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Six cutting-edge arts venues to be transformed into interdisciplinary schools at this year’s Istanbul Design Biennial

2018-09-19T20:29:00-04:00

Set to kick off on September 22nd, the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial will bring the city’s multi-layered cultural heritage and dynamic ecosystem of creativity to life. Named a ‘Design City’ by UNESCO last year, the Second Rome provides the perfect backdrop to host the biennial, which has emerged over the years as a crucial center for critical thinking around design in a country increasingly isolated by its political situation.

Given this context, the theme for this year’s edition is “A School of Schools.” Exploring the possibilities of design education in the 21st century, the biennial will take place across six iconic cultural institutions around the city, transforming the various art venues into sites of investigation. The world-class Pera Museum, for example, will become home to the Scales School, looking at the standards, norms, and taxonomies of learning. Another, the Digestion School, where participants can learn about metabolic systems and patterns of consumption, will be held...

"Unbuilding Walls" German Pavilion in Architecture Biennale 2018 addresses division

2018-04-06T19:00:00-04:00

Last April GRAFT was announced as Curators of the German Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale 2018. The exhibition, "Unbuilding Walls", focuses on the parallel of the Berlin Wall's lifespan and Germany's unity both being 28 years.

The exhibition responds to current debates on nations, protectionism and division. In the German Pavilion, GRAFT and Marianne Birthler will take the parallel as an opportunity to explore the effects of division and the process of healing as a dynamic spatial phenomenon. With reference to “Freespace,” the central theme of the Architecture Biennale proposed by Grafton Architects, special focus will be given to outstanding examples of urban and architectural design that address aspects of division and integration.

Axel-Springer-High-rise. Image: Axel Springer SE.

An example project is the Axel-Springer-Campus. This former death strip between Kreuzburg and Mitte is the site of the new campus building for Axel Springer designed by OMA. The design by Rem Koolha...

'Unbuilding walls': GRAFT Announced as Curators of the German Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale 2018

2017-08-17T13:07:00-04:00

Today the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) announced that the curators of the German Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale 2018 will be Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz and Thomas Willemeit of GRAFT together with Marianne Birthler. The architects were selected by the ministry on the recommendation of the selection committee for their submission to the open competition entitled “UNBUILDING WALLS”, which responds to current debates on nations, protectionism and division.

As the world grows together, walls are increasingly being discussed and built that divide people from one another. Walls can denote division, power and exclusion, but also protection.

In 2018, Germany will be reunified for 28 years – exactly as long as the inner German border wall (1961-1989) existed. In the German Pavilion, GRAFT and Marianne Birthler take this parallel as an opportunity to explore the effects of division and the process of healing as a...