Co-commissioners of the U.S. Pavilion are now accepting proposals from architects interested in exhibiting their work at the 19th International Biennale Architettura of La Biennale di Venezia.The co-commissioners encourage submissions that explore the multidimensional role porches play in American culture from citizens, states, and territories nationwide. The open call for submitting design projects was announced today by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas, in partnership with DesignConnects and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The Architects Newspaper is the 19th U.S. Pavilions media partner.The Open Call for Participation will have two phases. Initial submissions will be collected through a dedicated portal between now, December 3, and January 17, 2025. Projects will be evaluated by design team leads for PORCH who will be joined by additional prominent figures from architectural and design arenas. As previously announced, the PORCH design team consists of Marlon Blackwell of Marlon Blackwell Architects; Stephen Burks of Stephen Burks Man Made; Julie Bargmann of D.I.R.T. studio; and Maura Rockcastle and Ross Altheimer of TEN TEN Landscape Architecture and Urbanism. On February 3, at least 50 exhibitors will be announced from the pool of applicants. Selected participants will receive a modest stipend to support the further development of their projects into a designated format for exhibition.(Tim Hursley)The exhibitor contributions to the U.S. Pavilion, achieved through the Open Call, lie at the heart of the collective PORCH project, Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas and lead commissioner, said in a statement. Framed by the constructions and installations of our design team, the exhibitor contributions will animate an understanding of contemporary architecture and design in the United States as a source of civic engagement and community building, a resource for social and environmental resiliency and as fundamentally committed to the greater good of society.Like a big porch inviting the world in, our Open Call for Participation welcomes artists, architects and designers from all regions of the country to share their creativity, Susan Chin, principal of DesignConnects, added. I am eager to see how these porches, at all scales from rural to urban, will evoke memories of breezy shady spaces, places for gathering or welcoming strangers to stop and chat. Our ideal is to engage new voices who spark new ideas for the American PORCH.The porch plays an important role as a cultural and architectural representation of American life, offered Rod Bigelow, executive director and chief learning and engagement officer for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary. It acts as a stage for social interactions and contributes to the storytelling of communities. These stories will broaden dramatically through welcoming creators from around the country to contribute to the PORCH, showing the diversity of the American experience on the world stage. Eligible entries must be realized structures completed after 2000. The co-commissioners gave the following encouragement on how to think about the pavilions theme:At the civic scale, what does it mean for American architecture and design to be on the porch? How does your project, or practice, or organization address the responsibilities and realities or incorporate the benefits and values of being on the porch? How does your project, practice or organization work from the porch to positively impact American civic engagement, the building of community, and have impact on social and environmental resiliency?There will be another call in mid-January 2025 that will gather unbuilt and speculative proposals from students and architecture and design schools.Interested in applying? Review the submission requirements and submit your work via the open call.PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity will debut on May 10, 2025, and remain open through November 23.The 2025 Biennale Architettura at La Biennale di Venezia will be curated by Carlo Ratti under the theme ofIntelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective.