2016 Venice Biennale director announced

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Alejandro Aravena, courtesy of la Biennale di Venezia. Image: Cristóbal Palma

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Element's Quinta Monroy housing scheme in Santiago, Chile. — Element’s Quinta Monroy housing scheme in Santiago, Chile. Image: Cristóbal Palma

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The Metropolitan Promenade and Children’s Park in Santiago, designed by Element. Image: Cristóbal Palma

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Chilean architect and Pritzker jury member Alejandro Aravena has been named as director of the 15^th International Architecture Exhibition by the board of la Biennale di Venezia. (Read Justine Harvey’s recent interview with Alejandro Aravena here.)

Held bi-annually in the capital city of Italy’s Veneto region, the 2016 edition of the Biennale will take place from May 28 - November 27, 2016.

Alejandro Aravena graduated in Architecture from Universidad Católica de Chile in 1992. In 1991, still as a student, he participated at the Venice Prize of the 5^th International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia. In 1993 he studied history and theory at IUAV and engraving at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia.

From 2000 until 2005 he was professor at Harvard University, where together with engineer Andres Iacobelli he found the social housing initiative Elemental, an Urban Do Tank, partner of Universidad Catolica and Chilean Oil Company Copec.

Since then, Santiago-based Elemental has expanded their field of action to a wide range of infrastructure, public space and public buildings that use the city as a shortcut towards equality, including the Metropolitan Promenade and Children’s Park in Santiago and the reconstruction of the city of Constitucion after the 2010 earthquake.

His work has been distinguished with several awards throughout his career, and has been featured in, to pick just a few, the São Paulo Biennale (2007), the Milano Triennale (2008) and the Venice Architecture Biennale in both 2008 and 2012.

In a statement provided by la Biennale di Venezia, Aravena commented:

“The 15th International Architecture Exhibition will be about focusing and learning from architectures that through intelligence, intuition or both of them at the same time, are able to escape the status quo.

“We would like to present cases that, despite the difficulties, instead of resignation or bitterness, propose and do something. We would like to show that in the permanent debate about the quality of the built environment, there is not only need but also room for action.”