During the frenzied press preview of the Venice Biennale, the ArchDaily team received an unexpected and delightfully odd request. Rem Koolhaas, the subject of interviews with countless media outlets, was going to turn the tables. This time, he would be the one asking the questions. He wanted to show his appreciation for the work of Charles Brooking and The Brooking National Collection.

A collector from a young age, Charles Brooking was encouraged by a tutor to pursue his love of rescuing discarded building parents (elements of architecture, if you will). He founded the collection in 1966 and, in the process, has "chart[ed] the evolution of Britain’s constructional elements over the last 500 years." Though Brooking's collection of approximately half a million items contains everything from fire grates to stairs and shoe-stoppers to postboxes, the OMA exhibition highlights the evolution of the window. 

With the development of better-insulated alternatives, Brooking's collection of windows continues to grow. In fact, it is precisely this dialogue between old and new that is emphasized in the Windows room in the exhibition: Brooking's window collection graces a wall that surrounds current high-tech window-building machinery. As we (architects, clients, users) engage in a relentless pursuit of uniformed comfort, especially when it comes to architectural detailing, Koolhaas asked Brooking what he thought this meant for the "the very things we want to preserve." He asks Brooking, "Are you willing to suffer for the principle of authenticity and preservation?"

Watch Brooking and Koolhaas in conversation in the above video, and be sure to check out our coverage of the Elements of Architecture exhibition at the 2014 Venice Biennale.

UPDATE: Our interview with Lateral Office is now up!

For this year's Venice Biennale, the Canadian Pavilion explored the ways modernity was absorbed in the extreme environment of Nunavut, Canada. As Nunavut is the newest, northernmost, and largest territory (with an area of over 2 million square kilometers) in Canada, Lateral Office hoped to shed on light on what Mason White called "modernity at an edge." Wowing the jury with their research and design, Arctic Adaptaptions: Nunavut at 15 garnered Mason White, Lola Sheppard, Matthew Spremulli, and their team a Special Mention during Saturday's awards ceremony.

The geographic and cultural "edgeness" of Nunavut is examined over different parts of the exhibition in three mediums: a recent past, a current present and a near future. Matthew Spremulli explained that Arctic Adaptions sought to "look beyond standards" to see how the fundamentals of architecture are impacted in an area like Nunavut. Given the specific and acutely unique challenges to building and designing in an environment that, understandably, resists being colonized by southern models, the curators presented a case for adaptation.

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If you didn't get to see "Made in Europe" -- the incredible exhibition presented by The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe -- during this year's Venice Biennale, you're in luck. Though the show officially closed on August 4th, the projects featured in exhibition can now be viewed online.

Showing an unparalleled examination of the development in European architecture over the past 25 years, the exhibition drew on the continent’s largest collection of documents (more than 2,500 projects and 230 original models) on contemporary architecture. On the site, you can sort and view projects by location, program, and author. Don't miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of this remarkable resource!

To learn more about this exhibition (and the symposium that accompanied it), click here. After the break, see a full gallery of exhibition. Also, don’t miss ArchDaily’s coverage of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

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This summer, ArchitectureBoston gives readers a reason to linger in their hammocks a little longer and drift away into the world of architecture and design. The new issue contains extensive and insightful suggestions for book lovers looking to build a personal library of new and important titles. Read on for more information.

ESARQ-UIC has a teaching method based on a scalar approach which covers building to landscape design, incorporating all areas of knowledge. This allows the school to produce highly competitive professionals, who are multifaceted, innovative, committed and entrepreneurial and are also able to act as leaders when facing new challenges.

To learn more about the Master and Postgraduate programs offered at UIC, read on...

In honor of Bastille Day, we've rounded up some of our favorite AD Classics built in France. From Bernard Tschumi's Parc de la Villette to our most popular classic project, Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, take a moment to revisit these renowned works.

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The World Architecture Festival has announced the shortlist for its 2014 awards, with almost 300 projects competing in the world's largest architectural awards program.

The shortlist includes the likes of Zaha Hadid Architects, OMA, Foster + Partners, BIG, Woods Bagot, KPF, Farrells, Perkins + Will and Aedas, alongside many other smaller practices. Although the shortlist practices from over 50 countries, this year there is a noticable increase in entries from Asia – with the number of projects in China, Malaysia and Vietnam up by 87%, 71% and 140% respectively over last year.

The shortlisted projects will be presented live by the architects to international judging panels. After this, the winning projects in each of the 27 categories will go on for the World Building or Future Project of the Year award, judged by the festival's 'super-jury': Richard Rogers, Rocco Yim, Julie Eizenberg, Enric Ruiz Geli and Peter Rich.

This year's festival, hosted once again at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, will take place from the 1st - 3rd of October, when the winning projects will be announced. You can book your festival pass here - and read on after the break for the full shortlist.

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On the morning that France accepted a Special Mention for its exhibition "Modernity: Promise or Menace?" at the Venice Biennale, Curator Jean-Louis Cohen spoke to us about the questions raised within, on, and around the walls of the French Pavilion. Standing in front of a model of the farcical Villa Arpel from Jacques Tati's famous film "Mon Oncle," Cohen explained that France didn't just absorb modernity (as Rem Koolhaas proposed) but that France inspired modernity, providing different expectations, promises and, as the title suggests, menaces.

Despite severe corrosion, with almost 70% of one its six sections “thoroughly corroded” according to the government, Vladimir Shukhov’s 1922 radio tower has never been restored. Earlier this year, a large group of international architects petitioned the government to save the tower, one of only 20 or so of Shukhov’s 200 towers still standing in Russia. Now Moscow’s government has put the fate of the landmark tower to a public vote.

Until July 6 Moscovites can use the “Engaged Citizen” app to support one of four actions: hold an open competition to restore the tower, move the tower to a new location, move it to its historic location on Shabolovka street, or invent a new solution.

The Russian Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale is selling the most important architectural ideas from Russia. Curators Anton Kalgaev, Brendan Mcgetrick, and Daria Paramonova selected twenty ideas that offer solutions to contemporary architectural issues and designed the pavilion as a commercial fair. It's even got generic furniture and salespeople manning the booths.

They talked to us about their project Fair Enough and why their contribution to the Biennale is a market where Russia's originally socialist ideas are sold as updated "products."

Check out the full curatorial statement, flip through the 160-page pavilion catalog, and see a full gallery of images after the break.

+ 8

Held annually in Singapore, the WAF annually recognizes the world's most amazing architecture projects (you can learn more here). They have announced an impressive line-up of prominent architects who will speak at the World Architecture Festival in October, including:

Few Constructivist projects made it through the World Wars, but if you're looking for those that did, you'd be wise to travel to Yekaterinburg, Russia. With over a dozen complexes, the city probably has the world's biggest collection of Constructivist buildings—and it's definitely the only place with a hotel in the shape of a hammer and sickle.

The fascinating video above by Ural Life and Culture tours the city and surveys the elements common to Constructivist buildings. Yekaterinburg was a laboratory for Constructivist architects who started building there soon after the movement was founded in Moscow in 1921. Architects from all over the Soviet Union, Poland, and Germany designed 4-5 story apartment blocks and office towers to replace single story wooden houses. The Soviets also introduced new typologies like public baths, kindergartens, and a 14-building secret police complex called the "Little Town of Cheka Officers," with covered passages so residents could walk between buildings indoors.