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Norwegian firm Helen & Hard present their experimental cohousing model at the 2021 Venice Biennale

2021-01-26T14:54:00-05:00

While the 2020 Venice Biennale was postponed, many look forward to what 2021 has to offer with the announcement of the event's opening date on May 22.

Carrying on with the theme "How will we live together," Hashim Sarkis, curator of the exhibition, shared, "the world is putting new challenges in front of architecture. I look forward to working with participating architects from around the world to imagine together how we are going to rise to these challenges."

"What We Share - a model for cohousing" Exhibition image render © Helen & Hard

With this in mind, exciting projects and exhibitions make way for their debut at the Biennale. Take the Nordic Pavilion, for example. They've announced the Pavilion's participation in an experimental cohousing project led by Norwegian firm Helen & Hard. The firm's expertise in wood use and experimental housing projects will come to life in their exhibition titled, "What We Share."

Vindmøllebakken co-living project by Helen & Hard. The project was b...

Venice Biennale postponed to May 2021

2020-05-18T09:49:00-04:00

The 17th International Architecture Exhibition for the Venice Biennale has been postponed for a second time due to the Coronavirus pandemic and is now rescheduled to take place May 22nd to November 21, 2021.

The exhibition, titled How Will We Live Together? and curated by Hashim Sarkis, was originally scheduled to take place in Venice from August 29th through November 29th 2020, but has been moved to next year as an "acknowledgment that it is impossible to move forward – within the set time limits – in the realization of such a complex and worldwide exhibition, due to the persistence of a series of objective difficulties caused by the effects by the health emergency underway," according to the La Biennale organization.

Additionally, the 59th International Art Exhibition, curated by Cecilia Alemani, meant to accompany the architecture show has also been postponed for a year and will now take place in 2022.

The organization continues, "The current situation, up to now, has definitel...

The world's largest greenhouse due to take shape for a 2020 Venice Biennale collateral event

2020-05-16T13:02:00-04:00

Zuecca Projects and architecture firm Coldefy have presented the exhibition entitled DOMUS - Architecture, Materials, Innovative Systems as a "Collateral Event" of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale due to be held in Venice from August 29th to November 29th.

Lower level plan

The exhibition is curated by Alessandro Possati, director of Zuecca Projects, and Arch. Thomas Coldefy, founder at Coldefy. The theme of DOMUS is dilineated with research and documentation of Tropicalia, which is expected to be the largest single-dome greenhouse on the planet.

Upper level plan

While the exhibition presents the vision for Tropicalia in the form of drawings, models, renderings, and diagrams, the structure is due to become a reality by 2023. The greenhouse proposes 20,000 square meters of tropical landscape covered by a massive dome rising 35 meters high.

U Penn students control robots remotely to complete semester work

2020-05-12T16:28:00-04:00

At the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, students taking part in a Graduate Architecture Program seminar developed by U Penn Professor Ezio Blasetti have found a way to complete work fabricating design projects despite not being able to physically access the school's fabrication facilities.

As part of Blasetti's Computational Composite Form Computational Design & Carbon Fiber Robotic fabrication seminar, faculty and students were able to control digital fabrication robots in the school's new Advanced Research & Innovation Lab remotely through a suite of remote access tools provided by Dropbox.

U Penn Professor Ezio Blasetti controlling fabrication robots in his studio. Image courtesy of the Weitzman School of Design.

According to the school, "This quick adaptation may signal new ways that universities will need to reimagine learning experiences. With the shape of the fall 2020 semester deeply uncertain, universities may be turning to similar structures to meet s...

BREAKING: 2020 Biennale in Venice postponed until August

2020-03-04T11:34:00-05:00

Announced today by La Biennale Di Venezia, the 2020 Venice Biennale will be held from Saturday August 29th through Sunday November 29th, instead of from May 23rd through November 29th, as previously announced. In its announcement, the Biennale states:

The new dates for the Biennale Architettura have been established as a consequence of the recent precautionary measures in the matter of mobility taken by the governments of a growing number of countries around the world, which will have a domino effect on the movement of people and works in coming weeks.

This decision, the Biennale writes, serves to avoid the jeopardizing of the exhibition's quality. The initial phases in organizing the exhibition "involves architects and institutions from over 60 countries on all continents." As such, obstacles in travel would pose overwhelming challenges in realizing a complete production. In the spirit of excellence, this decision seems to be the wisest path to a fruitful outcome in August.

For a l...

Here are the designers who will exhibit at the 2020 Venice Biennale

2020-03-02T16:24:00-05:00

The list of participants for the 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice have been announced by Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia, and Hashim Sarkis, curator of the Biennale.

In total, the event will bring together 114 designers and architecture firms whose work will be laid out across a collection of themed blocks focusing on topics that grow from those encompassing the technological and political realities of the human body to ones that include the United Nations and global ecological regions and systems.

Describing the goal of the biennale, Sarkis explains in a statement, "We need a new spatial contract. In the context of widening political divides and growing economic inequalities, we call on architects to imagine spaces in which we can generously live together."

Chicago architects Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner were selected in 2019 as the curators for the United States Pavilion at the Biennale. The pair's exhibition, American Framing, is set to explore "the...

Venice Biennale is on track for its scheduled opening on May 23

2020-02-28T16:08:00-05:00

Following a week of speculation and concern over the mounting coronavirus outbreak, organizers for the 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice have announced that the event will proceed as planned.

In a livestreamed announcement broadcast via the Biennale's website, Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia, explains that one of the main goals of the vent is to bring architecture into the front and center of public discourse. "Architecture," Baratta explains, "makes us more aware individuals, it makes us citizens, not just consumers."

He adds, "The space we share, the place where a civilization has developed gives us the possibility to consider welfare in a much more complete way [...] it helps us donate to ourselves some happiness."

Previously on Archinect: "2020 Venice Biennale asks: 'How will we live together?'" Paolo Baratta, president of La Biennale di Venezia, and Hashim Sarkis, curator of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition, have unveiled a guiding vision...

Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner will curate U.S. Pavilion for 2020 Venice Biennale

2019-11-25T13:41:00-05:00

The United States Department of State has selected a team from the University of Illinois at Chicago to curate the United States Pavilion at the 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale.

The team, led by architects Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner, will create an installation in the pavilion titled American Framing that investigates "the conditions and consequences of American wood-framed construction," according to a press release.

The American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale will be programmed with an exhibition investigating American wood-framed construction. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Jaksmata.

As construction types that can be found all over the world, from the ranch houses of suburban enclaves to more recent aluminum-framed commercial architectures that evolve the approach, balloon and Type-V wood framing construction methodologies—known as "Chicago Construction" during the 19th Century—are among the leading construction innovations that American building culture has propagat...

2020 Venice Biennale asks: "How will we live together?"

2019-07-16T13:12:00-04:00

How will we live together? That’s the question on the minds of Paolo Baratta, president of La Biennale di Venezia, and Hashim Sarkis, curator of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition, as they unveil a guiding vision for the 2020 Venice Biennale.

Baratta and Sarkis announced the theme in Venice this morning, issuing an appeal for a “new spatial contract” guided by architects that can “imagine spaces in which we can generously live together.” According to the pair, architects can and should be responsible for articulating bold new visions for the changing state of human occupation of the world that draw together different professions and groups of people toward diverse and just ends.

Architects should bring people “together as human beings who, despite our increasing individuality, yearn to connect with one another and with other species across digital and real space; together as new households looking for more diverse and dignified spaces for inhabitation; together as emer...

Canadian Pavilion for 2020 Venice Biennale to explore country's role as popular filming location

2019-03-14T12:25:00-04:00

The Canada Council for the Arts on Thursday announced the curators and winning proposal for the Canadian Pavilion at the 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Led by Montreal architecture and design practice T B A and David Theodore of McGill University, the exhibition will be titled "Imposter Cities," and will touch on ideas of identity, history and culture within the context of Canadian architecture.

Specifically, "Imposter Cities" will explore the county's role as a popular movie set and its architecture as film-famous settings for other places. Nicknamed Hollywood North, Canada has become a top filming location with its cities and buildings often acting as stand-ins for elsewhere—i.e. Montreal plays the part of Paris, while Toronto gets cast as New York or Boston.

Using a range of digital media, the curators will investigate why Canada's buildings are so good at filling the role of somewhere else. On the proposal, organizer David Theodore said, "it will be fun to immerse visitors...

Canada Council for the Arts releases four team shortlist for 2020 Venice Biennale

2018-12-19T18:12:00-05:00

The Canada Council for the Arts has revealed the four proposals shortlisted for exhibition at the Canadian Pavilion at Venice's 2020 Architecture Biennale. Included are designs from emerging Canadian stars Common Accounts, Ja Architecture Studio, and the duo Thomas Balaban and David Theodore, who have teamed up for the project. Additionally, Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism—which is led by Professor Jill Stoner—has been tapped as well.

From an exhibition on Canada's waterscapes and inland bodies of water, to one on light wood framing, the shortlisted visions address ideas of identity, history and culture within the context of Canadian architecture. With an open ended prompt, the proposed exhibitions focus on topics ranging from the after life to Canada's role as a filming location and stand in for other places. Below is a snapshot of each team’s vision.

Fluid Boundaries: Ethical Imaginaries of Inland Waters
Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism (...

Hashim Sarkis to curate 2020 Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition

2018-12-19T13:19:00-05:00

Architect and educator Hashim Sarkis has been appointed as Director of La Biennale di Venezia's Architecture Sector, tasking him to curate the 7th International Architecture Exhibition in 2020.

Sarkis started his firm Hashim Sarkis Studios, with offices in Cambridge and Beirut, in 1998 and has served as Dean of MIT's School of Architecture and Planning since January 2015. He was a member of the international jury of the Biennale Architettura 2016.

"The world is putting new challenges in front of architecture," said Sarkis, who has an expertise in design in the Middle East and Muslim societies. "I look forward to working with participating architects from around the world to imagine together how we are going to rise to these challenges."

Listen to our 2015 podcast interview with Hashim Sarkis, almost one year into his Deanship at MIT.

The list of recent Venice Biennale Architecture Directors includes Irish architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects (2018),...