Submitted by WA Contents Yasmeen Lari is awarded the 2025 Lisbon Triennale Millennium Achievement Award Pakistan Architecture News - May 19, 2025 - 04:22   html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari has been awarded the 2025 Achievement Award by the Lisbon Architecture Triennale. Her more than 60-year career is a potent example of how design may be used to uplift people's quality of life, combat inequality, prevent ecological collapse, and create a more equitable future."Architecture has to change if it wants to remain relevant. Our work is not something only for the rich; poor communities all over the world need good design, because it is of even greater value to them," said Yasmeen Lari."That’s why I think my job is to rebuild lives: to create ‘poverty escape-ladders’ by losing control of the process through co-building and co-creation. We do this by sharing knowledge and mobilising villages – one village at a time."Image courtesy of Al Jazeera websiteLari, who was born in Pakistan in 1941, attended Oxford to study architecture. She became the first female architect in Pakistan when she went home after graduation and opened her own practice. Yasmeen Lari retired from her architectural practice in 2000 after a prosperous career in Karachi. She then concentrated on the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, which is committed to conserving and advancing regional, sustainable, and vernacular architecture. Lari once again broadened her profession following a disastrous earthquake in 2005, adopting what she calls a bottom-up, "humanistic humanitarian action" and redefining the function of modern architecture, particularly in regions severely impacted by socioeconomic and climate-related issues. Women's Centre in Darya Khan, Pakistan, in 2011Following her "four zeros" philosophy—zero carbon, zero waste, zero donations, and zero poverty—Yasmeen Lari promised to assist in the construction of over a million homes in response to the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in 2022. Lari's subsequent career is genuinely remarkable because it accomplished this goal without the need for outside financial aid, philanthropy, or patrons. Yasmeen Lari and Nayeem Shah look at the roof of the Disaster Risk Reduction Centre. Image courtesy of Heritage Foundation of PakistanAt the Triennale 2025 opening days on October 02–04, Yasmeen Lari will give a public talk and accept the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Awards trophy, which was created by Álvaro Siza from leftover marble from Estremoz, Portugal.The jury of the Début and Achievement Awards is comprised by architects Inês Lobo, Lígia Nobre, Samia Henni, Sandi Hilal, and Yuma Shinohara. The three Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Awards – Achievement, Début and Universities – aim to promote groundbreaking world architecture by recognising those who make it. From transdisciplinary research developed in an academic setting, to emerging talent and established practices.The top image in the article © Yasmeen Lari © Heritage Foundation of Pakistan. > via Lisbon Triennale 

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" A unique insight into the reality of NATO's eastern boundary is provided by the Latvian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. The exhibition, titled Landscape Of Defence, examines how defense infrastructure affects daily living, the land, and public perception. Located in the center of the Biennale's main display path, Campo della Tana provides entrance to the Artiglierie of the Arsenale, where the Pavilion is housed.The Pavilion, which was designed by Latvian architecture studios Sampling and Nomad and curated by Liene Jākobsone and Ilka Ruby, explores the junction of the military and civilian environments along Latvia's borders with Belarus and Russia, posing significant questions.What does it mean to be on the periphery of NATO during a geopolitical conflict? How are lives and landscapes shaped by defensive measures?, asked the curators. National and NATO-wide defense are now a part of everyday life in Latvia and are not merely a government mandate.Visitors are urged to reevaluate the concept of "border" in a time of global unrest by use of an impactful and provocative exhibition design. The curators present opposing viewpoints: Architect and designer Liene Jākobsone, who holds a PhD in product design, is the director of the Art Academy of Latvia's Institute of Contemporary Art, Design, and Architecture and co-founder of the firm Sampling.Her research focuses on the relationship between cultural creation and geographical activity. The independent publishing company Ruby Press, which focuses on architecture and spatial activities, was co-founded by author and curator Ilka Ruby. She offers a more comprehensive analysis of the political and social function of architecture through a critical and transdisciplinary perspective.Road signs, watchtowers, fences, barbed wire, and other man-made structures found in the Latvian borders are among the natural elements, vernacular architecture, and remnants of everyday life that are documented in a photographic collage that is shown behind a wide circular curtain that defines the exhibition area. Anti-tank hedgehogs, dragon's teeth, a surveillance pole, and rustic wooden benches are among the items from the military and civil worlds that are replicated in the center using luminous, abstract material that changes their look and encourages critical thought.Six television screens provide the illusion of a control room: footage, shown in Latvian with English subtitles, switches between shots of the surrounding terrain and testimony from border residents. A second, 4.5-meter-tall curtain on one wall displays a sizable, historically-inspired map of the 30-kilometer border zone. From the standpoint of military defense, informative writings and firsthand accounts provide a human and spatial context. The pavilion's technical details and curatorial text are also displayed on the same curtain.The Latvian Pavilion highlights the complexity involved in developing defense infrastructure rather than offering answers. In the face of actual threats, walls and barriers might be required, but they also present moral, environmental, and aesthetic issues. The goal is to encourage discussion among visitors as well as with military and political stakeholders on the interrelationships between security, space, and society.A folded-out catalogue in postcard size, published by Ruby Press, is included with the exhibition. It features original pictures by Latvian photographer Reinis Hofmanis, who received the Fuji Global Grant for his borderlands investigation, as well as an essay by Liene Jākobsone. The publication, which resembles a passport, emphasizes the relationship between territory and identity, the experience of crossing, and the importance of the border."The eastern border of Latvia has been fortified in such a way over the past few years. Work is still underway, but the territory has changed significantly. The border is not just a line, but an area. A whole landscape of defence has been created along with imposing fortifications," as Jākobsone writes in the postcard leporello. "The border itself (...) marks the end of the country and, in this case, of a much wider region — that of Europe. (...) These postcards from the very edge of Europe are not only a testimony to its diversity and its values, but also offer an opportunity for this landscape of defence to be represented to those it is intended to defend.""In Berlin, where I live, you still feel every day how the fall of a physical and systemic border can transform a city’s urban fabric. That frontier has now shifted to the border between Latvia — and Europe — and Russia. Our goal is to understand the effects that such fortifications can have on landscapes and lives," added Ruby.Uncertain characters, halfway between tour guides and sentinels, greet guests at the Pavilion while wearing outfits created by Latvian fashion designer Laima Jurča.The Pavilion's suspended atmosphere, which reflects the entrance of a militarized zone where the public is faced with the tension between security and threat, welcome and surveillance, freedom and control, is heightened by their subdued yet noticeable presence, which evokes gestures and postures of control."What does it mean to live on NATO’s external border in times of geopolitical conflict?," wrote the curators Liene Jākobsone and Ilka Ruby. "The exhibition focuses on the military defence of the Latvian state from the perspective of the inhabitants of the border area. We want to highlight the specific conditions of Latvia’s geographical situation – the reason why its population lives under a constant threat of attack," the curators explained."The exhibition aims to offer the international architectural discourse a study of the relationship between military defence and spatial condition in the Latvian context. We want to draw attention to the impact of defence measures on people and the landscape.""It is an invitation not only to architects, but also policy makers and military defence specialists to take part in the conversation on spatial qualities, encouraging them to consider the physical footprint of defence strategies on a territory and the emotional impact on its population," the curators added.The Latvian Pavilion is commissioned by Jānis Dripe, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. The exhibitors are Sampling (Manten Devriendt, Liene Jākobsone) and Nomad architects (Marija Katrīna Dambe, Florian Betat). The 19th International Architecture Exhibition will take place from 10 May to 23 November 2025 at the Giardini, the Arsenale and various venues in Venice, Italy. Find out all exhibition news on WAC's Venice Architecture Biennale page. All images © Michiel De Cleene.> via Latvian Pavilion

The International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia,  has returned, with its grand opening held in early May. The exhibition runs until November 23, 2025 The Canada Council for the Arts, Commissioner of Canada’s official participation in the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, administers the selection process and oversees the exhibition at the Canada Pavilion. But in addition to the Canada Pavilion, Canadian architects and designers have a presence in several other exhibitions that are part of this year’s festival. Here’s a round-up of the Canadian work in Venice. Picoplanktonics. Photo credit: Valentina Mori Picoplanktonics led by Living Room Collective Canada’s official entry to the Biennale is Picoplanktonics, a 3D-printed living artwork incorporating cyanobacteria—a global first at the intersection of architecture, biotechnology, and art. The exhibition, developed by the Living Room Collective, showcases the potential for collaboration between humans and nature. Picoplanktonics is an exploration of the potential to co-operate with living systems by co-constructing spaces that “remediate the planet rather than exploit it.” The installation transforms the Canada Pavilion into an aquatic micro-ecosystem, where architectural structures grow, evolve, and naturally degrade alongside their living components. It was designed according to regenerative architecture principles, and is not only a built object, but also a breathing organism interacting with its environment, which prompts reflection on potential futures of the built environment. The creative team is led by bio-designer Andrea Shin Ling, alongside core team members Nicholas Hoban, Vincent Hui and Clayton Lee. Etude Ile Verte by Atelier Pierre Thibault. Photo credit Alex Lesage Les boucaneries de l’île Verte by Atelier Pierre Thibault Atelier Pierre Thibault has been invited to participate in this year’s Venice Biennale as the only team from Québec. His project is inspired by the old fish smokehouses, or boucaneries, of Île Verte. With the support of the fifty permanent residents of Île Verte, Atelier Pierre Thibault has designed a participatory architectural project that aims to reinterpret the boucaneries as creative canvases to imagine new uses to strengthen Île Verte’s autonomy. This includes community greenhouses, artist studios, and gathering places. The exhibition aims to highlight, as Thibault puts it, “the strength of a sensitive and collective gesture in response to the erosion of traditional buildings and the major climate challenges faced by inhabitants living year-round in an isolated island environment.” The construction of the installations, along with the exchanges sparked with the community, was documented through photography and video, and captures both the process and the spirit of collaboration that defined the project. Celebrating the Verdoyants’ collective intelligence and inviting reflection on the future of the boucaneries, this participatory project highlights the exemplary and internationally resonant nature of this approach. The Atelier Pierre Thibault project will be on view at the Corderie dell’Arsenale. The pavilion itself will take the form of a temporary, lightweight structure constructed from reused materials, situated on the grounds of the French Pavilion, which is currently undergoing renovation. The curators have selected 50 projects to be featured across six thematic sections: Living With the Existing, the Immediate, the Broken, Vulnerabilities, Nature, and Combined Intelligences. Image courtesy of WZMH Architects Speedstac by WZMH Architects as part of Living With…Combined Intelligences  As part of the exhibition “Living With… Combined Intelligences,” WZMH Architects presents Speedstac, a prefabricated modular precast solution that aims to reimagine how urban areas devastated by war can be rebuilt. Originally designed to accelerate housing construction in Canada, Speedstac took on urgent new relevance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With more than 170,000 buildings damaged or destroyed and millions displaced, WZMH’s innovation, developed through its R&D lab, sparkbird, aims to offer a scalable solution: self-contained, plug-and-play building modules with integrated electrical and plumbing systems that can be seamlessly inserted into existing structures. The use of modern materials such as high-performance concrete can reduce the weight of the modules, making them easier to lift and move using conventional crane equipment. Using a robust locking mechanism, several modules can be securely fastened and unfastened as needed, to produce an adaptive modular housing solution. The Speedstac system aims to offer a solution to the challenges of traditional construction methods, enabling faster, more flexible, and more sustainable building projects. The Vivre Avec / Living With exhibition is hosted in the French Pavilion. Presentation, Northern Horizons. Photo credit: Blouin Orzes architectes Northern Horizons by Blouin Orzes architectes as part of Time Space Existence  Through a wide selection of projects—ranging from conceptual works, models and photographs to videos, sculptures and site-specific installations—the exhibition Time Space Existence, hosted by the European Cultural Centre, aims to provoke participants to question their relationship with space and time, re-envisioning new ways of living and rethinking architecture through a larger lens. Quebec firm Blouin Orzes’ participation revolves around their first-hand understanding of Inuit territories, where they have been working since 2000. Their contribution is based on their  recent publication, Northern Journeys. Blouin Orzes’ contribution in on display at the Palazzo Mora, and additional contributions to Time Space Existence are on view at the Palazzo Bembo and Marinaressa Gardens. View of Commercial and Residential Towers from Seymour and West Georgia Streets. Image credit: Henriquez Partners Studio BC Glass Sea Sponge Another contribution to Time Space Existence is the work of Henriquez Partners Studio. The transformative mixed-use development which they are presenting merges architectural innovation, social responsibility and urban revitalization, and has recently been submitted to the City of Vancouver. The project is about ambitious city-building, and aims to unlock public benefits on currently underutilized land in a way that supports some of the city’s most urgent needs, while contributing bold architecture to the city skyline. Four towers, designed by Henriquez, draw inspiration from rare and ancient glass sea sponge reefs, whose ecological strength and resilience have shaped both form and structure. These living marine organisms, which are unique to the Pacific Northwest, aim to serve as a metaphor for regeneration and adaptation. This concept is translated through the architectural language of the towers: silhouettes, sculptural forms, and sustainable performance. The tallest tower, a stand-alone hotel, proposed at 1,033 feet, is shaped by a structural diagrid exoskeleton that allows for column-free interiors while maximizing strength and minimizing material use. Developed in collaboration with Arup, the structural system references the skeletal lattice of sea sponges; a concept researched at Harvard for its groundbreaking structural efficiency. Henriquez Partners’  contribution is on display at Palazzo Bembo. Renewal Development Shishalh Project Duplex Renderings – Image credit: Renewal Development Shíshálh Nation: Ten Home Rescue Project as part of theLiving With / Vivre avec exhibition Vancouver-based company Renewal Development has been selected to appear as part of the French Pavilion’s exhibition on housing innovation. In 2024, Renewal Development partnered with developer Wesgroup and the shíshálh Nation to relocate ten high value Port Moody homes set for demolition to the shíshálh Nation on the Sunshine Coast. The Nation has been experiencing an acute housing shortage with 900 Nation members currently on a waitlist for housing. Renewal Development says that this initiative reflects its “deeply held values of sustainability, and reconciliation” and its “work to offer real-world solutions to waste and housing shortages by reimagining what already exists.” The project will be on display in the French Pavilion. The following is a list of other Canadian groups and individuals contributing to this year’s Venice Biennale: On Storage Brendan Cormier is a Canadian writer, curator, and urban designer based in London. He is currently the lead curator of 20th and 21st Century Design for the Shekou Partnership at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Prior to this he served as the managing editor of Volume Magazine. La Biennale di Venezia and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London present for the ninth consecutive year the Applied Arts Pavilion Special Project titled On Storage, curated by Brendan Cormier, in collaboration with Diller, Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). It explores the global architecture of storage in service of the circulation of things, and features a newly commissioned six-channel film directed by DS+R. From Liquid to Stone: A Reconfigurable Concrete Tectonic Against Obsolescence Inge Donovan, based in Boston, achieved her Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Design and Architectural History, Theory and Criticism from the Daniels Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto in 2019 after growing up in Nova Scotia, Canada. The Curse of Dimensionality Adeline Chum is currently a Graduate Research Assistant at the Center for Spatial Research and third-year student in the MArch Program at GSAPP. She has received her Bachelor of Architectural Studies from the University of Waterloo, Canada and has worked in small and medium-sized architecture firms in Toronto, New York, and London. Oceanic Refractions Elise Misao Hunchuck, born in Toronto and currently based Berlin and Milan, is a transdisciplinary researcher, editor, writer, and educator. Her practice brings together architecture, landscape architecture, and media studies to research sites in Canada, Japan, China, and Ukraine, employing text, images, and cartographies to document, explore, and archive the co-constitutive relationships between plants, animals, and minerals—in all of their forms. SpaceSuits.Us: A Case for Ultra Thin Adjustments Charles Kim is a designer currently based in Boston. Stemming from his background in architecture, he is interested in materials, DIY, and the aesthetics of affordability. Since graduating from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2022, he has been working as an architectural designer at Utile. Uncommon Knowledge: Plants as Sensors Sonia Sobrino Ralston is a designer, researcher, and educator, and is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in Landscape Architecture and Art + Design at Northeastern University in the College of Arts, Media, and Design. She is interested in the intersections between landscape, architecture, and the history of technology. Doxiadis’ Informational Modernism Mark Wasiuta is Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Columbia GSAPP and Co-Director of the Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture program. Wasiuta is recipient of recent grants from the Onassis Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, NYSCA, and the Graham Foundation, where he was an inaugural Graham Foundation Fellow. Blue Garden: The Architecture of Emergence Tanvi Khurmi, based in London, UK, is a multidisciplinary designer and artist. Her practice is focused on addressing and combatting issues surrounding the climate crisis. After receiving a Bachelor’s in Architecture with a minor in Environmental Studies from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, she earned a Masters of Architecture in Bio-Integrated Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London. Design as an Astronaut Dr. Cody Paige is the Director of the Space Exploration Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, a team of 50+ students, faculty, and staff building and flying advanced technology for space exploration. The Initiative focuses on helping students take their research into space. The pipeline developed to achieve this works with students from across the Media Lab and the MIT community to prototype space-related research in the lab, fly and test them in microgravity on parabolic and suborbital flights, and finally to take them to the International Space Station or on to the Moon. Cody also has a background in geology, specifically quaternary geochronology, and completed her Master of Applied Science at the University of Toronto in Aerospace Engineering and her Bachelor of Applied Science from Queen’s University in Engineering Physics.   The post Round-up: Canadian-led exhibitions at the 2025 Venice Biennale appeared first on Canadian Architect.