The 14th international Venice Architectural Biennale curated by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas opened on June 7, 2014. This year's exhibition entitled Fundamentals features the work of 65 participating countries and will run until November 23, 2014.
For the first time, the national pavilions are invited to respond to a single theme... "Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014". 65 countries – in the Giardini, at the Arsenale and elsewhere in the city – examine key moments from a century of modernization. Together, the presentations start to reveal how diverse material cultures and political environments transformed a generic modernity into a specific one. Participating countries show, each in their own way, a radical splintering of modernities in a century where the homogenizing process of globalization appeared to be the master narrative…
In a recently published article, Azure Magazine offered its choices for the top ten standout exhibits at the Venice Biennale. Third among these choices, following only the British and French, is the Canadian exhibit.
The exhibit, Arctic Adaptations by Lateral Office in Toronto features the work of Waterloo Architecture faculty Lola Sheppard and Matthew Spremulli. On June 7, the exhibit won a Special Mention Golden Lion award for Canada.
surveys a century of arctic architecture, an urbanizing present, and a projective near future of adaptive architecture in Nunavut. Each of these components documents architectural history in this remarkable but relatively little known region of Canada, describes the contemporary realities of life in its communities, and examines an adapting role for architecture moving forward.
Read the Azure article: Top 10 Exhibits at the Venice Biennale
The Canadian Pavilion is also featured in an article in leading design magazine DOMUS. The article was written by Lorenzo Pignatti, Director of the Rome Program for the School of Architecture.
Read the DOMUS article: Dall’igloo a Internet