Assistant Professor Kelly Bair, Clinical Professor Andrew Zago, and 2015-16 Greenwald Visiting Critics Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample have been selected from over 250 submissions to participate in the US Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale.
From the Curators: "The US Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale will host The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition of new speculative architectural projects commissioned for specific sites in Detroit but with far-reaching application for cities around the world. The exhibition will emphasize the importance and value of the architectural imagination in shaping forms and spaces into exciting future possibilities.
The birthplace of the automobile industry, the free-span factory floor, the concrete paved road, and Motown and techno music, Detroit was once a center of American imagination, not only for the products it made but also for its modern architecture and modern lifestyle, which captivated audiences worldwide. Like many postindustrial cities,
Detroit is coping with a changed urban core that for decades has generated much thinking in urban planning. As advocates of the power of architecture to construct culture and catalyze cities, curators Cynthia Davidson and Monica Ponce de Leon have commissioned twelve visionary American architectural practices to produce new work that demonstrates the creativity and resourcefulness of architecture to address the social and environmental issues of the 21st century."
The twelve teams of architects include:
A(n) Office, Detroit, Michigan)
(Marcelo López-Dinardi; V. Mitch McEwen
BairBalliet, Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois
(Kelly Bair; Kristy Balliet)
Greg Lynn FORM, Los Angeles, California
(Greg Lynn)
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Atlanta, Georgia
(Mack Scogin; Merrill Elam)
MARSHALL BROWN PROJECTS, Chicago, Illinois
(Marshall Brown)
MOS Architects, New York, New York
(Hilary Sample; Michael Meredith)
Pita & Bloom, Los Angeles, California
(Florencia Pita; Jackilin Hah Bloom)
Present Future, Houston, Texas
(Albert Pope; Jesús Vassallo)
Preston Scott Cohen Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts
(Preston Scott Cohen)
SAA/Stan Allen Architect, New York, New York
(Stan Allen)
T+E+A+M, Ann Arbor, Michigan
(Thom Moran; Ellie Abrons; Adam Fure; Meredith Miller)
Zago Architecture, Los Angeles, California
(Andrew Zago; Laura Bouwman)