Archinect - News

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...

The films and videos that have been selected for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale

2017-12-18T15:42:00-05:00

Back in August, Niall Atkinson, Ann Lui, and Mimi Zeiger, were announced as the curators of the U.S. Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. Commissioned by the School of Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago and titled "Dimensions of Citizenship," the show will tackle the controversial question of what it means to be a citizen.

For the exhibit, the team has commissioned installations by seven participants: Amanda Williams & Andres L. Hernandez, Design Earth, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, Keller Easterling, SCAPE, and Studio Gang. Alongside these, a series of film and video works will also be displayed that explore multiple perspectives and reflections on the spatial conditions of citizenship.

Entitled “Transit Screening Lounge,” the collection features recent single-channel works and "will offer more ambiguous readings of contemporary citizenship, involving blurred boundaries, gray areas, and alternative histories. The sele...

DS+R, Studio Gang, Keller Easterling among exhibitors selected for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale

2017-09-12T21:03:00-04:00

The U.S. Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, titled Dimensions of Citizenship, is further taking shape: the curatorial team — announced just two weeks ago and comprised of Mimi Zeiger, Niall Atkinson, and Ann Lui — today revealed a line-up of the seven pavilion exhibitors:

Amanda Williams & Andres L. Hernandez
Chicago, IL

PXSTL: Williams and Hernandez won the 2016 design-build competition. Image courtesy of Michael B. Thomas / Pulitzer Arts Foundation.

Design Earth
Cambridge, MA

Pacific Aquarium. Oslo Architecture Triennale, After Belonging, 2016. Project Team: El Hadi Jazairy + Rania Ghosn. Reid Fellenbaum, Ya Suo, Jia Weng, Shuya Xu, Saswati Das, with initial contributions from Rixt Woudstra. Image courtesy of DESIGN EARTH

Diller Scofidio + Renfro
New York, NY

The Shed, View from 30th Street looking northwest, Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group. Image courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group

Estudio Teddy Cruz...

Dimensions of Citizenship: Curators of the US Pavilion for 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale announced

2017-08-30T21:33:00-04:00

Months later than usual, the US State Department Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs has finally announced that the exhibit for the 2018 Venice Biennial will be put together by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago. Titled “Dimensions of Citizenship”, and organized by UC's Niall Atkinson, SAIC's Ann Lui and the Los Angeles-based independent critic Mimi Zeiger, the show will tackle the controversial question of what it means to be a citizen.

The pavilion will present both—newly commissioned projects created in response to the subject and already existing work, featuring entries from theorists, historians, and artists in addition to architects and designers. Commenting on the choice of the theme, Lui noted, “We thought that citizenship was a very urgent topic right now, both within national and global conversations. We noticed that architecture was often squarely in the center of these conversations, whether it was the border wall, or about mor...

$26M shortfall of Milan Expo U.S. Pavilion calls for change in funding process

2016-03-18T14:51:00-04:00

Since the 1990s, the U.S. State Department has been barred from spending public funds on world expo pavilions. The result has been a series of disasters...Last year, the U.S. made a strong showing at the Milan Expo...But now comes a denouement that may cripple chances of there ever being a successful U.S. pavilion again: the architect, the exhibition designer, and the contractor have been paid only a fraction of what they are owed for work on the pavilion.

"According to sources who participated in a recent conference call between the [Friends of the USA Pavilion Milan 2015] group and the creditors [which includes Biber Architects and Thinc Design], there was discussion about whether federal departments other than State, such as the Department of Agriculture, could make up the shortfall. Another conference call is scheduled for March 24."

Previous coverage about this project on Archinect:

Hot Dogs Around the World: James Biber, architect of US Pavilion "American Food 2.0" at EXPO Milan, joins us for Episode #31 of Archinect Sessions

The now-open Milan Expo U.S. pavilion salutes to the future of food, the American way

Identity Parade: The USA Pavilion and its Neighbors at Expo Milano 2015

Thinc Design's USA Pavilion exhibition presents America's role in the future of food for Milan Expo 2015

Winning "My Detroit" postcard photos for the 2016 U.S. Venice Biennale Pavilion revealed

2016-02-25T21:03:00-05:00

The 2016 U.S. Venice Biennale Pavilion is one step closer to becoming a reality with today's reveal of the 'My Detroit' postcard photo competition winners...[Out of 463 entries, the winning photos] were considered as unique individual depictions of Detroit that could also collectively tell a larger story about the present-day city. The photographs will then be printed as postcards and distributed to visitors when the Biennale opens in May.

See more of the photos over on Bustler.

Participating architects announced for the US Pavilion of the 2016 Venice Biennale

2015-08-27T19:55:00-04:00

The list of architects chosen to participate in the US Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale has just been announced. Curated by Cynthia Davidson and Monica de Ponce Leon, "The Architectural Imagination" seeks to be "an exhibition of new speculative architectural projects commissioned for specific sites in Detroit but with far-reaching application for cities around the world."

Out of more than 250 submissions, the following 12 architecture firms were chosen:

a(n) Office (Detroit, Michigan)
Marcelo López-Dinardi and V. Mitch McEwen
BairBalliet (Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois)
Kelly Bair and Kristy Balliet
Greg Lynn FORM (Los Angeles, California)
Greg Lynn
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (Atlanta, Georgia)
Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam
MARSHALL BROWN PROJECTS (Chicago, Illinois)
Marshall Brown
MOS Architects (New York, New York)
Hilary Sample and Michael Meredith
Pita & Bloom (Los Angeles, California)
Florencia Pita and Jackilin Hah Bloom
Present Future (Houston, Texas)
Albert Pope and Jesús Vas...

Hot Dogs Around the World: James Biber, architect of US Pavilion "American Food 2.0" at EXPO Milan, joins us for Episode #31 of Archinect Sessions

2015-05-28T17:49:00-04:00

Inadvertently, this episode is all about food – where it comes from, where we eat it, and how it shapes national identity. Our discussion on food and design starts in Los Angeles, where Norm's Restaurant recently received "historic and cultural" landmark status, and a tamale-shaped building strives for the same (just one of LA's many proud programmatic architectures). Shifting east, we extol the multi-uses and virtues of Waffle House, and praise the Waffle House index. This dovetailed across the Atlantic into our interview with James Biber of Biber Architects about his design for the US Pavilion at the Milan EXPO, entitled "American Food 2.0: United to Feed the Planet". We ask him about balancing corporate and national identities in food, and what it's like having the US State Department as a client.

Listen to episode thirty-one of Archinect Sessions, "Hot Dogs Around the World":

iTunes: Click here to listen, and click the "Subscribe" button below the logo to automatically download n...