Archinect - News

Housing activist group to represent Canada at 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale

2022-04-28T10:46:00-04:00

The housing reform collective Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA) will represent Canada at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. Having been selected by the Canada Council for the Arts, AAHA will use the event to launch an architectural activity campaign for safe, healthy, affordable housing, titled “Not for Sale!”

The newly-formed collective was created specifically for the purposes of the Biennale bid, composed of architects, designers, educators, and historians, with support from collaborators and contributors with backgrounds in affordable housing, indigenous communities, education, and design. The aim of the group is to “instigate an architectural movement and create socially, ecologically, and creatively empowering housing for all.”

Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA), Headquarters (rendering by William Hansen), 2022.

To further this goal, the group will use the 2023 Biennale to transform the Canada Pavilion into a campaign headquarters for equitably housi...

Lesley Lokko chosen as curator for 2023 Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition

2021-12-14T13:55:00-05:00

Today the Board of La Biennale di Venezia announced the appointment of Lesley Lokko as its curator for the 2023 Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition.

Lokko is an esteemed architectural leader, best-selling novelist, and academic advocate whose work within and outside architecture circles has proven her a formidable force for change. Upon her appointment, Lokko shared with La Biennale di Venezia, "A new world order is emerging, with new centers of knowledge production and control. New audiences are also emerging, hungry for different narratives, different tools, and different languages of space, form, and place."

Image from African Futures Institute website. Image courtesy of AfricanFuturesInstitute.com

This past year, Lokko's work and efforts within architectural academia have made headlines. While her resignation as Dean of CCNY's Spitzer School of Architecture in October 2020 shook the architecture community, that did not stop Lokko's unshakeable efforts and dedication to her ...

The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam appoints Derk Loorbach as chief curator of IABR–2022, SHOCK AND ROLL

2021-03-30T13:03:00-04:00

The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam has announced the chief curator of its next edition: Derk Loorbach is the director of the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) and professor of Socioeconomic Transitions at the Erasmus University Rotterdam's Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Titled SHOCK AND ROLL, the 10th IABR will open in the fall of 2022 and commence a new series of biennales focusing on the "urgent need to put into design practice the all-embracing change to which science incites us, which the Paris climate objectives call for, to which the global community committed itself in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and with which the reality of the climate crisis confronts us every single day."

Related: Archinect Interviews George Brugmans, IABR - Part 1, Making City; Part 2, Arnavutköy, Istanbul; and Part 3, São Paulo, Rotterdam and Beyond

"With the appointment of Derk Loorbach, the IABR wants to take a crucial next step in a...

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...

GSAPP's Andrés Jaque to curate 2020 Shanghai Biennale

2019-12-09T12:40:00-05:00

Spanish architect and educator Andrés Jaque has been selected as the Chief Curator of the 13th Shanghai Biennale that is slated to take place starting on November 13, 2020.

Jaque is currently the Director of the Advanced Architectural Design Program at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP). He is also the founder of the Office for Political Innovation, an architectural practice based in New York City and Madrid. In 2018, Jaque co-curated the Manifesta 12, the "European Nomadic Biennale," in Palermo, Italy with Bregtje van der Haak, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, and Mirjam Varadinis.

In a press release announcing his selection, Jaque writes, "It will be my priority that the city of Shanghai is not only a venue but also a fundamental actor in the discourse, content, and experience of the Shanghai Biennale," adding, "I very much look forward to working with agile artists to develop new productions in response to specific sites."

Jaq...

Dominique Perrault will direct 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism

2019-11-16T09:00:00-05:00

French architect Dominique Perrault has been selected to curate the 2021 run of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.

Perrault, founder of Dominique Perrault Architecture, succeeds architect Lim Jaeyong and urban planner Francisco Sanin, the curators of the 2019 edition of the biennale. Accord to a press release announcing Perrault's selection, the forthcoming biennale will "explore themes and research that will enrich professional practice and the vision on the city today and tomorrow."

The 3rd Seoul Biennae of Architecture and Urbanism is due to take place between September and November of 2021. The 2017 edition of the event was themed under the title of "Imminent commons," while the 2019 exhibition focused on the theme of "Collective city."

Perrault is perhaps best known for as the architect of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.

Don't miss the must-see architecture and design events for Fall 2019!

2019-09-23T19:00:00-04:00

The fall season is a time of focus, when students head back to school and working folks gear up for the last few months of the year. The next few months will be full of opportunities that can perhaps provide refreshing perspectives on architectural practice and design, whether it's discussing the importance of design competitions at a conference, visiting a student exhibition, or touring a brand new building designed by a famous firm.

To help you out, we've put together a comprehensive list of the biennales, expos, exhibitions and must-see events of Fall 2019 to keep you up-to-date on the latest developments in architecture and design.

SEPTEMBER

©ChicagoArchitectureBiennial/Photographer’s Francis Son, 2019.

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism | Sep 7-Nov 10 | Seoul, KR

The space and structure of cities, creative development and regeneration, new building methods and technology, sustainable urban environments, city governance, and new forms of solidarity: these are the centra...

London's third Design Biennial to be directed by Es Devlin and will explore the theme of 'Resonance'

2019-02-27T14:54:00-05:00

The third edition of the London Design Biennale, which will take place from September 8th, 2020 through the 27th, will explore the theme of 'Resonance.' With Es Devlin at the helm as artistic director, the Biennale will showcase the responses of over 50 participating countries, cities and territories to the prompt laid out by the notable artist and designer.

"We live in an age of hyper resonance, the consequences of which are both exhilarating and devastating," cautioned Devlin. "Everything we design and everything we produce resonates."

As someone who has created stage sets for the Weeknd, Beyoncé, Adele, and the like, Devlin is well-acquainted with space in the digital era. Known for her artistically and technically ambitious approaches, she regularly harnesses the power of fast-paced technology to grab a mass audience.

Devlin's set design for Lady Gaga's Monster Ball US Theater Tour (2009/2010)

"In our global, digital era, design can reach instantly across borders and bridge cul...

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),...

Chief curators for the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale are announced

2017-12-19T15:46:00-05:00

After a yearlong search and an open Call for Curator, the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale has finally selected a winning proposal for the upcoming event. The jury has picked the curatorial team comprised of Interrobang founder, Maria Smith; Canadian designer educator and Interrobang Associate, Matthew Dalziel; British critic and think tank director, Phineas Harper; and Norwegian urban researcher and artist, Cecilie Sachs Olsen.

Chosen from 71 submissions and entitled "Common Futures," the theme questions the unbridled growth and rapid pace of industrialization underwent by societies throughout the 20th century. The proposal posits instead the alternative concept of Degrowth, an economic ideology that questions infinite economic growth as the one-way future for the whole of humanity.

"With this concept, the Triennale could be a platform to establish an understanding of a potential architecture of degrowth: defining it, questioning it and challenging both architects, architecture c...

7th edition of the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture opens tomorrow in Nantou Old Town

2017-12-14T12:52:00-05:00

Currently the only biennial exhibition in the world to be based exclusively on the set themes of Urbanism and Urbanization, the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture in Shenzhen will open for its 7th edition tomorrow, Dec 15th. Initiated in 2005 by the Shenzhen Municipal Government and joined by neighboring Hong-Kong in 2007, the co-organized biennale addresses both the material aspects of urban development as well as the many social aspects of city living in the context of rapid growth.

Curated by Hou Hanrou and the founding partners of URBANUS, Liu Xiaodu and Meng Yan, the exhibition's theme this year is “Cities, Grow in Difference." With more than 200 exhibitors including MVRDV, the French artist Pierre Huyghes, the Dutch artist Rob Voerman and the Chinese architect John Lin, participants will explore the urban concept of “coexistence” and its role in the future development of urban villages and their place among the swiftly developing cities of China.

Held in Nantou Old To...

The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam releases their Curator Statement, Research Agenda and Call for Practices for IABR—2018+2020

2017-10-23T18:55:00-04:00

The next International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) will be split in two parts, the first held in 2018 and the second in 2020. Appropriately dubbed IABR—2018+2020, it will be based in both the Netherlands and Belgium and will use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (COP21) as its impetus.

Curated by Floris Alkemade of Floris Alkemade Architectm (the Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands), Flemish Government Architect Leo Van Broeck of Bogdan & Van Broeck, and Joachim Declerck of the Belgian practice Architecture Workroom Brussels, the trio calls on innovative practices from around the globe to participate in The Missing Link: a three-year (from early 2018 to summer 2020) program of knowledge sharing, peer supervision, and joint research by design including presentations and debates at the biennales of 2018 and 2020.

This experimental program aims to see practices from various domains and continents and with different bac...

The next International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam will be split across two years and two countries

2017-04-20T12:14:00-04:00

The next International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) will be split in two parts, the first held in 2018 and the second in 2020. Appropriately dubbed IABR—2018+2020, it will be based in both the Netherlands and Belgium and use “the world as its source of inspiration”. This follows in line with a couple other major cultural events that have recently spread out from their original base, notably this year’s documenta, which is held in both Kassel and Athens.

The curators of IABR—2018+2020 will be Floris Alkemade of Floris Alkemade Architectm, the Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands; Flemish Government Architect Leo Van Broeck of Bogdan & Van Broeck; and Joachim Declerck of the Belgian practice Architecture Workroom Brussels.

The Biennale will use the Paris Agreement as its impetus, which they consider “an actual change of direction, a fundamental transition”. To that end, the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt Delta and the Low Countries serve as appropriate workspaces. The regions b...

The worst thing about the Venice Biennale? Its critics, argues Phineas Harper

2016-06-01T14:18:00-04:00

This biennale was not perfect. None are. And frankly I wonder whether Venice can ever be a fit venue for a serious interrogation of issues more profound than the Campari or Aperol conundrum. The vernissage is, at heart, a schmoozey, boozey networking knees-up in which the architectural great and good cheek-kiss their way down Via Garibaldi occasionally glancing in a pavilion. Arevena knew this all too well when he set out to give the festival some bite.

Architecture Foundation Deputy Director/Turncoats founder Phineas Harper gives his two cents on critics' self-righteous reactions to the Venice Biennale.

Find more Archinect coverage on the 2016 Venice Biennale in News and Features.

Bonus Session: "Scenes from the Post-Geographic City"

2016-02-03T09:02:00-05:00

Back in December of last year, the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture launched in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, featuring an exhibition curated by Los Angeles-based critic Mimi Zeiger and designer Tim Durfee, representing Art Center’s Media Design Practices program. Their show, “Now, There: Scenes from the Post-Geographic City”, winner of the Biennale’s Bronze Dragon, reconsiders what makes up today’s idea of a “city”, specifically regarding our digital and virtual presences, as well as contemporary issues of globalized economies.

The exhibition features work by Besler & Sons, Walton Chiu, Tim Durfee and Ben Hooker (with Jenny Rodenhouse), John Szot Studio, m-a-u-s-e-r, and Metahaven, as well as texts by Joanne McNeil, Enrique Ramirez, and Therese Tierney. Check out some of their work below.

Mimi and Tim joined Paul and I in Archinect’s podcasting studio to talk about the exhibition, and introduce a discussion recorded in Shenzhen among the participants of “Now, There" and one of the...

Canada's 2016 Venice Biennale theme digs into the country's influence in resource extraction

2015-12-09T20:26:00-05:00

Canada's national theme for the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale will be a multimedia investigation of the country's resource extraction industry, as announced earlier this week by the Canada Council for the Arts. Titled "Extraction", the project profiles and "radically rethinks" Canada's rise as a "global resource empire" by delving into the histories, architectures, and political economies of the industry. The theme was selected as the winner of a national competition. In 2014, the well-regarded "Arctic Adaptions: Nunavut at 15" exhibition represented Canada.

Considering that the Great White North is home to 75% of Earth's prospecting and mining companies, resource extraction runs deep in the country's roots. "Extraction" will include an installation, a film, and a book featuring various perspectives drawn from history, business, art, activism, and more. Catherine Crowston of the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) was appointed as the project's Official Commissioner while landscape urba...

London will host its first Design Biennale at Somerset House in 2016

2015-07-18T03:25:00-04:00

London is ready to join the design biennale club as it begins working toward launching its very first international design biennale at the Somerset House on September 7-27, 2016**. Modeled after the biannual Venice architecture and art events, London plans to gather up to 40 countries that will contribute representative design installations and exhibitions in response to a particular theme. The Neoclassical Somerset House, a former royal-palace cultural hotspot near the banks of the River Thames, will serve as an elaborate backdrop for the event.

With Dr. Christopher Turner as deputy director, participants will address the theme "Utopia by Design', in marking the 500th anniversary of the publication of Sir Thomas More's fictional classic Utopia.

"Participants are encouraged to interrogate the history of the utopian idea and engage with some of the fundamental issues faced by humanity, suggesting solutions to them that use design and engineering. Their responses will not only show desi...

U.S. Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale, "The Architectural Imagination", now open for submissions

2015-07-17T14:51:00-04:00

Start sharpening those pencils – the US Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale is now open for submissions. The Pavilion's theme of "The Architectural Imagination", curated by Monica Ponce de Leon and Cynthia Davidson, is looking for projects sited particularly in Detroit, while still having global potentials. The curators will commission a total of 12 domestic practices to be exhibited at the Biennale's US pavilion, as well as include them in a special "cataLog" issue of Log journal.

The US Pavilion's website's landing page features a photograph of Diego Rivera's "Detroit Industry" fresco (1932-33), referring to the curators' agenda to consider Detroit from its legacy as "a center of American imagination, not only for the products it made but also for its modern architecture and modern lifestyle, which captivated audiences worldwide."

In order to be considered, applicants must either themselves be an architect with US citizenship, or include one on their team, as well as have at least ...

Articulating Space: The Architecture of the São Paulo Biennial

2014-09-11T13:59:00-04:00

The São Paulo Biennial, which opened on September 6, is traditionally a contemporary art festival, but this year’s event puts new emphasis on architecture. Chief curator Charles Esche commissioned nearly 70 percent of the exhibition’s artworks, collaborating with a five-person curatorial team that included an architect for the first time in the biennial’s 63-year history (fun fact: it’s the world’s second-oldest contemporary art biennial).

Three Lost Days at the Biggest Architecture Show in the World

2014-08-19T15:14:00-04:00

Architecture’s largest and most public event needs to do more than just go through the motions. The Biennale, unfortunately, seemed to be driven not by passion or a desire to communicate, but by a sense of obligation. [...] Perhaps an ornamental city is simply an ill-omened venue for an event celebrating the most functional of arts. Venice may always be trapped in the past, but the Biennale should be at the forefront of a conversation about architecture’s future.

Zipper-fastened kaleidoscopic architecture

2014-08-08T13:35:00-04:00

The installation you see above is a project by Masakazu Shirane and Saya Miyazaki called "Wink," their entry into Kobe Biennial's Art Container Contest. The kaleidoscope concept uses mirrors (in keeping with Sir David Brewster's classic), but is also held together by zippers. Shirane and Miyazaki claim this makes it the first "architecture" based on zippers; proving you can create an adaptable, reconfigurable space using the same tech found in your pants.

Cuba in talks for cultural exchange with US museum

2014-08-07T13:34:00-04:00

Cuba is in talks with the Bronx Museum to organise the first major exhibition by a US museum in the country, according to local reports. The show would be part of the 12th edition of the Havana Biennial next year, and could be followed by an exhibition in New York in 2016 that would feature work by Cuban artists. [...] During her opening remarks, Perera emphasised the role of culture in “breaking barriers imposed by governments that have nothing to do with the will of the artists” [...].

IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE– Part 2: The Urban Metabolism

2014-07-25T17:53:00-04:00

IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE–, the sixth edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), claims that we can only solve the world’s environmental problems if we solve the problems of the city.

Looking through the lens of landscape architecture, IABR–2014– redefines the way we deal with urban challenges by analyzing the relationship between urban society and nature, and between city and landscape.
This edition of the biennale argues that cities are an integral part of huge urban landscapes, complex systems that have become our natural environment. This perspective has many implications for the way we plan and design our urban environment. Perceiving it as an organism opens up possibilities to develop spatial interventions that make use of its metabolism.
With the use of new and innovative design strategies that effectively address the city as the bigger urban landscape that it is, we can make the city more resilient and thus truly contribute to a more sustainable future...

IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE– Part 1: A Planet Cultivated

2014-07-21T17:46:00-04:00

IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE–, the sixth edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), recently wrapped up a packed roster of conferences, debates, lectures, excursions and other events spanning over several weeks.

URBAN BY NATURE– focuses on the interdependence of society and nature and the intricate relationship between city and landscape. Six separate exhibitions, still on display until Sunday, August 24 at the Kunsthal and the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, showcase almost one hundred projects that address these issues.

In this article, we highlight the first of the six exhibitions, A PLANET CULTIVATED:

Today, there are more trees in parks and nurseries than there are in forests. What we call nature is never free of human intervention: whether as small-scale as parks, or as large-scale as the climate. At the same time, we are part of nature. Now that more than 50 ...

How much are curators really paid?

2014-07-18T14:30:00-04:00

Many in the art world were staggered by recent reports that the Italian curator Germano Celant is being paid €750,000 to organise a pavilion for the Milan Expo 2015. Celant’s fee, and the incredulity it provoked, raises questions about how much curators are typically paid for organising biennials and large-scale international exhibitions. The Art Newspaper surveyed around 40 international curators and biennial organisers [...].

Rem Koolhaas blows the ceiling off the Venice Architecture Biennale

2014-06-05T13:47:00-04:00

An exploded false ceiling and a lineup of lavatories become the stars as Koolhaas delves into the overlooked innards of today's buildings – and shows how architecture has become nothing more than cardboard

The end of architecture?

2014-06-02T13:21:00-04:00

As the 14th edition of the Venice Biennale of Architecture prepares to open, the pavilions of the Giardini might be the perfect venue for an analysis of the architectural manifestations of national identity. [...] Architecture is a curious world in which the things we hate might look very similar, to a less-inured eye, to the things we love. It is a question of degrees, of finesse. Koolhaas exemplifies the paradox.

Members appointed for the 2014 Venice Biennale International Architecture Jury

2014-05-28T15:36:00-04:00

The 14th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale wouldn't be complete without its International Jury. Just recently, the Board of Directors appointed this year's jury members upon the recommendation of Biennale Director Rem Koolhaas.

The 2014 jury features:

Kunlé Adeyemi (Nigeria) is a prominent architect with experience in India, Korea, Africa, and Europe
Francesco Bandarin (Italy) is former director of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and now UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Culture and has been instrumental in developing heritage and preservation strategies worldwide
Bregtje van der Haak (The Netherlands) is a prize-winning documentary maker with a longstanding interest in architecture
Hou Hanru (China) was the co-curator of the Cities on the Move exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in 1999, and following his involvement at the San Francisco Art Institute is now artistic director of Maxxi - National Museum of XXI Century Arts of Rome
Mitra Khoubrou (United Arab Emirates) is director of Dubai-based Pink Tank with extensive involvement in economic and cultural issues throughout the Middle East

The President of the Jury will be nominated during their first meeting.

For more details, head over to Bustler.

Also ch...

City: Ways of Making, Ways of Using

2014-02-28T18:53:00-05:00

In the projects shown here, architects and artists reflect on the problems and possibilities of economic and urban growth. How is rapid urbanization happening? Who is benefiting, and who is being displaced or excluded? What can architects and citizens do to exert leverage on processes at once local and global?

On Places, Jonathan Massey reviews the 10th Sao Paulo Architecture Biennial, and presents a slideshow of selected works.

Shenzhen biennale explores postindustrial urbanism

2013-10-31T18:23:00-04:00

The 5th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) will reflect on southern China's rapidly developed recent past, while focusing attentions on its postindustrial future. Co-organized by Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the biennale presents a variety of international studies on urbanism, through architectural, ethnographic and artistic means. True to its future-focus, the biennale will renovate former industrial sites to use as venues, including an old waterfront warehouse and a former glass factory.

Shenzhen's rapid urban growth began in 1979, when the Chinese government named the small village a "special economic zone" for manufacturing and employment. Since then, the city has been flushed with Chinese and foreign investments, primarily in manufacturing -- now, Shenzhen aims to develop more service industries and away from its fast-earned industrial past.

UABB purports to be the only biennale in the world devoted entirely to urbanism and urbanization, and will be held from Dec...