Biennale Sessions: 19th International ArchitectureExhibition Biennale di Venezia: UAH! Unconventional Affordable Housing!

Description

Biennale Sessions and Discussions at the Austrian Pavilion - Agency for Better Living

Unconventional Affordable Housing! is a Europe-wide, multi-institutional design studio network project led by Politecnico di Milano, to explore contemporary housing possibilities and living at the intersection of affordability and unconventionality, starting from a reflection on existing housing practices, policies, and projects, and experimental, transformative reuse.

The exhibition, at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, presented and exhibited selected thesis projects from Northumbria's BA (Hons) Interior Architecture's final year students, and the design studio ideology authored by the studio tutors to align with the UAH! (Couture, A; Ring, P). The design solutions for integrative housing and community environments explored propositions for refugees, liminal communities and unconventional families through the adaptive reuse of a heritage building. The exhibition and presentations we accompanied by discussion sessions starting from guiding questions – or provocations – which emerged from theoretical and design explorations: questions aimed at stimulating an exchange on key issues and tensions in the contemporary debate on housing affordability and innovation. The sessions provide a forum to discuss how housing is conceptualised, produced, inhabited, and maintained, and what alternative approaches could look like.

Design Studio Network:
Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Universität Innsbruck (Austria), Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal), Universidade Lusófona Porto (Portugal), Universidade do Porto (Portugal), Instituto Superior Técnico – Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal), Technische Universiteit Delft (The Netherlands), Northumbria University (UK), University of Nicosia (Cyprus).

Period	12 Sept 2025 → 13 Sept 2025
Event type	Exhibition
Location	Venice, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International