Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2019: The Poetics of Reason

The 5th Lisbon Architecture Triennale has announced its title and theme: “The Poetics of Reason.” This title asserts that, despite its subjective and non-scientific dimensions, architecture is grounded in reason, and its goal is to shed light on the specificity of this rationality. Indeed, a foundation in reason and rationality is essential for understanding architecture—making it accessible to everyone, not just architects.

More than ever, this is a requirement for defining an architecture for our shared contemporary condition. As a result of mass construction–we have built more buildings since the beginning of the last century than at any other time in history–everyone has the right to understand architecture without prior specialized knowledge in the field.         

Each of the five exhibitions that make up the 2019 Triennale addresses a particular aspect or dimension of this theme, in an attempt to outline what is at stake in architectural rationality. 

Exhibitions

Economy of Means - at MAAT Central Tejo

This exhibition investigates what makes this category both a hallmark and a precondition for a rational architecture. Gathering a large number of historical and contemporary examples, it proposes a typology of the effects of the economy of means up to the present day, questioning which ones can be explored today. 
Curator: Éric Lapierre 

Taking the Country's Side: Permaculture for Architects - at CCB – Garagem Sul

This exhibition reflects on an environmental movement that, for more than four decades, has systematically explored the possibilities of reducing energy consumption and its consequences on the redesign and maintenance of territories. In an attempt to reconnect architecture and agriculture, it highlights some of the lessons that today's architects and urban planners can draw from this school of thought and action. 
Curator: Sébastien Marot 

Inner Space - at Galeria Millennium

This exhibition investigates how the creative imagination has historically been nurtured by a continuous confrontation with rational thought, and how architects and artists from different eras have conceived rational systems to materialize their visual, physical, and mental universes. It attempts to illustrate how architectural imagination lays the foundation for any work in this discipline, from classical treatises to the internet and video games. 
Curators: Mariabruna Fabrizi and Fosco Lucarelli 

What Is Ornament? - at Culturgest

This exhibition reflects on how, after the Modernist Movement banished ornament from architecture, this concept and its challenges gained momentum in the post-war period and have become crucial today for the rational production of outstanding architecture. Through a series of thematic sections showcasing historical and contemporary production, the exhibition will explain how ornament never completely disappeared and the conditions under which it exists today as a relevant issue. 
Curators: Ambra Fabi and Giovanni Piovene 

Natural Beauty - at Palácio Sinel de Cordes

This exhibition explores how constructive rationality has long been at the heart of architecture, and how it can still be relevant in contemporary production in Lisbon to create an organic architecture—as if it were a system where the parts are interconnected. It will include works selected from the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Universities Award Competition. 
Curators: Laurent Esmilaire and Tristan Chadney 

Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award

Based on criteria of excellence in contribution to architecture, the recipient will give a lecture during the opening week of this 5th edition. A work of art by a Portuguese artist is commissioned to be presented to the winner.

Début Award

Open to young architects up to 35 years of age, or to any architecture firm with an average age not exceeding 35, the Début Award seeks to support and recognize those at the beginning of their careers. During the opening week, the winner of the Début Award will also present their work in a lecture.  

Universities Award Competition

The Universities Award Competition involves the participation of architecture schools invited to study a specific territory. In 2019, this territory will be Marvila. Some of the selected proposals will be included in the “Natural Beauty” exhibition.

The call for entries for the Début Award will be open from May 24, 2018, to March 26, 2019. For the Universities Award Competition, open to students from architecture schools worldwide, the call runs from May 24, 2018, to April 30, 2019.

Talk, Talk, Talk

A major highlight of the Triennale, taking place during the closing week. Featuring three days of conferences and debates, this program stems from the themes of the various exhibitions, bringing together reflection and research through renowned figures from the international architecture scene. The talks will be held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, followed by dinners and special concerts. 

Associated Projects

A rich, highly relevant, and valuable independent production that is essential to the city's living cultural mechanisms. The 5th edition of the Lisbon Triennale invites exhibition projects, workshops, talks, as well as film and music events that address architectural issues and are interested in the effervescence of debate. The call for entries is open from May 24 to October 31, 2018.

Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2019

• October 3 to December 2, 2019
• Opening week: October 3 to 5, 2019  
• Chief curator: Éric Lapierre 
• Curatorial team: Sébastien Marot, Mariabruna Fabrizi, Fosco Lucarelli, Ambra Fabi, Giovanni Piovene, Laurent Esmilaire, Tristan Chadney, and Vasco Pinelo de Melo