Last month, the Canada Council for the Arts announced that the Indigenous design project UNCEDED was selected to represent Canada at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Members of the 2018 peer-assessment committee that selected the winning team included, among others, Daniels Faculty Associate Professor John Shnier, founding partner of Kohn Shnier Architects; and Lola Sheppard, founding partner of Lateral Office, the firm that represented Canada at the Biennale in 2014. Associate Professor Mason White is also a founding partner of Lateral Office.

The shortlist for the 2018 Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale included Daniels faculty and alumni. The shortlisted teams included:

• Scapegoat Journal, co-founded by Instructor Marcin Kedzior. Daniels Faculty Instructor Manar Moursi is one of the editors of the journal.
• Ja Architecture Studio, the office of Daniels Faculty alumni Nima Javidi (MUD 2005), Behnaz Assadi (MLA 2008), and Hanieh Rezaei (MUD 2004)
• Patkau Architects, from Vancouver

UNCEDED is led by architect Douglas Cardinal along with Anishnawbe Elders and Indigenous Co-curators Gerald McMaster and David Fortin. They are supported by a decorated group of Indigenous architects from across North America. The winning team plans to emphasize and celebrate the work of Indigenous architects and designers throughout Turtle Island. The exhibition will be on view at the Arsenale in Venice from May 26th to November 25th, 2018.

Titled Arctic Adaptations, Lateral Office's exhibition at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale presented proposals by five design teams for Nunavut, Canada's largest territory. Each team was made up of representatives from a Canadian school of architecture, a Canadian architecture office with extensive northern experience, and a Nunavut-based organization. Each team’s proposal examined one theme — housing, health, education, arts, or recreation — and was rooted in Nunavut’s distinct land, climate, and culture.

The exhibit was honoured with a Special Mention at the Biennale’s awards ceremony for “its in-depth study of how modernity adapts to a unique climatic condition and a local minority culture.”

Photo, top: Arctic Adaptations exhibition by Lateral Office at the Venice Biennale, 2014.