Videos

Canada’s contribution to the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale explores Canadian cities’ established “career” in cinema as stand-ins for the world’s metropoles, raising questions of authenticity, architectural identity and the collective understanding of the built environment. Curated by David Theodore of McGill University and realized by Montréal architecture and design practice T B A / Thomas Balaban Architect, the exhibition Impostor Cities highlights the diversity and versatility of Canada’s cityscapes as portrayed on film.

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Videos

Titled "In Our Home", the Albanian pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, exhibits the impact knowing one's neighbor has on the built environment. Curated by a team of four architects: Fiona Mali, Irola Andoni, Malvina Ferra, and Rudina Brecani, the pavilion will be on display at Arsenale's Outdoor Arena no.2 from May 22nd until November 21st, 2021.

Carefully placed within the urban context and the product of searched perspectives and precise gestures, Ateliers Jean Nouvel's mixed-use project Tours Duo is set to become a landmark for Eastern Paris. Located close to the Paris ring boulevard and in the vicinity of a vast expanse of railway infrastructure, the project's site was the main driving point for the design, giving it its iconic shape. The project featuring two inclined towers nears completion, and photographer Jad Sylla shows the structures changing the Parisian skyline.

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The International Union of Architects (UIA) has announced the UIA Gold Medal and Prizes winners. The UIA Gold Medal is awarded to Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha, president of the 27th UIA World Congress of Architects — UIA2021RIO Honour Committee. The architect will also participate in a keynote speakers session programmed for July.

Paulo Mendes da Rocha, now 92 years old, has been honored with important awards, such as the Pritzker Prize in 2006, considered to be one of the world's premier architecture prizes, and the Venice Biennale Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, in 2016. Mendes da Rocha was the first Brazilian to be awarded this prize.

Part of the official collateral events of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia, Caravane Earth Foundation will bring a unique bamboo Majlis, to the gardens of the Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. Designed by internationally acclaimed bamboo architects Simón Vélez and Stefana Simic, the project will be on display from 22 May to 21 November 2021.

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Titled "elephant", the Thai pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia answers the question of how architecture can promote the way human beings and other species live together naturally and culturally based on the culture of Kuy and their elephants. Curated by Apiradee Kasemsook and designed by Boonserm Premtada of Bangkok Project Studio, the Thai pavilion will be on display at the Sale d’Armi, Arsenale, from May 22nd to November 21st.

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Titled "Who is We", the Pavilion of the Netherlands at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia deconstructs normal concepts of space, visualizing what is often overlooked behind the structures that typically define urban spaces. Curated by a team led by Francien van Westrenen, the pavilion will be on display from 22 May to 21 November 2021.

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For this edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Irish Pavilion focuses on data technologies and their presence within the physical landscape, exploring the cultural end environmental implications of data production and consumption. Titled Entanglement and curated by the multidisciplinary research and design collective ANNEX, the exhibition challenges the presumed immateriality of the Cloud, highlighting the infrastructure of data production and its impact on everyday life while also examining Ireland’s role in the evolution of global communication.

OMA New York / Jason Long has revealed the design for The Terminal, a new performance venue serving as a cultural anchor for POST Houston, the office's redevelopment of the historic Barbara Jordan Post Office in downtown Houston. Integrated within the eastern wing of the mixed-use design, the 5,000 capacity music venue makes use of industrial materials and lighting effects to create a performative space on and off the stage.

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A sneak peak of Uncertainty, the highlight of the Spanish Pavilion at the 2021 Biennale of Venice taking place from May 22 to November 21 of this year.

Designed by the Danish architecture office BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, The Smile made of black blasted stainless steel extends along 126th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan. Inspired by the surface of the moon and the cultural influences of the city district, the T-shaped building fits seamlessly into the surrounding red and brown brick buildings. The interlocking chessboard-like facade panels were manufactured in Cologne, Germany by POHL Facade Division. Flanked by room-high windows, The Smile aims to reflect sunlight and amplitude into the daily lives of its residents.

Urban design is increasingly striving for more inclusive, sustainable environments, bringing together various groups and activities, and fostering social interaction. This week's curated selection of the Best Unbuilt Architecture focuses on urban designs, large-scale urban development projects and masterplans submitted by the ArchDaily Community, showcasing how architects around the world work with and shape the urban fabric of highly diverse environments.

From the transformation of a brownfield into a lively neighbourhood in the Czech Republic to the redevelopment of Bergamo's city centre around new spatial and collective values, the following projects showcase the ideas shaping urban design, from functional diversity and notions of proximity to a focus on outdoor spaces. The common denominators of the following projects are their collective focus and the strong connection with the existing urban fabric.

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"Is a museum defined by its collection? Or by its architecture? In The Art Museum in Modern Times, Charles Saumarez Smith suggests it is both and still something more". Lauren McQuistion, an architectural designer and Ph.D. Candidate in the Constructed Environment at the University of Virginia School of Architecture discusses in her Architect's Newspaper piece, Saumarez's book, exploring the notion of a modern museum.

“Playground, Artifacts for Interaction” by Felipe Ferrer will be featured in the Peru Pavilion in the 2021 Venice Biennale of Architecture. The project was the winner of the Curatorial Competition held by The Cultural Patronage of Peru that aimed to highlight how fences and gates shape our understanding of public spaces.

Titled "Mapping Festivities", the Pakistan Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, explores the national wedding hall as an architectural typology of post-colonial Pakistan. Curated by Sara M. Anwar, the pavilion will be on display on the second floor of the Palazzo Mora from May 22nd until November 21st.

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The Board of Directors of the 2021 Venice Biennale has appointed Kazuyo Sejima as president of the international jury, in charge of awarding mainly the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, the Golden Lion for the Best participant, and the Silver Lion for a promising young participant. In addition, they have also selected four other jury members from Peru, Lebanon, Ghana-Scotland, and Italy. The Awards Ceremony will take place in Venice on Monday, August 30th, 2021.

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The Goldenberg House was designed in 1959 by the architect Louis Kahn for Morgan and Mitzi Goldenberg. While the house was never constructed, it was cited by Kahn as holding important lessons for his design process that would be deployed in a number of later structures. These lessons are specifically related to how the outside of the house is irregular while the heart of it, the atrium is a perfect square. While we can see this discovery in the plan drawing for the house, there are likely nuances to its design that are more difficult to understand without being able to visit it in person. But, what if we can visit the Goldenberg House as if it had been built? This video explores the Goldenberg House, its history and design intentions, and uses the findings to construct a digital model of the house to explore in real-time.

The French pavilion at the 2021 Venice Biennale, “aims to reflect on the meeting between architectural know-how and the inhabitants’ own experiences of their living spaces”. Curated by Christophe Hutin, the intervention entitled “Communities at Work” will provide an immersive experience with the help of images in motion. Using five specific case studies on different continents: in Europe, Asia, America, and Africa, the exhibition presents a journey into a world where communities transformations their own living spaces, without following any formal schemes designed by an architect.

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