Join the authors and editors of Lars Müller Publishers for a rare book signing opportunity with architects Wang Shu, Sou Fujimoto, and Steven Hollon August 28th at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale! This event will kick off the exhibition Lars Müller Publishers – Book Fever, which will feature sixty publications – new releases, bestsellers, milestones from the past, and rare treasures – for the public to explore.
Founded thirty years ago, Lars Müller Publishers’ carefully edited and designed publications on architecture, design, and contemporary art has lead them to become a renowned international publisher. One milestone you may remember was their release of Peter Zumthor’s Works (1998), which was the first survey of the oeuvre of the architect now known worldwide that set new standards for the monograph as a book genre.
Continue after the break for more details on the book signing and exhibition.
The Greek pavilion for the 2012 Venice Biennale will focus on the particular dynamics of Athens during a period of economic meltdown by addressing the deterioration of Athenian urban space, plummeting standards of living, and the need to redefine the priorities of architectural design. Architects and creative groups have already begun to shape a new “common ground” within Athens. With the exhibition “Made in Athens”, the Greek pavilion aims highlight these positive forces emerging during this crucial present moment in an effort to foreshadow a better future for the city and its architecture.
Continue after the break to learn more about “Made in Athens”.
By invitation of Director David Chipperfield, MVRDV and The Why Factorywill participate in the 2012 Venice Biennale. The main contribution consists of the collaborative project ‘Freeland’ forming part of the single exhibition in the Central Pavilion at the Giardini. Further contribution is made by Winy Maas and The Why Factory with ‘Porous City’ to the EU CITY Program, initiated by the European Forum for Architectural Policies (EFAP) representing Europe for the first time at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
More details on the two exhibitions after the break.
The Danish Pavilion for the 2012 Venice Biennale will feature a collaboration between Greenlandic and Danish Architects called “Possible Greenland”. The exhibition will address the current development of the Arctic Region as Greenland undergoes a shift towards political independence and business development in the midst of dramatic climate changes. “Possible Greenland” attempts to look optimistically at the climate changes that are causing ice melts throughout Greenland. The shifting planes result in the exposure of vast mineral resources that can kickstart new industries and allow new urban cultures to emerge. The team of architects that designed “Possible Greenland” were led by internationally renowned Professor in geology at the University of Copenhagen, Minik Rosing and the young Danish architect firm NORD Architectsof Copenhagen.
Explore the possibilities with us after the break.
Inspired by the great potential of advanced information technology providing architectural solutions, the Russian pavilion of the 2012 Venice Biennale will feature the innovation city of Skolkovo. Skolkovo is one of the largest, most innovative Russian projects of today and has been worked on by many international architects, including Biennale director David Chipperfield. The exhibition will allow visitors to enter into the world of innovation city and use the newest IT-technologies to contribute to the research. Over the Biennale’s three month period, participants will be able to watch the exhibit’s virtual city of Skolkovo evolve as each international visitor leaves their mark.
The Poland Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Biennale will feature a design exploration into the interaction between sound and architecture in creating our environment. The project, by Katarzyna Krakowiak, is a sound sculpture that presents architecture as a primary system of listening. The sculpture collaborates with neighboring pavilions and echos the sounds that reach the Polish Pavilion, highlighting its acoustic qualities. The exhibit will be on view from August 29th through November 29th.
Opening up September 4 at 5pm with a lecture by 2012 Pritzker Prize Winner, architect Wang Shu, the exhibition of projects of Chinese architects focuses on the theoretical research on architecture and design as well as building practice currently found fertile ground in any contemporary China but particularly in the city of Shanghai. Organized by La Triennale of Milan and the Degree Course in Engineering/Architecture from the University of Pavia, yhe center of the debate will be on urban development and architecture thanks to the cultural milieu linked to Tongji University. More information on the exhibition after the break.
R 20th Century is pleased to present AFTER, curated by Kelly Behun and Alex P. White of kelly behun|STUDIO. AFTER, which is on view September 19-October 27, will feature works from kelly behun|STUDIO, one of the most innovative, experimental design studios working today, and R 20th Century, one of the leading galleries for the exhibition of historic and contemporary design.
Designs in the exhibition draw inspiration from methods of sampling, appropriation, and deconstruction and how these ideas relate to postmodern notions of authorship. AFTER acknowledges “reference” in ways that are alternately direct, irreverent, poetic and oblique. More information on the exhibition after the break.
Opening September 12, the Design Exchange in Downtown Toronto will be the site of the newest exhibit titled “Considering the Quake | Seismic Design on the Edge,” curated by Dr. Effie Bouras, postdoctoral fellow and Professor Ghyslaine McClure, P.Eng of the McGill University Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. The exhibit, which runs through to November 9, will feature recent cutting edge building projects from some of the most innovative architects and engineers, as seen through the lens of earthquake engineering. More information on the exhibition after the break.
In 1953, six years before the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened to the public, two of his structures—a pavilion and model Usonian house—were built on the future site of the museum to house a temporary exhibition displaying the architect’s lifelong work. From July 27, 2012, to February 13, 2013, the Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Guggenheim Museum will present A Long-Awaited Tribute: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian House and Pavilion, an exhibition comprised of selected materials from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, highlighting the first Wright buildings erected in New York City. Text Courtesy of: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (SRGF). More information on the exhibition after the break.
This year’s Venice Biennale will kick off on August 29th and run through November 25th and will feature a pavilion from Israel called “Aircraft Carrier”. The collected work confronts the dramatic changes in Israeli architecture since 1973, and the American influences that made them possible. The curators of the exhibit, Erez Ella, Milana Gitzin-Adiram and Dan Handel defined four major architectural phenomena that epitomize these changes: Signals, Emporiums, Allies and Flotillas. The curators invited five leading Israeli and international artists and architectural photographers to reflect on these ideas. Participants include Assaf Evron, Fernando Guerra, Florian Holzherr, Nira Pereg, and Jan Tichy and product designer Tal Erez.
Stop by after the break to see some of the work to be featured as part of “Aircraft Carrier”.
This year’s Venice Biennale will kick off on August 29th and run through November 25th and for the first time, the Institut Ramon Llull will be presenting an exhibition dedicated to Catalan and Balearic architecture entitled “Vogadors”, featuring nine projects from nine different architects that epitomize the contemporary and avant-garde works from the regions. The exhibition is inspired by the Mediterranean Sea, which is the main geographical feature of the regions, and by the words of Jorge Oteiza, “He who forges ahead creating something new does so like an oarsman, moving forward but back-paddling, looking behind him, towards the past, towards what exists, so as to be able to reinvent its underpinnings.”
Follow us after the break to see the projects to be featured at the exhibit.
Designed by Peter Ruge Architekten, the ‘Bambooline Berlin’ project, exhibited at Gallery DEN in Berline, explores the city’s urban development and proposes a new approach for the temporary, interim use of sustainable urban wasteland. This new, imaginary band complements the historically developed lines of the Berlin cityscape. More images and architects’ description after the break.
From next Friday 22nd will take place the AA Projects Review Exhibition. The place of the event is located in the Architectural Association’s main building at 36 Bedford Square, London WC1B3ES.
Projects Review offers an overview of the AA’s 2011/12 acadamic year. On display are hundreds of drawings, models, installations, phogographs and other materials documenting the diversity and experimental nature of the AA School.
‘At the AA architecture is pursued as a form of cultural knowledge, across year-long design projects and portfolios. We believe that truly great schools don’t just nurture and support architectural talent: they build audiences for experimentation, out of which new architectural ideas, visions and projects emerge. Please join us as part of this audience, which the AA remains committed to promoting at the cutting edge of architectural cuture, practice and learning.’
The access to this Friday event required invitation but will be free the rest of the days until 14th July.
One week from today, Chicago-based architecture practice Bureau Spectacular will transforms The Architecture Foundation’s Project Space into an inhabitable installation and a graphic sequence of imaginary worlds, through the studio’s trademark mixture of built structure and cartoon. Founded by emerging architect Jimenez Lai in 2008, Bureau Spectacular is a studio of architectural affairs, who describe their strategy as one of making “absurd stories about fake realities that invite enticing possibilities”. Fascinated by the interplay between storytelling and building, absurdity and speculation, Bureau Spectacular weave architectural design and theory into comic strips that pop from the page into the real world as installations and small buildings.
Jimenez Lai: “This installation – Three Little Worlds – is a cartoonish blow up of a fragment inside the Cartoonish Metropolis. It is a comic book someone can walk into, a window into another reality.”
Richard Meier & Partners recently announced the first retrospective exhibition in Mexico City presented at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil on display now until August 26. Exhibiting some of the most emblematic works of renowned architect Richard Meier make it possible to view his design philosophy as a whole and in depth. The retrospective includes a selection of models, original sketches, renderings and photographs. Some of the iconic projects exhibited on the show include the Smith House, The Getty Center, The Neugebauer Residence and the Jubilee Church. More information on the exhibition after the break.
Taking place June 6 – July 31 at Escola Universitária Vasco da Gama’s Monastery of St. Jorge de Milréu in Coimbra, Portugal, the “Eduardo Souto de Moura – Contests” exhibition shows 50 works made for tenders launched in the last 31 years (between 1979 and 2010). In many competitions, the proposed architecture appears as immaterial sometimes unable to provide a reading of the detailed and comprehensive that actually is projected. It will be enlightening to see how there is a working method in which it supports the construction of the proposal (program, materials, location, history, references, sketches, models, drawings, photomontages, photographs, customer). More information on the exhibition after the break.
Focusing on Paris and its diversity, the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, the center for information and exhibition for urban planning and architecture, has invited fifteen European agencies that question the way that modern-day cities are built to participate in this exhibition.
