14th Venice ArchitectureBiennale FundamentalsArchDaily Exclusive Coverage

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A few weeks ago Monditalia, one of the three main exhibits of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale, tweeted a small infographic which showed the number of architects per country, unleashing an intense debate among architects around the world.

Taiwan-born architect Jimenez Lai’s proposal Township of Domestic Parts: Made in Taiwan has been selected to represent Taiwan in the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. Scattered throughout the Palazzo delle Prigioni, the installation will be comprised of nine small house, each with a single program, that will make up an “interior township of misfit parts.”

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Cyprus has been shaped by a tumultuous history. Power struggles between invaders, conquerors and colonial powers have all left indelible marks on the landscape, much of which can be witnessed in the island’s capital of Nicosia. 

What does butterflies, quantum mechanics, poetry and dirt have to do with architecture? In the Danish pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, you are invited to sense, wonder, be curious and reflect when you meet the smell of dirt, read Niels Bohr’s letter to Einstein, hear the sound of poetry and burry your toes in pine needles. The pavilion reintroduces the forgotten power of aesthetics as the complementary to the rational. It argues that the two together form the foundation for our future decision making.

Within the rapidly changing landscape of the United Arab Emirates, much of the nation’s vernacular and modern architecture is being quickly replaced by “iconic” contemporary structures. Despite this, many of the UAE’s previous landscape remains a vivid memory within the minds and mementos of its people.

The architects of NRJA have been chosen to curate Latvia’s participation at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. Based on the assertion that “there is (no) modernism in Latvia,” the pavilion’s exhibition Unwritten will confront the lack of research and evaluation of Latvian post-war modernist architecture.

Chosen to curate the Brazilian contribution at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, diplomat and architecture critic André Aranha Corrêa do Lago has revealed plans for an exhibition that will chronologically illustrate the evolution of Brazilian architecture.

The Monditalia team has treated us to a sneak preview of what one can expect to see in the Arsenale when the Venice Biennale launches early next month. The Monditalia exhibition forms one of the three main parts of this year's Rem Koolhaas-led Biennale. To keep you up-to-date on all the latest Biennale coverage, we're holding a #CountdownVenice2014 - so be sure to follow ArchDaily on Twitter!

Catalonia is returning for the second time to the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale with the Collateral Event Arquitectures Empeltades / Grafting Architecture. Referencing the botanical process of grafting, the proposal seeks to elucidate the changes taking place in contemporary Catalan architecture by highlighting processes in which “living traditions” are being updated as new.

This year for the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Dutch entry Open: A Bakema Celebration will reflect on the idea of an open society through the work and research of Jaap Bakema (1914-1981).

With the highly anticipated Venice Biennale just over a month away, ArchDaily is gearing up for what promises to be an impressive architectural display. All of the national pavilions will be organized under one theme: Absorbing Modernity. The event will also include Fundamentals, a look back at some of architecture’s most basic components as a means of examining the history of design in the evolution of societies. All in all, Koolhaas’ conception is for a Biennale that is more "a vehicle for research than an exhibition."

The influence of Western civilization and the birth of modernization following World War II lead Japan to become the world’s second largest economy by 1968. With this came a host of problems, namely environmental pollution and the oil crisis, which triggered the reexamination of modernism in Japanese architecture and a series of radical experiments by young architects that inevitably lead to a new vision of the city.

The Edinburgh-based firm Reiach and Hall will be representing Scotland at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. The show will showcase Scotland's rich modernist heritage, featuring buildings such as Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's St Peter's Seminary in Cardross and the church designs of Reiach and Hall's founder Alan Reiach, focusing on the positive aspects of these buildings which are often seen negatively by the Scottish public. "Certainly buildings from that period get a difficult press - the stories about the Red Road flats and so on don't really help that - but we hope to explain and examine the real optimism of that period" said Neil Gillespie, Director of Reiach and Hall.

Greenhouse Talks, an auxiliary public lecture series to the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, will take place on Thursday, June 5th and Friday, June 6th between 9:00 and 11:00am. During each session, an international panel of professionals - including the founder of MAD Architects, Ma Yansong, and the director of AMO, Reinier de Graaf - will discuss a topic pertaining to Rem Koolhaas' chosen theme for the Biennale: Fundamentals. The first day of discourse will focus on the future of the architectural profession, investigating the potential influence of the market crisis and the intersection of architecture with other disciplines. The second will reflect on the representation of architecture, considering the Western practice of exhibiting architecture projects in museums, institutes, and biennial events and what this practice's adoption might mean for the East. For the full list of panel members and event details, read on after the break.

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Paraguay means “water that flows toward the sea” in the language of the country’s indigenous Guarani people. It is no surprise, then, that Paraguay’s entry for the 2014 Venice Biennale uses water as the primary structural member. Titled “Aqua Alta,” the Paraguayan pavilion responds to the Biennale’s focus on modern fundamentals by stating that modern architecture must achieve more with less.

The Venice Biennale has released a list of 21 Collateral Events that will take place alongside the other official exhibitions during the 14th International Architecture Exhibition (June 7 - 23 November 2014). Selected by Rem Koolhass and supported by non-profit national and international institutions, these collateral events will take place around Venice and, in the words of the Biennale, will "enrich the diversity of voices that characterizes the Architecture Biennale."