Biennale Architettura 2012 : Common Ground, Golden Lion for Best National Participation to Japan

Gardens of Venice - Common ground. The International Jury of the 13. International Architecture Exhibition composed by Wiel Arets (President, The Netherlands), Kristin Feireiss (Germany), Robert AM Stern (USA), Benedetta Tagliabue (Italy), Alan Yentob (Great Britain) has decided to award the following official awards:
 

Golden Lion for Best National Participation to Japan
Architecture possible here? Home-for-All
Naoya Hatakeyama, Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto, Akihisa Hirata (Pavilion in the Giardini)
Commissioner: Toyo Ito. Commissioners Added: Atsuko Sato, Tae Mori.


Golden Lion for the best project of the International Common Ground
David Tower / Great Horizonte, 2012
Urban-Think Tank (Alfredo Brillembourg, Hubert Klumpner) and Justin McGuirk (Great Britain and Venezuela to expose Corderie Arsenal)



Silver Lion for a promising architectural firm of the International Common Ground Grafton Architects (Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara)
(Ireland exhibit at the Central Pavilion in the Giardini)

The Jury has also decided to assign four special mentions to:
Poland
Making the walls quake as if they were dilating with the secret knowledge of great powers
Katarzyna Krakowiak (Pavilion in the Giardini)

Commissioner: Hanna Wróblewska. Curator: Michał Free

United States of America

Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good

596 Acres; AFHny Studio, Mouna Andraos, Ants of the Prairie, Architecture for Humanity Chicago, Austin Urban Solutions & Rosner Studio; Manuel Ávila; Baltimore Development Cooperative, Barkow Leibinger Architects & Kyle Talbott, David Benjamin and Natalie Jeremijenko, BK Farmyards; BroLab , Brooklyn Night Bazaar, Eduardo Cachucho, Center for Urban Pedagogy, Candy Chang, and Civic Center; Cheng + Snyder, Chicago Loop Alliance, City Repair, City Fabric, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative at Kent State University, CMG Landscape Architecture; Come Out and Play; COMMONstudio, Graham Coreil-Allen; Crookedworks, Nicholas de Monchaux, Department of Urban Betterment; Depave, Design 99, Design That Moves You, Do Tank; DSGN AGNC, ENS_Projects; envelope A + D; Jason Eppink;

Jason Eppink and Posterchild; Free Agents Imbert and Meijerink, Free Art and Technology Laboratory (FAT Lab), Freecell, French 2design; Futurefarmers; Evan Gant and Alex Tee, Ghana ThinkTank, GOOD; Guerrilla Grafters; HabitatMap; Fritz Haeg; Hellmuth; Obata + Kassabaum, Hester Street Collaborative, HOK; Howling Mob Society; ICE-POPS, Institute for Urban Design, Interboro Partners, International Design Clinic, Jackson Heights Green Alliance; Kingshighway Vigilante Transitions, LA Department of DIY, LA Green Grounds; Lang Architecture , Make It Right Foundation; Street Plans Collaborative, M12, Macro Sea, MAS Studio, MIT Media Lab, Molly Dilworth Studio, Ken Mori & Jenny Liang, Eve Mosher, MyBlockNYC; Neighborland, No Longer Empty, Normal Projects; Object Orange; Occupy Wall Street 8various, Including inflatable General Assembly and OWS Screenprinters' Guild; OpenPlans, Philadelphia Horticultural Society; PlanningCorps; Popularise, Public Architecture, Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science; Public Media Institute, Alexandra Pulver, Rebar, Rebuild Foundation, Red Swing Project , Resource Center, Rockwell Group, James Rojas; SanFranStudios; Sensemakers; Shared Spaces Landscape Architecture and 'Hood Builders, SLO Architecture, Stamen, Streetfilms, Syracuse University School of Architecture; Team Better Block, Matt Tomasulo / CityFabric; TreeKIT; TheUni Project with Howeler + Yoon Architecture, Urban Operations, Urban Activo; UrbanUXd, Rob Walker & Ellen Susan, Dave Winslow and Loring Sagan, Ed Woodham; WORKac; youarethecity; ZA Studio (Pavilion in the Giardini)
Commissioner / Curator: Cathy Lang Ho. Editors: Ned Cramer, David van der Leer.
Curators Added: Paola Antonelli, Anne Guiney, Zoe Ryan, Michael Sorkin

Russia
i-city
AREP; SPEECH Tchoban / Kuznetsov, David Chipperfield Architects; Valode Pistre, Mohsen Mostafavi, OMA, SANAA, Herzog & de Meuron, architects Stefano Boeri, Project Meganom; MDP / Michel Desvigne paysagiste; BERNASKONI architecture bureau (Pavilion in the Giardini)
Commissioner: Grigory Revzin. Curator: Sergei Tchoban. Added Curators: Sergey Kuznetsov, Valeria Kashirina.

4374 visitors in two locations in the Giardini and the Arsenale (+39% compared to the 3138 edition, 2010), the first giomata to the public 13. International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Common Ground (until November 25, 2012). Were 10,408 visitors during the three days of paint (it was 9578 in 2010). 1886 were finally accredited journalists and present to the paint (there were 1,757 in 2010, an increase of 7%).

The architecture looks for a common vision and shared. Recovering a background of shared ideas and culture. This is the message of David Chipperfield, direct the Venice Architecture Biennale this year. A juxtaposition of images of the past and visions of the future. "Italy is the spiritual home of architecture," said Chipperfield starting from the main charges that move to contemporary design, "it is here that you can fully understand the importance of the building not as individual performance but rather as a manifestation of values collective and scenery of daily life. This tangible sense of context and history reminds us that our world is built is a testament to the continuing evolution of the architectural language and an essential tool for our understanding of the world around us. "
(Giovanna Votano, Gardens, Aug. 28, 2012)