Venice Architecture Biennale 2023
18th International Architecture Exhibition (La Biennale di Venezia) from May 20-November 26, 2023
// more updates coming soon //
Curators
Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA) curatorial collective (Adrian Blackwell, David Fortin, Matthew Soules, Sara Stevens, Luugigyoo Patrick Stewart, and Tijana Vujosevic)
Advocate Partner
Kathy McGrenara, Canadian Cohousing Network
Press
Canada Council for the Arts
Exhibition Information
May 20-November 26, 2023
Canadian Pavillion
18th International Architecture Exhibition
Venice, Italy
Tickets
Photography
Haeccity Studio
Maris Mezulis
The Brief
Our office was selected as one of ten groups across the country to contribute work towards Not for Sale!, an architectural activist campaign against housing alienation, which AAHA defines as, “the condition of being separated from our fundamental connections to home… [separating] us from the land we inhabit, the social world that supports us, and our full creative lives.”
While the current crisis in Canada has been largely framed as a quantitative predicament of supply, the worsening of housing issues over the last decade has coincided with historic increases in housing starts and construction, making it increasingly clear that these seemingly intractable housing issues are more deeply rooted in systemic realities and the social fabric itself.
It is in this context that we and our collaborators endeavoured to re-theorise the institution of housing through the lens of social connection, and collective action. Our contribution to this campaign represents a new typology of grass roots social housing structured around collective design, collective management, and collective ownership. The proposed model moves toward the de-commidification and de-financialisation of housing, while eschewing Modernism’s oppressive, top-down social housing models. Its goal, in short, is to enact a revolution of CO-.
A Revolution of CO-
Our proposal, “CO-CO-MO”, presents a case study wherein facets of various collective housing approaches are combined in a single intentional community located in Richmond, BC, a prominent ethnoburb outside of Vancouver. By developing hypothetical “personas” based on demographic data, interviews, and direct observation, we enacted an expert-led cohousing workshop, operating empathetically to develop critical design criteria. This user-led design approach and project delivery process were then developed in parallel with cooperative, single-borrower project financing, and village-like spatial organizations aimed at building enduring social infrastructure directly into the housing landscape.
(click to enlarge)
Photo Gallery
