Venice Biennale 2027's "Do Architecture" and an Earth-Built Cinema in Ghana: This Week's Review

The Venice Architecture Biennale 2027 theme centers on architecture as a direct, material practice grounded in local construction cultures, reuse, craft, and engagement with lived reality. The curatorial framing critiques homogenization and abstraction in contemporary architecture and calls for building approaches that reconcile environmental, cultural, and technological tensions. Similar priorities appear in the UIA 2030 Award results at World Urban Forum 2026, where recognized projects address ecological restoration, flood resilience, affordable housing, participatory planning, and public health infrastructure. Cultural interventions, temporary structures, and public forums also focus on making institutions and civic spaces more accessible, adaptable, and engaged with everyday urban life.

"Curated by Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu under the title “Do Architecture - For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality,” the exhibition proposes architecture as a direct and material practice rooted in local construction cultures, reuse, craft, and engagement with lived reality. Critiquing the growing homogenization and abstraction of contemporary architecture, the curators advocate for approaches capable of reconciling environmental, cultural, and technological tensions through the building itself."

"Similar concerns emerged during the World Urban Forum 2026, where the International Union of Architects and UN-Habitat announced the winners of the UIA 2030 Award. The awarded and commended projects addressed a wide range of environmental and social challenges, from ecological restoration and flood resilience to affordable housing, participatory planning, and public health infrastructure."

"At the same time, major cultural interventions, temporary structures, and public forums explored how institutions and civic spaces can become more accessible, adaptable, and engaged with everyday urban life. From the curatorial direction of the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale 2027 to internationally recognized projects addressing flood resilience, affordable housing, and ecological restoration, many of the week's discussions challenged architecture's increasing detachment from material, environmental, and social conditions."

Read at ArchDaily