The 14th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale opened for the public yesterday. For the first time it was launched at the start of the summer and will run for six months until the end of November (7.6-23.11.2014) www.labiennale.org/en/architecture

Rem Koolhaas accepted the invitation to curate the program, which explores key elements and ideas of modernity, the past 100 years of architecture. In the press preview Koolhaas said that he felt intuitively that this was the right moment for him to take up the job – which he had previously declined. Koolhaas’ status as a visionary thinker within contemporary architecture is without comparison. The preview days attracted a record number of journalists.

The main program is exhibited in the Giardini park inside the national pavilions and continues in the Arsenale docks amongst film and dance installations, where Koolhaas wanted to bring new energy and life to architectural presentations. The pavilions themselves are beautiful examples of 20th century architecture. This year the Korean pavilion’s exhibition was awarded with the Golden Lion award.

Throughout the city there are exhibitions and events, organised by international teams. By the Accademia bridge a huge installation by Ai Wei Wei, made of 1179 bicycles, occupies the courtyard garden of Palazzo Franchetti. It’s part of the Genius Loci art exhibition, which continues inside the 16th century Gothic style palace. The exhibition is curated and presented by the Lisson Gallery, including works relating to space and architecture by Julian Opie, Anish Kapoor, Spencer Finch and Joana Vasconcelos   www.lissongallery.com/commissions

Tomas Koolhaas has been working on a film showing the human side of his father Rem, the famous Dutch architect, who is also the curator of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale starting this weekend. It has clearly been a special project for him, getting to understand his father’s work on a different level.  His favourite building… the beautiful Casa da Musica (opening image) in Porto.

How long have been working on the film?

I’ve been shooting bits and pieces for a long time with the knowledge that one day I would make a film, but I’ve been working on it full time for two years now.

What is it like working with your father?

It’s super interesting. Everyone always warns you against it (working with family) and there are pitfalls -of course- but it has actually been really good. I find that as an adult you rarely  spend a lot of time with someone unless you are working on something together, just because everyone has there own projects going on, and in our globalized culture that often involves being in different countries. To work on this with Rem has meant I have got to know him and his work in a way I probably wouldn’t have without the film.

Was there a specific aspect about his work that you wanted to emphasise in the film?

Yes. I think what you could call the “human” dimension of the work has been something that has traditionally been underexplored in architecture films and has always interested me the most. Also, stylistically I feel that a focus on hyper-intellectual information is good for a lecture or book, but films need to have a more dynamic visual quality and be more evocative, even touching in some way. I have tended to focus more on subject matter that enables those things, which for me means including more people and less talking-head interviews and shots of empty buildings.

Which one of his buildings do you like best?

That’s hard to say, they are all interesting in different ways. CCTV is  very impressive from a technical point of view, incredible visually and interesting because of it’s cultural/sociological context. On a purely personal level I think my favorite is the Casa da Musica in Porto. I have never seen another building that has so many elements that are so radically different and unique and yet these elements all seem to work and flow incredibly well together.

Did you ever want to be an architect yourself?

No

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban is admired for his simple, yet elegant structures, but also for bringing sustainability and humanity into his designs. Now he is the recipient of one of architecture’s highest honors, the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Ban’s current project, his first museum in the US, will be unveiled In August this year. “The Aspen Art Museum presented a very exciting opportunity to create a harmony between architecture and Aspen’s surrounding beauty while also responding to the need for the dialogue between artwork, audience, and the space itself” Ban said.

Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, CEO and Director of the Aspen Art Museum highlighted the excitement of Ban’s design. “Shigeru Ban’s design for the new Aspen Art Museum assures Aspen of an architecturally unprecedented, environmentally sound, and culturally significant venue for audiences to engage with important contemporary art from around the globe.”

Ban’s vision is based on transparency and open views that will highlight the building’s interior and offer views of the uniquely beautiful Aspen landscape and surrounds. The use of natural light in the galleries from walkable skylights and other transparent walls will allow for a blending of outdoor and indoor spaces and flexible exhibition spaces.

The roof deck sculpture garden will be the only public roof top venue in the town with sweeping vistas of Aspen’s internationally recognized environment. Ban envisioned visitors navigating through the museum the way a mountain is navigated when skiing or snowboarding— by proceeding to the top of the building and descending downwards. Artist Cai Guo-Qiang is developing a new project specifically on the roof deck that promises to be fun for the opening.

In addition to the Aspen Art Museum’s inaugural exhibitions with works by Yves Klein and David Hammons, Tomma Abts, Rosemarie Trockel and Jim Hodges, the Museum will feature a special exhibition on Ban’s work. Shigeru Ban: Humanitarian Architecture will present four full-scale examples with exhibition design done by the architect himself, of Ban’s groundbreaking designs for humanitarian relief.

Julia Champtaloup