Universities Meet in Architecture

Exhibition 26 August until 19 September, Private View 26 August, 10.00–7.00, Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Symposium 27 August, 1.00–midnight, Fondazione Giorgio Cini

'People meet in architecture' is the theme of the 12th Venice Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, directed by Kazuyo Sejima. In line with this theme, the biennale has extended the platform it offers to academic institutions. The AA's own workshop at the Biennale is developing out of the research cluster, 'Beyond Entropy, When Energy becomes Form'. It is an intensive four-day programme that investigates the idea of 'meeting in architecture' as a method for architectural production.

AA Visiting School Workshop
Participants will be exposed to new perspectives on energy, entropy and form. Energy has been treated as a matter of urgency in political, economic and scientific debates in recent years, but has not yet acquired the same significance in cultural fields. Indeed, within the architectural debate, energy is often considered either as an exclusively technical issue or as something related to the rhetoric of sustainability, to be treated from an ecological (and ultimately technical) point of view.

The initial phase of the research cluster's work consisted of a series of lectures, debates and conversations, culminating in a visit to CERN by eight architects, eight artists and eight scientists. Prototypes arising from this phase will be produced and exhibited as the next stage towards presenting eight bespoke installations at the Venice International Art Exhibition in June 2011. This exhibition of prototypes will offer the starting point for a privileged investigation of the Biennale as a whole: participants will take part in an international symposium and debates led by AA tutors, local architects, scientists, artists and other curators.

The workshop is divided into four phases:
Thursday 26 August a programme of lectures, site visits and guided architectural tours to the national pavilions and collateral events around the city.
Friday 27 August a series of workshops and debates by architects, scientists and artists and an international symposium on the theme of energy. Participants will include AA School director Brett Steele and internationally renowned philosophers, politicians, curators, scientists and entrepreneurs such as Antonio Negri, Stefano Boeri, Roberto Gazich and Joseph Ryckwert.
Saturday 28 August students will have access to the Gardens and Arsenale where AA tutors including Ricardo de Ostos, Olaf Kneer, Marco Poletto, Christopher Pierce, as well as Salotto Buono and Baukuhshort will organise presentations and exhibition tours.

Finally, from Sunday 29 to Tuesday 31 August, the Biennale as a whole will be entirely accessible to the students free of charge.

The workshop is aimed at architecture students at any point in their studies as well as recent graduates. It will provide a stage for debating contemporary architectural ideas, methods and practices.