The Australian Institute of Architects has announced Lived In, a housing research project, as Australia’s exhibition for the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Kerstin Thompson of Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA), Maryam Gusheh, Lee-Anne Khor and Louise Wright (Monash Urban Lab, Monash University) have been named the creative directors of the Australia Pavilion for the 2027 biennale.
According to the Institute, Lived In draws on built projects from the Housing Atlas of Australia – a research initiative documenting instructive examples of multi-dwelling housing across more than a century in Australia – presented through drawings, data, photographs and film. The atlas was initiated by Monash University adjunct professor and 2023 Gold Medallist Kerstin Thompson, founding principal of KTA, and developed in collaboration with Monash Urban Lab in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Monash University.
The exhibition will respond to the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale theme set by curators Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu: Do Architecture – For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality. The theme calls for a return to hands-on, place-based architecture that balances innovation with tradition and promotes coexistence between people, nature and the built environment.
Shu and Wenyu said they believe “architecture is not only something to be discussed but, more importantly, something to be done first-hand,” emphasising a philosophy grounded in “real reality, in real places, through real construction.”
The Institute said the theme proposes a view of architecture that incorporates the past as “a living matter of the present.”
“Lived In claims and validates architectural knowledge and its impact on people’s lives. It looks backwards at expressions of living and forwards as Australia currently considers its housing supply and the environmental impact of its cities. It will also contribute to the international ongoing conversation around housing,” commented the Institute.
For the 2027 Australia Pavilion, the Institute invited Australian schools of architecture to nominate research projects for consideration by a selection panel comprising Adam Haddow, immediate past president of the Institute; Senlina Mayer, National Student Organised Network for Architecture (SONA) president; Candice Halliday, national Emerging Architects and Graduates Network (EmAGN) president; Cameron Bruhn, CEO of the Institute; and Michelle Newton, head of Visual Arts at Creative Australia.
Twenty-one submissions from 11 institutions were received, with Lived In shortlisted alongside How We Survive (University of New South Wales), Material Migrations (University of Melbourne) and Making Room (Monash University).
The twentieth edition of Venice Architecture Biennale will be held between 8 May and 21 November 2027, with a pre-opening preview scheduled for 6 and 7 May.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
