The 19th edition of the International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, titled “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective,” will open its doors to the public on Saturday, May 10. As a vast living laboratory, it presents an ambitious and innovative transdisciplinary program extended to all generations and disciplines, questioning the role of architecture in the face of the magnitude of current climate challenges.
Philip Yuan, Constructions Futures, Co-Poiesis
At a time when the planet is recording temperatures exceeding the goals of the Paris Agreement and climate changes are surpassing scientific predictions, the exhibition, presided over by Italian engineer-architect Carlo Ratti, reaffirms the central role of architecture in the process of adapting to the world. So far, the architectural response to the crisis has focused on the desire to mitigate the impact of human activity on the climate. Faced with insufficient results and an alarming situation, the profession must now question its practice and meet the challenges posed by a changing world.
Kuma Lab, The University of Tokyo Matsuo – Iwasawa Lab, The University of Tokyo, Ejiri Structural Engineers, Kengo Kuma & Associates, Living Structure, Sekisui House
“Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective” invites different types of intelligence—natural, artificial, and collective—to an unprecedented collaboration to rethink the built environment. The exhibition brings together more than 750 participants with varied profiles: architects, engineers, mathematicians, scientists, philosophers, artists, coders, writers, farmers, designers… Inspired by scientific research, this interdisciplinarity challenges the figure of the architect as the sole creator and erases the hierarchy between the professions involved in the act of construction. It thus creates the conditions for an emulation that invites architecture to draw from a wide network of skills and to gain dynamism and flexibility.
The event implements an inclusive approach where all generations are represented, from young graduates at the end of their studies to seasoned professionals who continue their creative work into old age, in order to best reflect a diversity of perspectives. Each section of the exhibition is designed as a modular fractal space, which connects projects of different scales and reflects the interconnection necessary for human survival.
Alia Al Mur, Yusaku Imamura, Ahmed Shabib, Rashid Shabib, Jonathan Shannon, Vladimir Yavachev, Manameh Pavilion
Heidi Jalkh, Cladding tiles made from a variety of bivalve species
Emilie Bloch
