Catalonia’s participation in the XVI Venice Biennial of 2018 will take the form of an exhibition on RCR (Pritzker Award 2017) curated by Pati Nuñez, Estrella Ortega and RCR; an entry by the architecture and design schools in the exhibition and a parallel programme of debates with international guests co-organised with the College of Architects of Catalonia. Titled "Schools in Venice", the project invites students from Architecture and Design universities and schools of Catalonia to reflect on the theme proposed by RCR, "What do we learn from nature?".
To answer this question, the La Salle-URL School of Architecture organised a workshop in March, in which 51 students and 8 teachers worked for three days on their proposals for this exhibition. The first day, the students had the opportunity to visit the Barbieri space by RCR in Olot, accompanied by one of its architects, Rafael Aranda. Aranda explained details of his work and answered any questions the students had. Afterwards, they also visited other works by RCR, such as the Olot Tussols-Basil Athletics Stadium, the Parc de la Pedra Tosca, and La Vila (Mas de RCR) with a guided tour of the forest.
After seeing these facilities for themselves, the students went to a country house in Vall de Bianya. There, they spent two days and worked together on their projects jointly, resulting in some very interesting proposals that will now be evaluated by RCR, with 6 of the projects being put forward for exhibition in the Catalan pavilion. For two weeks, La Salle-URL will also be able to use the space to carry out other related activities.
The Architecture Exhibition will be held from 26 May to 25 November 2018. The general curators of this year’s Biennale are Grafton Architects (Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara) and the chosen theme is 'FREESPACE'. As part of this general theme, Catalonia will participate as part of the Eventi Collaterali, with this exhibition produced by the Ramon Llull Institute.
