Venice APPLY NOW
June 30 – July 11, 2025
STUDIO
OMA
Made in Pleyel. Image by Jisu Choi
Studio Details
Location
Venice, Italy
Date
30 June-11 July, 2025
Studio Directors in Venice
Hans Larsson (Associate, OMA)
Alex Retegan (PR Manager, OMA)
Studio Project
Urban Vision
Field Trips and Site Visits
Villa Maser (Andrea Palladio), Villa Emo (Andrea Palladio), salt pans of Chioggia
Studio Project
If there’s one place where tourism manifests at its most extreme, it is Venice. With every available square meter in the city seemingly marketed for consumption by visitors, it is perhaps no surprise that there are hardly any Venetians living in the city today: a mere 45,000, compared to the 20 million tourists that make their way from the terraferma every year. As much as tourism may sustain the city’s economy today, relying on one main source of revenue at a time when the world order is under threat from geopolitical shifts, pandemics, and climate change is risky business at best.
Yet not that long ago, Venice was a place that produced more than experiences for tourists. The exquisite architecture of today’s guidebooks were yesterday’s civil engineering projects, assembled in the waters of the lagoon to hold industries such as glass, ships, printing, and salt. The Arsenale and its network of warehouses and canals were the equivalent of Henry Ford’s assembly line in the 16th century; the Ghetto district in Cannaregio was built around a state cannon foundry that anticipated the Industrial Revolution; and the island of Giudecca housed Venice’s emerging modern industry and working class. Further afield, estates of the Venetian hinterland provided the stone, timber and produce that built and fed the city in the lagoon.
Could Venice be stirred from its post-industrial hangover, and begin to function as it did before? How could the city expand its economic horizons in order to become a place to work and live? What role can production play in the city today beyond the sentimental crafts peddled to tourists? Over the course of two weeks, our studio will investigate the city’s needs and potential to sustain itself, and the unexpected forms a truly livable Venice might take.
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).
|| Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Australia || Web link || Instagram link ||
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.