As part of the 6th edition of “Time Space Existence”, the European Cultural Center (ECC) presented the “Reconceptualizing Urban Housing” exhibition. Taking place from May 20 to November 26, 2023, it brings together a diverse array of women-led architecture practices from around the world, each offering a unique perspective on collective housing, particularly within urban settings. The showcased projects feature approaches from Europe, North America, and more developing countries like Uganda, Malaysia, and Mexico.
The European Cultural Centre (ECC), a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering cultural exchanges on an international scale, showcased its sixth edition of the Time Space Existence architecture exhibition alongside this year's Venice Architecture Biennale. The 2023 installment was centered on the theme of sustainability in its various forms, encompassing subjects related to migration,digital building technologies and material research, future urban developments, and housing, bringing together architects, designers, artists, academics, and photographers from 52 different countries.
Through diverse mediums and perspectives, participants have explored the philosophical concepts of Time, Space, and Existence. With a total of 217 projects on display, the exhibition is held at Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and the Marinaressa Gardens in Venice, throughout the six-month duration of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, running from May 20th to November 26th, 2023. Focusing also on emerging young architects, designers, and researchers, the 2023 edition of the exhibitionis a proactive endeavor to reimagine alternative lifestyles and reconceptualize architecture within the contemporary landscape.
The profession of architecture is often marked by those individuals who employ their talent and resources to enable change and bring forth a vision for a better future. While some of them began their careers with bold gestures that captured the attention of the architectural world and changed paradigms, others worked in a more quiet manner, shifting the focus to the users of the space and asking themselves how they can best contribute to enriching the lives of those around them.
As the new year begins, we pause to look back to the architects who have passed away over the course of the last year but whose legacy and contribution to architecture outlive them. Among them, we remember Pritzker Prize laureate and pioneer of the High-Tech Richard Rogers, Post-Modern icon Ricardo Bofill, the thoughtful Gyo Obata, advocate and innovator Doreen Adengo, social housing pioneer Renée Gailhoustet and the many-sided Pritzker Prize laureate Arata Isozaki.
Doreen Adengo, Ugandan architect and trailblazer, passed away on July the 22nd of this year, after battling a long-term illness. She founded Adengo Architecture, a studio based out of her home city of Kampala. A designer who studied in the United States, worked in firms in New York, Washington, and London, and was teaching at Uganda Martyrs University – her legacy is nothing short of extraordinary. It is a legacy that spans disciplines and geographies – but a legacy, too, that is deeply rooted in the context of Africa, Uganda, and Kampala.
Doreen Adengo. Image Courtesy of Adengo Architecture
Doreen Adengo, architect from Kampala, Uganda has passed away, as reported by African Futures Institute’s Instagram Account, after a long battle with cancer. Founder of Adengo Architecture in 2015, a research-based multi-disciplinary practice operating out of her hometown Kampala, Doreen, a registered architect in the United States and Uganda, had earned her undergraduate at the Catholic University (Bachelor of Science in Architecture) and graduate studies at Yale (Masters of Architecture). She has taught at The New School and Pratt Institute in New York, the University of Johannesburg’s Graduate School of Architecture, and was currently teaching at Uganda Martyrs University. In celebration of International Women’s Day 2022, Doreen Adengo was recognized by ArchDaily as one of the established practitioners implicated in change.
While women make up an equal part of the population, they are not equally represented when imagining, planning, designing, and constructing the built environment around the globe. Thriving to rebalance forces and close the gap of gender inequality, the world is moving slowly but surely into a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future. Looking back at 2021, this year has seen the selection of Lesley Lokko as curator of the 2023 Venice Biennale, Anne Lacaton winning with her partner Jean-Philippe Vassal the 2021 Pritzker Prize, the 6th woman to ever receive the award, and the MAXXI Museum celebrating the transformative role of female architects in the profession's evolution over the last century.
The 2022 Women's International Day, according to the UN is centered on “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, focusing on females involved in building a sustainable future, while the official platform of the 8th of March is concentrating its efforts on breaking the bias and eliminating discrimination. Recognizing every single day the female force that shapes the built environment, ArchDaily on the other hand, turned to its global audience this year, seeking input to shed light on even more women architects, from the four corners of the world. Always trying to reach new realms, this selection of 25 professionals is looking to adjust the historical narrative by highlighting pioneers of the field, to present established practitioners molding the world we live in, and to share profiles of activists and scholars, implicated in change.
