Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş, founders of the Istanbul-based studio SO? Architecture and Ideas, were selected as curators for the Pavilion of Türkiye in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2023, with an exhibition project titled Ghost Stories: Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture. The installation questions the accepted perceptions of unused buildings in order to discover more hopeful proposals for the future. The exhibition will be open from May 20th until November 26th, 2023, under the coordination of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). The project team consists of Aysima Akın, Kevser Reyyan Doğan, Merve Akdoğan and the research team includes Taylan Tosun, Doğu Tonkur, Hatice Bahar Çoklar Berke Şevketoğlu, Duygu Sayğı.

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Subscriptions are quickly becoming an integral part of everyday life. For example, streaming platforms have completely replaced the need to own video cassettes, while ride-sharing services partially cover the need to own a private car. Subscriptions have been largely understood as digital services, but a new trend suggests that the same concept could be transferred to physical objects in the near future. Instead of owning a fridge, a washing machine, or even light bulbs, one could acquire a subscription to ensure the freshness of produce, clean clothes, and a well-lit home.

The concept is known as the “subscription-based economy,” a variant of the “circular economy” notion. It postulates that instead of owning some of the objects used every day, one could subscribe to a service to gain access to the same benefits, but without the need to own, maintain or dispose of the object in question. Consumers no longer buy products; they buy access to services. Sometimes, it would mean simply leasing the object instead of purchasing it, but the model goes one step further. It inscribes a shift of responsibility and mentality. Because consumers no longer own the objects, the responsibility to reuse and recycle falls to the producers, who are now in charge of the entire life cycle of the objects they create.

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Francelle Cane and Marija Marić have been selected to curate the Luxembourg Pavilion was unanimously selected by the jury to create at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia with an exhibition project titled "Down to Earth." The project explores the "wild imaginaries of extraction-driven growth," such as the development of human settlements on the Moon or the asteroid mining of rare minerals and metals. As the starting point for the exhibition, the team questions the impact of this new space race that promises endlessly available resources beyond the limits of Earth. The commissioner of the pavilion, the Ministry of Culture Luxembourg, has appointed Kultur|lx—Arts Council Luxembourg to produce the exhibition in cooperation with LUCA—Luxembourg Center for Architecture. The Pavilion will be open from May 20th until November 26th, 2023.

Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the new American Buddhist Cultural Society Temple, also known as the San Bao Temple, has broken ground in San Francisco, California. Located on Van Ness Avenue, the new six-story facility will include a community center, a Buddhist shrine, and a meditation room on the upper levels, along with three levels of private dormitories for visiting monastics and volunteers. In the center of the building, a light-filled atrium offers additional amenities, such as a public art gallery, bookstore, teahouse, and community gathering hall. The temple is expected to open by the end of 2024.

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ARCH+ and Summacumfemmer Büro Juliane Greb have been selected to curate the German pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia for their concept Open for Maintenance / Wegen Umbau geöffnet. Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development, and Building, the pavilion is dedicated to exploring matters of care, repair, and maintenance. The concept also aims to shed light on contemporary debates over the existing building stock and the social practice of maintaining urban fabric. The 18th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from May 20th until November 26th, 2023.

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The Salone del Mobile.Milano 2023 entrusted the Milanese architecture and engineering studio Lombardini22 with curating the exhibition space and redefining its layout and circulation flows to ensure an increasingly engaging and contemporary business platform. On a similar note, Formafantasma was appointed to take care of the large Arena and the Cameos, small exhibitions layout in the trade fair site. During this year’s edition, seven exhibitions will be held simultaneously at Fiera Milano fairgrounds in Rho. The events are open to professionals from Tuesday 18^th until Sunday 23^rd of April, and to the general public on Saturday and Sunday.

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Shigeru Ban Architects, in collaboration with Voluntary Architects’ Network, has developed an improved version of the temporary housing developed to help those affected by the recent Turkey-Syria earthquake. The new prototype represents an upgrade of the paper tube system deployed in northwestern Turkey after the 1999 earthquake. This new version takes into consideration matters of efficiency and the need to minimize construction time on site.

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Heatherwick Studio has revealed their first public library design, planned for Howard County Libraries in Maryland, United States. The building will serve as a community center and was designed to reflect the changing and complex role of libraries within cities. The program expands beyond book lending services, providing spaces for cultural events, collective learning, workshops and lending of objects of use. Construction is expected to begin in 2024, and the library is scheduled to open to the public in 2027.

The Danish Pavilion has announced Josephine Michau as the curator of the exhibition “Coastal Imaginaries” to represent Denmark at the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition highlights nature-based design solutions to alleviate global challenges like rising sea levels and storm floods. The team behind the exhibition represents a collaboration between the landscape architectural firm Schønherr and researchers, artists, Danish trade organizations, and scientific institutions. The selected subject aligns with the biennale’s overarching theme of Laboratory of the Future, running from May 20^th to November 26^th, 2023, in the Giardini, at the Arsenale, and at various locations around Venice.

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Foster + Partners, working in collaboration with Petrolina Group, has revealed the design of a new master plan to transform the seafront of Larnaca, Cyprus, into a sustainable and enjoyable area for the city residents, future generations, and new visitors. The resort town of Larnaca aims to redesign one of its main arteries, the Larnaca-Dhekelia Road, to become more pedestrian-friendly, along with its seafront. Foster’s proposal aims to enhance the land’s ecological value and to double the length of the waterfront accessible to the public.

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For the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the Bulgarian Pavilion will present the exhibition titled “Education is the movement from darkness to light.” Curators Boris Tikvarski, Bojidara Valkova, and Mariya Gyaurova, joined by Belgian photographer Alexander Dumarey, have chosen to focus the exhibition on the subject of depopulation, urban decline, and rural flight, expressed through the image of abandoned schools present in the country. The project was selected following a national competition organized by The Ministry of Culture, The Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria, and the Union of Architects.

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In 2018, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) announced that the Japanese city of Osaka won the bid to host the 2025 World Expo, an event expected to draw millions of visitors. The event will open on April 13, 2025, and close on October 13, 2025. This will be Japan’s second time hosting the event, as another World Expo was held in Osaka in 1970. The official theme for this edition is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.” Architect Sou Fujimoto has been chosen as the Expo Site Design Producer of the event, becoming responsible for designing the master plan and directing the designers of the participating countries. As of March 24, 2023, 153 countries and regions and 8 international organizations have officially confirmed their participation in Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

Nigerian-born artist, designer, and architect Demas Nwoko is the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia entitled The Laboratory of the Future. The decision was taken at the recommendation of the exhibition curator, Lesley Lokko, and was approved by La Biennale’s Board of Directors chaired by Roberto Cicutto. The awards ceremony will be part of the inauguration of the 18^th Exhibition and will be held on May 20^th, 2023, at Ca’Giustinian, the headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia.

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The project “Ball Theater” has been chosen to represent the French Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. As a response to the world of thought and experiment proposed by Lesley Lokko’s theme of “The Laboratory of the Future”, the French team aims to create a place of celebration and collective experiment by transforming the pavilion into a performance space. The curatorial team is composed of Muoto, an architectural practice founded in Paris by Gilles Delalex and Yves Moreau, in partnership with Georgi Stanishev and Clémence La Sagna for the scenography, associate curator Jos Auzende, and Anna Tardivel for the programming. The pavilion will be open from May 20^th until November 26, 2023.

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Heatherwick Studio has unveiled a new project to transform an old desalinization plant into the centerpiece of a new cultural district on the waterfront of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The industrial structure is set to be reconfigured to become The Museum, large complex offering production spaces, studios, and ateliers for artists and makers. Its program also includes exhibition spaces that can accommodate large-scale commissions to help visitors to learn and feel inspired by the next generation of artists.