Studio Details

Location
Venice, Italy

Date
1-12th July, 2024

Studio Directors in Venice
Reinier de Graaf (Partner, OMA)
Hans Larsson (Senior architect, OMA)
Alex Retegan (Communications manager, OMA)

Studio Project
Urban Regeneration

Field Trips and Site Visits
Napoleon’s Venice – a tour of the places that were rebuilt during Napoleon’s rule of the city

Studio Project

In 1807, by the order of Napoleon, the monasteries of Sant’Antonio, San Domenico, and San Nicolò in Venice’s Castello neighborhood were razed to the ground to make room for a public garden. The project was part of a national campaign initiated by the French Emperor to promote a healthy city life across Italy.
The Giardini in Venice opened to the public in 1812. Not long after, however, it fell into disrepair. In 1887, following Italy’s independence, the Giardini found a new purpose: It hosted the first National Exhibition dedicated to art. The event turned out a great public success and the city decided to build a permanent venue for exhibitions and enclose 42 thousand square meters of its 60 thousand square meters of public space. National pavilions were added in the years to come: Belgium (1907), Hungary (1909), Germany (1909), Great Britain (1909), France (1912), The Netherlands (1912), and Russia (1914). More followed in the 1930s and again after the WWII.
The Giardini’s last pavilion was built in 1987 by Australia. Today, out of the 29 pavilions, 18 represent Europe, five the Americas, three Asia and one Africa. Given the amount of free space left, there is little prospect that other countries will be squeezed in in the future. But should they even, at a time when art and architecture are globalized phenomena, and architects and artists are perpetual migrants? The world in the Giardini is hardly the world of 2024. The time has come to let this nation building project go. Like Napoleon, let us level the vestiges of a past that doesn’t let us move forward freely, and give this piece of the city a new lease of life. What should it be?

OMA

OMA is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. Led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner- Architect David Gianotten – the firm maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, and Australia. OMA’s recently completed projects include Aviva Studios in Manchester (2023), Buffalo AKG Art Museum (2023), Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020) and Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020).

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Internships

Students accepted into the OMA Studio at Venice Studio may be considered for available internship or job opportunities at OMA. Selection of candidates is at the sole discretion of the studio directors and OMA. Places are not guaranteed.

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