Manijeh Verghese and architect Madeleine Kessler have been selected to curate the British Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale
Manijeh Verghese and architect Madeleine Kessler have been selected to curate the British Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale
A panel of architecture and design specialists from across the UK selected the winning team from a shortlist of nine proposals. The successful concept is titled The Garden of Privatised Delights and explores the creeping epidemic of privatised public spaces across cities in the UK.
Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, the winning project looks at how spaces such as the British High Street and the Playground are under threat from increasing privatisation. The exhibition will engage in the current debate around ownership and access to what we perceive as public space.
The curators will transform the British Pavilion into a series of immersive spaces, commissioned from leading researchers and practitioners, presenting both a critique of how they are currently used while providing strategies to increase people’s agency over their public spaces.
Manijeh Verghese and Madeleine Kessler are directors of Unscene Architecture and together have run summer school units, workshops and masterclasses on architecture across the UK.
Manijeh Verghese is Head of Public Programmes and Exhibitions at the Architectural Association. She is an architecture writer and educator. Madeleine Kessler is an Associate Architect at Haptic Architects and sits on the National Infrastructure Commission’s Young Professionals Panel. She is shortlisted for BD’s 2019 Female Architectural Leader of the Year Award.
Other projects shortlisted:
BOT, Team: Mollie Claypool (AAMA(Dist) History & Theory 2009), Gilles Retsin (AADRL MArch 2012), Alistair Campbell, Irini Papadimitrou
Fallen Idols, Team: Beatrice Galilee, Adrián Villar Rojas
The Gran Bretagna or The Definite Article, Team: Hadrian Garrard and Diana Ibanez Lopez (Create London), Apparata, Seb Emina
Home & Other Worlds, Team: Rachel Armstrong/EAG, Sarah Wigglesworth, Irene Gallou, Studio Swine, Ioannis Ieropoulos, Simon Park
A House for Britain, Team: Priya Khanchandani, Joseph Henry, Jayden Ali
Land of Exceptional Qualities, Team: Brendan Cormier, Ruth Lang, OMMX (Hikkaru Nissanke (AADipl 2009) and Jon Lopez (AADipl 2011))
Learning from Artists Housing, Team: vPPR Architects (Tatiana Von Preussen, Catherine Pease (AADipl 2007), Jessica Reynolds (AA Unit Master)), Kate Goodwin, Create, Artist
Radically rural - the overlooked potential of contemporary rural architecture, Team: Jonathan Tuckey Design, Kate Darby Architects (AADipl 1997), David Connor Design, Rural Office for Architecture
23 April 2019