Hilary Sample and Michael Meredith of MOS Architects are participating in the US Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Biennale. The Holcim Awards Silver winning architects for their locally-adapted orphanage and library in Nepal are part of The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition of speculative architectural projects designed for specific sites in Detroit.

The exhibition curated by Cynthia Davidson and Monica Ponce de Leon emphasizes the importance and value of the architectural imagination in shaping forms and spaces into exciting future possibilities. Detroit was the birthplace of the automobile industry, the free-span factory floor, the concrete paved road, as well as Motown and techno music. The iconic city was once a center of American imagination – not only for the products it made but also for its modern architecture and modern lifestyle. Like many post-industrial cities, Detroit is coping with a changed urban core that for decades has generated much thinking in urban planning: and motivated the Holcim Foundation to hold its 5th International Forum on Sustainable Construction in the city in April 2016.

The Architectural Imagination presents new speculative architectural projects designed for four specific sites in Detroit, but with far-reaching application in other cities around the world. The sites typify a variety of urban conditions requiring architects to re-purpose existing industrial structures and revitalize urban precincts.

The MOS proposal for the Dequindre Cut works with and within the overlapping and disaggregated connections between urban and social form. Low-rise high-density development connects existing conditions with a new urban fabric. A series of common spaces link the community with the Cut and the existing street system. The structure and circulation are based on the economical models of highway and parking structures.

The open framework creates spaces for recreation and social gathering that are owned collectively and work outside conventional notions of property and lots. The fringe between interior and exterior including roofs, ramps and porches, provide informal areas for interaction with neighbors. The Architectural Imagination as part of the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale continues until Sunday, November 27, 2016.

Public invitation to attend panel discussion at the Venice Biennale

The Holcim Foundation invites members of the public to attend a panel discussion featuring Alejandro Aravena, Jonathan Ledgard, Milinda Pathiraja, and Robert Mardini at the 15th International Architecture Biennale on Friday, November 25 at 17:00. “Reporting from the Front: Sustainability vs. Security” is a concluding feature of the Biennale, the panel will discuss how growing security concerns will add complexity to the challenges to which architecture must respond.

More information:

Reporting from the Front: Sustainability vs. Security