06 Mar 2018
Participants and pavilions revealed for 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale
BY Kim Megson
Alison Brooks, Alejandro Aravena, Wang Shu, Bjarke Ingels, Elizabeth Diller, Rafael Moneo, Peter Zumthor and David Chipperfield and are among the big names participating in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, it has been announced.
Curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, founders of Grafton Architects, have revealed more details about their plans for the 16th iteration of the event, which will be open to the public from Saturday 26 May to Sunday 25 November and explore the theme ‘Freespace’ – “celebrating architecture’s proven and enduring contribution to humanity.”
According to Paolo Baratta, Biennale president, the Biennale will focus on the question of space, the quality of space and access to open and free space.
Pavilions from 65 nations will showcase examples of “forgotten buildings re-visited and brought to life; transformative typologies of habitation; and infrastructural needs translated into public and civic facilities.” These will be spread across Venice’s Giardini, Arsenale historic city centre. Seven will be participating for the first time: Antigua & Barbuda, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mongolia, Pakistan and the Holy See.
Meanwhile, 71 practices, including those led by the architects mentioned above, as well as the likes of Odile Decq, Jeanne Gang, Toyo Ito and Vo Trong Nghia, will take part in the main exhibition, responding to the theme in their own unique ways.
Talks, discussions, educational workshops and special exhibitions – including one organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London displaying a section of the recently-demolished Brutalist council estate Robin Hood Gardens – will also take place.
“We are hugely appreciative of the enormous dedication and passion invested by the participants,” said Farrell and McNamara in a statement. “We are delighted with the global engagement of participants and participating counties in the process of its translation. When we were writing the Freespace Manifesto, we wanted primarily to include the word ‘space’. We also wanted a new use of everyday words, which could somehow cause us all to re-frame the additional component that we as a profession can contribute to humanity.
“We see architecture as the translation of need in its widest sense into meaningful space. In the effort to translate Freespace into the many wonderful languages of the world, we hope that it prises open the ‘gift’ which architectural invention has the potential to contribute with each project. Translation allows us all to map and rename intellectual as well as actual territory. It is our hope that the word Freespace allows us to burrow into the aspirations, ambitions and generosity of architecture.”
The full list of practices participating in the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale is as follows:
6a architects (London, UK)
Alison Brooks Architects (London, UK)
Álvaro Siza 2 – Arquitecto, SA (Porto, Portugal)
Amateur Architecture Studio (Hangzhou, China)
andramatin (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Angela Deuber Architect (Chur, Switzerland)
architecten de vylder vinck taillieu (Ghent, Belgium)
Arrea architecture (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Assemble (London, UK)
Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner (Haldenstein, Switzerland)
Aurelio Galfetti (Lugano and Bellinzona, Switzerland)
Barclay & Crousse (Lima, Peru)
BC architects & studies (Brussels, Belgium)
Benedetta Tagliabue – Miralles Tagliabue EMBT (Barcelona, Spain; Shangai, China)
BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group (New York, USA; Copenhagen, Denmark; London, UK)
Burkhalter Sumi Architekten (Zürich, Switzerland) with Marco Pogacnik (Venice, Italy)
Carla Juaçaba (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Caruso St John Architects (London, UK)
Case Design (Mumbai, India)
Cino Zucchi Architetti (Milan, Italy)
Crimson Architectural Historians (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
David Chipperfield Architects (London, UK; Berlin, Germany; Milan, Italy; Shanghai, China)
de Blacam and Meagher Architects (Dublin, Ireland; Ibiza, Spain)
Diller Scofidio + Renfro (New York, USA)
DnA_Design and Architecture (Beijing, China)
Dorte Mandrup A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Elemental (Santiago, Chile)
Elizabeth Hatz Architects (Stockholm, Sweden)
Estudio Carme Pinós (Barcelona, Spain)
Flores & Prats (Barcelona, Spain)
Francesca Torzo Architetto (Genova, Italy)
Gion A. Caminada (Vrin-Cons, Switzerland)
GrupoSP (São Paulo, Brazil)
Gumuchdjian Architects (London, UK)
Hall McKnight (Belfast and London, UK)
Inês Lobo, Arquitectos (Lisbon, Portugal)
Jensen og Skodvin Arkitekter AS (Oslo, Norway)
John Wardle Architects (Melbourne, Australia)
Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA (Tokyo, Japan)
Kieran Long; Johan Örn; James Taylor-Foster (Stockholm, Sweden) with ArkDes (Stockholm, Sweden)
Lacaton & Vassal Architects (Paris, France)
Laura Peretti Architects (Rome, Italy)
Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo (Vittoria – Ragusa, Italy)
Marie-José Van Hee architecten (Ghent, Belgium)
Marina Tabassum Architects (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Matharoo Associates (Ahmedabad, India)
Michael Maltzan Architecture (Los Angeles, USA)
Niall McLaughlin Architects(London, UK)
O’Donnell + Tuomey(Dublin, Ireland)
Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos(Madrid, Spain)
Paulo Mendes da Rocha (São Paulo, Brazil
Peter Rich Architects (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Rafael Moneo, Arquitecto (Madrid, Spain)
Rintala Eggertsson Architects (Oslo and Bodø, Norway)
RMA Architects (Mumbai, India; Boston, USA)
Robert McCarter, Professor of Architecture (St. Louis, Missouri, USA)
Room11 Architects (Hobart, Tasmania, Australia)
Rozana Montiel Estudio de Arquitectura (Mexico City, Mexico)
Salter Collingridge Design (London and Ludlow, UK)
Sauerbruch Hutton (Berlin, Germany)
Skälsö Arkitekter (Visby and Stockholm, Sweden)
Souto Moura – Arquitectos, S.A. (Porto, Portugal)
Studio Anna Heringer (Laufen, Germany)
Studio Gang (Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, USA)
Studio Odile DECQ (Paris, France)
Talli Architecture and Design (Helsinki, Finland)
Tezuka Architects (Tokyo, Japan)
Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects (Tokyo, Japan)
Vector Architects (Beijing, China)
VTN Architects (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Weiss/Manfredi (New York, USA)
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