The curators for the 16th Architecture Biennale in Venice have been chosen: the two Irish architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara will head the 2018 show. This will be the second time the Biennale has been directed by a woman after Kazuyo Sejima in 2010. Grafton Architects in Dublin, which they founded in 1977, has received numerous awards for its designs and buildings and won the Silver Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012 for the design of the UTEC University Campus in Lima, Peru, which was created in collaboration with Paulo Mendes da Rocha.
Known for numerous educational buildings
Her oeuvre includes numerous school and educational buildings – predominantly in Ireland – such as the Dunshaughlin Civic Offices and the extension to Trinity College in Dublin. Outside of Ireland, the new Bocconi University building in Milan, among others, achieved a high level of recognition. Both office partners have been teaching at the University of Dublin since 1976 and are currently also professors at the Accademia di Mendrisio. In addition to their design work, the architects have also sat on the juries of numerous prestigious architecture prizes such as the RIBA Stirling Prize 2008, the Mies Van Der Rohe Prize 2011 and the RIBA Award 2012.
Sensitive didacticians
With their appointment as curators, Grafton Architects follow Chile’s Alejandro Aravena, whose 2016 Biennale addressed the question of how architecture can tackle global challenges. Biennale President Paolo Baratta expects the new directors to continue the content of the last Biennale, but with a stronger examination of the qualities of public and private space, urban space, the region and the landscape. Furthermore, the curators are known for their sensitive work and are also characterized by their intensive didactic work and their ability to reach and inspire new generations.
The 16th Architecture Biennale will take place in Venice from May 26 to November 25, 2018.