Internalities: Architectures for Territorial Equilibrium is the proposal presented for the Spain Pavilion for the upcoming edition of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. Curated by Galician architects Roi Salgueiro Barrio and Manuel Bouzas Barcala, the project to be exhibited in the central hall of the pavilion aims to explore key strategies for decarbonizing architecture in Spain.
In the world of architecture, competitions serve as catalysts for innovation and creativity. By promoting the architectural community to contemplate a given theme and intervene in well-defined spaces, they provide some of the best platforms for experimentation, allowing architects and designers to explore new concepts, challenge conventions, and address pressing societal needs, all while comparing the wide variety of emerging solutions. This week's curated roundup gathers examples of worldwide competition proposals submitted by the ArchDaily Community.
The selected projects vary in size and program, from world-renowned competitions such as those hosted for the national pavilions at the next World Expo in Osaka, or the Temple at the center of Black Rock City at Burning Man, to local interventions that highlight unique spaces such as the creative reimagining of a popular market space in the historic center of Sibiu, Romania, or the subtle presence of a villa in the Mediterranean wilderness.
While exploring the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, the ArchDaily team had a chance to engage in conversation with several curators of the national pavilions, along with Lesley Lokko, the curator of the entire exhibition. The discussions delved into the unique character of this year’s edition focused on an understanding of Africa as a “Laboratory of the Future.” Through this lens, the biennale became “a healing experience,” in the words of Lesley Lokko, reinterpreting and deconstructing the meaning behind ideas such as decolonization, decarbonization, resource management, or finding the hidden potential in vernacular forms of practice.
Following Lokko’s curatorial direction, the exhibitions presented at the national pavilions explored the specific conditions of their territories, striving to uncover and highlight the unique challenges and opportunities faced by their local cultural landscapes. During the interviews, the curators opened up in regard to their personal inspirations and the drive behind the choice of program, the messages embedded in the displays, and their hopes for the future of the profession.
The city of Osaka, Japan, has won the bid to organize the 2025 World Expo, an international event expected to draw in millions of visitors. Set to commence on April 13, 2025, and conclude on October 13, 2025, this marks Japan's second occasion as host, the prior instance being in 1970. Throughout their history, World Expos have been the place where new technologies and products are showcased and popularized, leading to technological advancements and innovative designs. For this event, Osaka has chosen the overarching theme of "Designing Future Society for Our Lives," with three subthemes further developing the concept: Saving Lives, Empowering Lives, and Connecting Lives. Architect Sou Fujimoto was selected as the Expo Site Design Producer, taking on the responsibility of creating the master plan and providing guidance to designers from participating countries.
This video is part of a partnership between ArchDaily and the Spanish photographer Jesús Granada. Granada's stock images of the Biennale can be obtained on his website, here. ArchDaily’s complete coverage of the 2016 Biennale can be found, here; with coverage focused on the Spanish Pavilion, here.
In an interview conducted by Jesús Granada, the curators of this year’s Spanish Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale, Iñaqui Carnicero and Carlos Quintáns, discuss their reasoning and intentions for the Golden Lion awarded national pavilion’s design. Titled “Unfinished,” Quintáns describes the project’s influence as “the detection of reality that we show only through photography, of what happened (in Spain) after the housing bubble, first the real estate boom and then the crisis, and how we can offer solutions thanks to the many talented architects of the many projects which have been realized in Spain and have been partially obscured.” The pavilion answers Director Alejandro Aravena’s call for national pavilions that identify domestic responses to architectural dilemmas that could be the solutions for other places facing similar issues.
