created for the Venice biennale is a grid of seven-metre-high golden columns by German artist Heinz Mack (+ slideshow).

Installed in the waterside church square on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, The Sky over Nine Columns was designed by Heinz Mack to showcase the importance of the column in architectural history.

The artist describes this as the most fundamental element in architecture – creating an unofficial extension of Rem Koolhaas' Elements exhibition that analyses the roles of different building components, including staircases and walls.

"The column represents man standing upright – with dignity – in space," said Mack, who staged the exhibition alongside cultural organisation the Giorgio Cini Foundation and art historian Robert Fleck.

The installation is made up of nine identical columns, decorated with over 850,000 shimmering golden mosaic tiles intended to reflect the light of the sun and moon.

The glass tiles, known as tesserae, were produced in the Triveneto region of Italy. The team hope that visitors will make a connection between the metallic surfaces of the columns and the golden mosaic of the San Marco Basilica across the water.

"With this project the island becomes an integral part of the work of art," said Pasquale Gagliardi, secretary general of the Giorgio Cini Foundation.

"This fits perfectly with our programme of initiatives, whose objective is to promote art forms closely associated with local traditions, including crafts in our region," he added.

The Sky Over Nine Columns will remain in place until 23 November, as part of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014.

Photography is by Alessandra Chemollo, unless otherwise stated.