The 17th Venice Architecture Biennale demands us to rethink the role of architecture in a globalized world

One year ago, during the outbreak of the pandemic, the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale was brave enough to postpone its opening. Now, just as bravely, it is the first major international event to reopen. It does so with a question, the only one that seems meaningful after months that forced us to ponder the implications of globalization: how will we live together?

A multifold together

“How will we live together?” is the theme chosen by the curator Haskim Sarkis for this Biennale. Rather than providing an answer, it prompts reflection with a multifold question: together as human beings yearning to connect with one another despite individuality, together as new households looking for more diverse and dignified spaces for inhabitation, together as an emerging community that demand equity, inclusion and spatial identity, together across political borders, and together as a planet facing crisis that require global action for us to continue living at all. 

Building behaviors

Exploring its pavilions, in endless walks through the Arsenale  and the Giardini, we felt very much drawn to the words pronounced by Italian architect Michele de Lucchi at the inauguration of the (stunning!) Venice Pavilion: “Nowadays, our role as architects is no longer to build walls, but to build behaviors”. If so – we considered – how can CoorItalia build behaviors? The answer we came up with, during our drive home through the Venetian countryside, can be summed up in a few, intimate, cornerstones: we want to preserve local craftmanship and share it across political borders, promote knowledge and respect for quality materials, and promote diverse and dignified spaces for inhabitation where identity and individuality are appreciated. 

One last element – underlying each and every exposition – generosity and collaboration are the keys.