A discussion to inaugurate the New Standards exhibition at the Venice Biennale
Join Archinfo Finland for the virtual inauguration of New Standards, the Pavilion of Finland at La Biennale Architettura 2021.
We have invited the curators of the United States Pavilion and the Nordic Pavilion to join us in a panel discussion that will introduce different approaches to timber houses explored in each of our exhibitions in response to the overall biennale theme of "How will we live together?"
New Standards presents the history of a uniquely Finnish approach to mass-produced housing in the twentieth century: Puutalo Oy (Timber Houses Ltd.). In the years immediately following WWII, Puutalo offered a new model of factory-built housing that modernised Finland’s construction industry. In less than a decade, the company became one of the largest manufacturers of prefabricated wooden buildings in the world, exporting to every inhabited continent.
New Standards: Living together through standardisation and individuality in timber houses
Living together requires a complex negotiation between the public and the personal. In architecture we see fascinating stories emerge through the process of design, construction, retrofit and customisation over many years that makes houses into homes.
For this discussion to inaugurate the New Standards exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia, The Pavilion of Finland has invited the United States Pavilion and the Nordic Pavilion to join us in an exploration of the different conditions of standardisation and customisation that arise through the use of timber as a structural material.
This discussion will be led by curators and exhibitors from the three pavilions and chaired by the Director of Open House Worldwide, Phineas Harper.
Speakers
Siv Helene Stangeland, exhibitor of the Nordic Pavilion
The Norwegian architectural practice Helen & Hard (H&H), run by Reinhard Kropf and Siv Helene Stangeland, has more than 20 employees in offices in Oslo and Stavanger, Norway. In H&H's 2012 book Relational Design, they begin by asking, "What is the best way to approach architecture with an ecological awareness?" Since 1996 they have dealt with the manifold and complex conditions in which architecture evolves. Exploring a more codependent development of spatial, material, and human organization has become a core agenda for the firm. H&H approaches this challenge by designing more adaptable compositions of spatial organization, which can include necessary feedback from experts, future users, the environment, material properties, cost and fabrication, or other agencies. Design is then not merely a solution but a vehicle for an interdisciplinary process, which could lead to more sustainable development, and would necessarily include a learning process for all the parties involved.
Twitter: @HelenHardAS / Instagram: @helenhardarchitects
Philip Tidwell, curator of the Finland Pavilion
Philip Tidwell is an architect and educator with a particular focus on wood design and construction. His research, teaching and practice consider the ways that matter, climate and technique influence architectural form. Tidwell’s teaching and research have been supported by grants and fellowships from numerous organisations including the Sasakawa Foundation and US Fulbright Foundation. His academic and professional projects have most recently been recognised by The Architectural Review and the Espoo Museum of Modern Art.
Instagram: @philipltidwell
Paul Andersen, curator of the United States Pavilion
Paul Andersen founded Independent in 2009. He shapes the office’s agenda and practice, conducting design projects in professional and academic contexts. He was appointed a Fulbright Specialist in Architecture, teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and has previously been on the architecture faculties of the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Cornell University. He has been a guest curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and the Biennial of the Americas, and is a co-author of The Architecture of Patterns, Curve Culture, and The Monuments Power the Cars. Paul is a licensed architect.
Instagram: @americanframing
Host: Phineas Harper, Director of Open City and Open House Worldwide
Phineas Harper is director of Open City and Open House Worldwide, and a columnist at Dezeen. In 2019 they curated the Oslo Architecture Triennale on the architecture of degrowth in collaboration with engineers Interrobang and geographer Cecilie Sachs Olsen, and the 19th Architecture Prize of the Land Steiermark. They are also an advisor to the cross-party Suburban Taskforce established by Rupa Huq MP and David Simmonds MP.
Between 2015 and 2020, Phineas was deputy director of the Architecture Foundation in London establishing the New Architecture Writers programme in collaboration with the historian Tom Wilkinson, and the architecture and stand-up comedy society Turncoats in collaboration with Robert Mull and Maria Smith. Previously Phineas was deputy editor of the Architectural Review and served on the jury of the Civic Trust Awards.
Twitter: @PhinHarper | Instagram: @phinharper
