Alejandro Aravena, Quinta Monroy / Elemental, ma0/emmeazero, Playsacpe, Ecosistema Urbano, Ecoboulevard, Association Aurore + Yes We Camp + Plateau Urbain, Les Grands Voisins, Austrian Pavilion at 15 Biennale di Venezia, Curated by Elke Delugan-Meissl, Places for People, Caramel Architekten, EOOS, Social Forniture, Rural studio

1. On Processes
Housing and Hospitality
Marialuisa Palumbo – Auburn Lectures on the City – University of Arkansas Rome Center

2. WEST8, Borneo-Sporenburg Masterplan,
Amsterdam, 1993-1996

4. Two peninsulas in the eastern part of the Amsterdam docks, were to
be exploited for water-related activities, as well as 2500 low-rise
dwelling units, with a density of 100 units per hectare.
For a new interpretation of the traditional Dutch canal house, West 8
suggested new types of three-storey, ground-accessed houses
deviating from the usual terraced house in being strongly oriented to
the private realm by incorporating patios and roof gardens.
By repeating this type in a great variety of dwelling modes and with
maximum architectural variation, an animated street elevation
emerges with a focus on the individual. At a larger scale, a delicately
balanced relationship exists between the repetition of the individual
dwellings, the roofscape and the great scale of the docks. Three
immense sculptural blocks take their place as landmarks in the vast
expanse of houses.

11. Alejandro Aravena,
Quinta Monroy / Elemental, Chile, 2003-2004

19. ma0/emmeazero, Playsacpe, Drancy, 2003

31. Ecosistema Urbano, Ecoboulevard, Madrid
2004-2007

39. Association Aurore + Yes We Camp +
Plateau Urbain, Les Grands Voisins, 2015-
2023, Hôpital Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris

72. Austrian Pavilion at 15 Biennale di Venezia,
Curated by Elke Delugan-Meissl, Places for
People, 2016

73. Caramel Architekten

83. Colonization process

85. EOOS

96. Rural Studio, The Theater of the useFULL,
installation at the Venice Biennale, 2016

98. The materials were selected for their usefulness to two Venetian organizations, to
whom they’ll be delivered following the exhibition’s six-month run. The installation
abides by Rural Studio’s philosophy for exhibitions – throw nothing away once finished
– and extends the approach to projects back at their home base of Hale County,
Alabama – consider not what can be done, but what should be done.
One of the organizations is Assemblea Sociale per la Casa. In guerrilla fashion, they
squat in and renovate vacant social housing that has been neglected by the state. The
other organization is Cooperativa Caracol, made up of volunteers who in the cold
winter months pick up homeless individuals from the streets of Venice, give them a
bed for the night, a shower, and a breakfast at their Center. Each organization
provided a list of materials to which Rural studio could allocate its resources from the
Biennale, diverting the supplies in the short-term to create the Theater.
Inside, stories of Rural Studio’s battles are told in a handful of short projected videos
created by NYC-based filmmakers Claire Dub and Randy Rubin.
Based in Hale County, Alabama for 23 years, Rural Studio asserts that understanding
the needs of the community and the appropriate architectural response is only
possible by building relationships and learning from within the place...
The Rural Studio faculty team who designed and built the installation were admittedly
less familiar with Venice, and also weary of participating in an event that can prioritize
international over local interests. So they turned to locals who could help, and who
Rural Studio could, in turn, help fight the battles for Venice.