Golden Lion Winners at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale

The 13th International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia opened its gates today and kicked off the events with the much anticipated Awards Ceremony in the Giardini. Golden Lions were presented to Toyo Ito, as representative of the Japanese Pavilion (Best National Participation Award), and the team Urban-Think Tank/Justin McGuirk, representing the exhibition Torre David / Gran Horizonte, 2012 (Best Project Award).

The Jury comprised Wiel Arets (President, the Netherlands), Kristin Feireiss (Germany), Robert A.M. Stern (USA), Benedetta Tagliabue (Italy), and Alan Yentob (Great Britain).

Golden Lion for the Best National Participation:

From the Jury Report: "The Golden Lion for the Best National Participation, which captures the spirit of Common Ground, is awarded to the Japanese Pavilion in which leading international architect Toyo Ito collaborated with younger architects and with the local community to address in a practical and imaginative way the design of a new center for a region devastated by a national disaster.

The presentation and the storytelling in the Pavilion are exceptional and highly accessible to a broad audience. The jury was impressed with the humanity of this project."

Details:

Golden Lion for Best National Participation: Japan, Architecture possible here? Home-for-All
Naoya Hatakeyama; Kumiko Inui; Sou Fujimoto; Akihisa Hirata
Commissioner: Toyo Ito. Deputy Commissioners: Atsuko Sato, Tae Mori
Exhibit at Pavilion at Giardini

Golden Lion for the Best Project:

From the Jury Report: "The Golden Lion for the Best Project embodying the theme of Common Ground goes to Torre David / Gran Horizonte by Urban-Think Tank (Alfredo Brillenbourg, Hubert Klumpner) and Justin McGuirk and to the people of Caracas and their families who created a new community and a home out of an abandoned and unfinished building.

The jury praised the architects for recognizing the power of this transformational project. An informal community created a new home and a new identity by occupying Torre David and did so with flair and conviction. This initiative can be seen as an inspirational model acknowledging the strength of  informal societies."

Details:

Golden Lion for the Best Project of the Common Ground Exhibition: Torre David / Gran Horizonte, 2012
Urban-Think Tank (Alfredo Brillembourg, Hubert Klumpner) and Justin McGuirk
Exhibit at Corderie, Arsenale

Silver Lion for a Promising Practice:

From the Jury Report: "The Silver Lion of the International Exhibition Common Ground is awarded to Grafton Architects (Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara) as a promising and emerging practice. For their impressive presentation of a new University campus in Lima, connecting to the ideas of Paulo Mendes da Rocha. The jury believes that the conceptual and spatial qualities of this installation demonstrate the considerable potential of this architectural practice in reimagining the urban landscape."

Details:

Silver Lion for a promising practice of the International Exhibition Common Ground: Grafton Architects (Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara), Ireland
Exhibit at Central Pavilion, Giardini

Silver Lion for a Lifetime Achievement:

The Board of la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement under director David Chipperfield’s proposal to Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira.

Special Mention: 

From the Jury Report: "Special mention goes to Poland for ‘Making the walls quake as if they were dilating with the secret knowledge of great powers’. This brave and bold installation reminds the visitor to listen as well as to look... And to feel the sound of the Common Ground."

Details:

Special Mention: Poland, Making the walls quake as if they were dilating with the secret knowledge of great powers
Katarzyna Krakowiak
Commissioner: Hanna Wróblewska, Curator: Michał Libera
Exhibit at Pavilion at Giardini

Special Mention:

From the Jury Report: "Special mention goes to the United States of America for ‘Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good’. This interactive installation impressed the Jury with its celebration of the power of individuals to change society in small but effective ways. The unpretentiously simple presentation was a delight."

Details:

SPecial Mention: United States of America, Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good
596 Acres; AFHny Studio; Mouna Andraos; Ants of the Prairie; Architecture for Humanity Chicago; Austin Urban Solutions & Rosner Studio; Manuel Ávila; Baltimore Development Cooperative; Barkow Leibinger Architects & Kyle Talbott; David Benjamin and Natalie Jeremijenko; BK Farmyards; BroLab; Brooklyn Night Bazaar; Eduardo Cachucho; Center for Urban Pedagogy; Candy Chang; and Civic Center; Cheng+Snyder; Chicago Loop Alliance; City Repair; City Fabric; Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative at Kent State University; CMG Landscape Architecture; Come Out and Play; COMMONstudio; Graham Coreil-Allen; Crookedworks; Nicholas de Monchaux; Department of Urban Betterment; Depave; Design 99; Design That Moves You; Do Tank; DSGN AGNC, ENS_Projects; envelope A+D; Jason Eppink;  Jason Eppink and Posterchild; Free Agents Imbert and Meijerink; Free Art and Technology Laboratory (F.A.T: Lab); Freecell; French 2Design; Futurefarmers; Evan Gant and Alex Tee; Ghana ThinkTank; GOOD; Guerrilla Grafters; HabitatMap; Fritz Haeg; Hellmuth; Obata + Kassabaum; Hester Street Collaborative; HOK; Howling Mob Society; ICE-POPS; Institute for Urban Design; Interboro Partners; International Design Clinic; Jackson Heights Green Alliance; Kingshighway Vigilante Transitions; LA Department of DIY; LA Green Grounds; Lang Architecture; Make It Right Foundation; Street Plans Collaborative; M12; Macro Sea, MAS Studio, MIT Media Lab; Molly Dilworth Studio; Ken Mori & Jenny Liang; Eve Mosher; MyBlockNYC; Neighborland; No Longer Empty; Normal Projects; Object Orange; Occupy Wall Street 8various, including inflatable General Assembly and OWS Screenprinters’ Guild; OpenPlans; Philadelphia Horticultural Society; PlanningCorps; Popularise; Public Architecture; Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science; Public Media Institute; Alexandra Pulver; Rebar; Rebuild Foundation; Red Swing Project; Resource Center; Rockwell Group; James Rojas; SanFranStudios; Sensemakers; Shared Spaces Landscape Architecture and ‘Hood Builders; SLO Architecture; Stamen; Streetfilms; Syracuse University School of Architecture; Team Better Block; Matt Tomasulo/CityFabric; TreeKIT; TheUni Project with Howeler + Yoon Architecture; Urban Operations; Urbano Activo; UrbanUXd; Rob Walker & Ellen Susan; Dave Winslow and Loring Sagan; Ed Woodham; WORKac; youarethecity; Z-A Studio 
Commissioner/Curator: Cathy Lang Ho. Curators: Ned Cramer, David van der Leer; Deputy Curators: Paola Antonelli, Anne Guiney, Zoe Ryan, Michael Sorkin
Exhibit at Pavilion at Giardini