Fresh after the opening of the Venice Architecture Biennale, issue 962 presents Gabriele Basilico's photographic survey of the Biennale's national pavilions, empty and waiting for their annual occupation. Jean-Philippe Vassal's photo essay captures extraordinary moments in the production of everyday space in Africa, and, in Mexico, artist Pedro Reyes transforms agents of death into instruments of life: by converting half a tonne of confiscated weapons into musical instruments, Reyes challenges us to imagine a change for the better.
Table of contents:
Cover
Each time Diébédo Francis Kéré returns to his home village of Gando, Burkina Faso, he brings with him a treasure of knowledge to share with everybody. Photos by Kéré Architecture
Op–ed: The quicksands of Common Ground by Joseph Grima
Journal
Edited by Elena Sommariva
Photoessay: The African Years (1980—85)
Jean-Philippe Vassal (Lacaton & Vassal)
Long live the crisis!
The depression induced by world recession has not damped the creative spirit and innovative flair of the young architects at the Something Fantastic office in Berlin. Text and drawings by Something Fantastic. Edited by Rita Capezzuto
Clay-bound utopia
Gando is a village of 3,000 inhabitants, 200 kilometres from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. It is also the experimental architectural workshop of Diébédo Francis Kéré, who was born here.
Text by Jeanette Kunsmann. Photos by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk, Kéré Architecture. Edited by Laura Bossi
Artists as developers
How to preserve and regenerate an urban area that has lost its future because the market refuses to see its value? Text by Nathalie Janson. Photos by Eric Hester, Rick Lowe. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni
Affordable by design
Recent work by Phipps Rose Dattner Grimshaw, Jonathan Kirschenfeld, Peter Gluck and Partners, and SHoP Architects contribute significantly to redefining the ins and outs of social housing in the heartland of capitalism. Text by Susanne Schindler. Edited by Laura Bossi
Cutting-edge home-owners
In Berlin, homeowners make residential buildings without the intervention of a developer.
Text by Jeanette Kunsmann. design by Zanderroth Architekten Photos by Simon Menges, Andrea Kroth. Edited by Rita Capezzuto
Network: Nature Room Sou Fujimoto
Sou Fujimoto proposed the students of Boisbuchet to conceptualise a new relationship between nature and architecture.
Text by Grégoire Basdevant
From Dom-ino to Polykatoikia
A group of teachers and researchers from the Berlage Institute harks back to the precursor of infill architecture, Le Corbusier's Dom-ino system. Design by Labour, City, Architecture Unit, Berlage Institute. Text by Pier Vittorio Aureli, Maria S. Giudici, Platon Issaias. Edited by Laura Bossi
A city within the city
Originally meant to be a commuter dormitory outside Rio de Janeiro, over the years Cidade de Deus has become an actual city inside its mother metropolis.
Text by Rainer Hehl. Edited by Rita Capezzuto
Bauhaus and back
Launched as an online platform to allow to make lowcost diy furniture, the Hartz IV programme has become a globally networked virtual "factory". Text by Julia von Mende. Photos by Van Bo Le-Mentzel, Daniela Kleint, Urban Zintel. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni
Network: Studio Visit 01 / Maio
In the new Studio Visit section we present Maio, a four-member team of Catalan architects whose entrepreneurship is unconventional, versatile and brave. Text by Carlos Mínguez Carrasco
Gun politics
Half a tonne of weapons, confiscated by the Mexican Ministry of Defence and donated to Pedro Reyes for artistic purposes, were turned into working musical instruments. Design by Pedro Reyes. Text by José Esparza. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni
The dream lamp
For Flos's 50th anniversary, the latest lamp designed by Philippe Starck, the Light Photon, uses oled technology on the largest surface ever. Interview by Joseph Grima. Design by Philippe Starck. Photos by Delfino Sisto Legnani. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni
Common Pavilions
With a series of literary and photographic essays on the national pavilions, the Common Pavilions exhibition staged in Venice's Giardini, invites visitors to become witnesses to the process of understanding architecture. Text and photos by Gabriele Basilico. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni
Rassegna
Edited by Rita Capezzuto
Panorama
Edited by Guido Musante
Cold Case
Canteen for the Olivetti staff. Edited by Luigi Spinelli