El Hadi Jazairy, associate professor of architecture at Taubman College, will participate in the prestigious 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia later this year in Italy.
Jazairy’s practice, DESIGN EARTH, will contribute to “The Perimeter of Architecture: Amid the Elements,” a project led by Princeton University’s Sylvia Lavin. The 19th international exhibition, curated by Italian architect and MIT Professor Carlo Ratti, will take place May 10 through November 23 in Venice.
Jazairy is founding partner of DESIGN EARTH with Rania Ghosn. He also directs Taubman College’s Master of Urban Design program. DESIGN EARTH’s work was previously featured at Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016, 2018, and 2021.
This year’s exhibition will include 762 participants. Architects and engineers will participate, which one may expect, but also “mathematicians and climate scientists, philosophers and artists, chefs and coders, writers and woodcarvers, farmers and fashion designers,” curators said.
According to The Architect’s Newspaper, Carlo Ratti cited recent fires in Los Angeles; flooding in Valencia, Spain, and Sherpur, Bangladesh; as well as drought conditions in Sicily as driving forces behind this year’s rendition. Participants are expected to respond to the existential climate crisis with urgency and vigor. Ratti also emphasized the need to rethink what we mean when we talk about adaptation.
“For decades, architecture’s response to the climate crisis has been centered on mitigation — designing to reduce our impact on the climate. But that approach is no longer enough,” Ratti said. “The time has come for architecture to embrace adaptation: rethinking how we design for an altered world. Adaptation demands a fundamental shift in our practice.”
Pictured are El Hadi Jazairy (right) and Rania Ghosn (left), co-founding partners of DESIGN EARTH.
