Announced today in a live presentation, the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, titled The Laboratory of the Future, curated by Lesley Lokko, will be open to the public from May 20 to November 26, 2023, in Venice, Italy. This edition will include 63 National Pavilions, 27 of which are at the Giardini, 22 at the Arsenale, and 14 in the city center of Venice. Structured in six parts, the exhibition will include 89 Participants, over half of whom are from Africa or the African Diaspora, with a 50/50 gender balance, and an average age of 43 for participants. Contributors include Adjaye Associates, atelier masōmī, Kéré Architecture, MASS Design Group, Sumayya Vally and Moad Musbahi, Theaster Gates Studio, Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation, Liam Young, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, to name a few.

The collection of four volumes dispersed on a plot surrounded by the Valle de Bravo forest creates a house that focuses on the use of natural materials, with an emphasis on volumes with simple and clean lines. These volumes are simple and sober, creating a timeless and enduring space. Each volume responds to a different program, articulated through the different terraces and paths that make up the project. The square shape of these volumes opens up through openings that are rhythmically repeated, following a rigorous modulation that creates views towards all directions of the property.

“Our planet is choking in plastic,” states the United Nations. While the man-made material has many valuable uses, our addiction to single-use plastic products has led to severe economic, health and environmental issues. Roughly one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, and five trillion plastic bags are used every year worldwide –used just once, then thrown away. Plastics and microplastics have found their way into every corner of our natural environment, from the peaks of the highest mountains to the depths of the deepest oceans. So much so, that they have become part of the Earth’s fossil record and created an entirely new marine microbial habitat known as the “plastisphere.”

Set in a landscape of vineyards and wooded areas, in the heart of Monferrato, the eco-hotel comprises a village of four independent wood and glass cabins whose design was inspired by the image of traditional haystacks. Three of them house the suites, while the fourth is a common space.