Efforts To Transform British Architecture At Venice Biennale

The British Council will present Venice Takeaway: Ideas to Change British Architecture, in the British Pavilion at the 13th Venice International Architecture Biennale, which will run from 29 August – 25 November 2012 (Preview Days: Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 August 2012). 

Focusing on a group of ten exciting architectural talents, selected in open competition across the UK, the British Pavilion will be infused with fresh ideas, taking direct inspiration from research in ten countries across the world: Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Thailand and the USA. 

The British Council’s team led by Commissioner, Vicky Richardson, Director of Architecture, Design, Fashion, and Vanessa Norwood, Head of Exhibitions at the Architectural Association, with the advice of an expert panel, have chosen to showcase the ideas of:

aberrant architecture, who travelled to Rio de Janeiro to investigate CIEPs, a radical education programme and a series of prefabricated primary schools designed by Oscar Niemeyer.

Smout Allen and BLDGBLOG, whose research focused on the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Los Angeles, an institution dedicated to the diffusion of knowledge about land use.

Ross Anderson and Anna Gibb, who went to Moscow to investigate ‘Paper Architects’, a loose collective formed in the 1980s in response to state restrictions on their ability to build.  

Darryl Chen, who looked at parallels between the UK and China via a study of a pocket of informality, Caochangdi, a village on Beijing’s Fifth Road.

dRMM who studied Ijberg, a floating community that has thrived under an advanced culture of planning, procurement and design, to the east of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. 

Forum for Alternative Belfast who went to Berlin to investigate the International Bauausstellung 1987 (IBA 1987), an ambitious and visionary urban renewal project involving international architects.

public works, Urban Projects Bureau and Owen Pritchard who formed a team to develop an ongoing discussion on the role and image of the architect through a new open charter. 

Elias Redstone who investigated Fideicomiso in Argentina, a legal trust which enables architects to fund their own projects.

Liam Ross and Tolulope Onabolu, who travelled to Lagos to embark on a comparative study of risk and regulation and their impact on design.

Takero Shimazaki /Toh Shimazaki Architecture whose investigation focuses on the work of Itsuko Hasegawa in several locations around Japan, and explores the way her architecture combines a belief in people with abstraction.

The ideas of the ten architectural teams will be showcased in the British Pavilion in a specially designed environment created by graphic and environmental brand designers, Born Design.

Vicky Richardson, Commissioner of the British Pavilion, and Director of Architecture, Design, Fashion for the British Council, said: “Reflecting the theme of ‘Common Ground’ set by David Chipperfield, Director of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice Takeaway aims to demonstrate the creative potential of sharing ideas across borders, and find new ways to respond to the challenges of the relationships, policies and structures that surround architecture in a globally connected world. We are delighted that we are able to showcase the extraordinary talent of these ten groups and their imaginative response to the global issues facing architecture today.”

To accompany the exhibition, there will be a series of publications online and in print including a book about the project published by the Architectural Association, to support the continuing legacy of the project. 

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