HASHIM SARKIS: THE NEW DIRECTOR OF VENICE BIENNIAL'S ARCHITECTURE SECTOR
After a meeting of the Venice Biennale Board, the 17th International Architecture Exhibition to be held in 2020 has a new curator: Hashim Sarkis. Recommended by Paolo Baratta, director of the Venice Biennale Board, Sarkis was appointed director of the Architecture Sector of the Biennial.
Architect of the renowned Hashim Sarkis Studios (HSS), the new director and curator of the Architecture Sector is a key figure for the Venice Biennale team. Regarding the new member, Baratta stated: “With Hashim Sarkis, La Biennale has provided itself with a Curator who is particularly aware of the topics and criticalities which the various contrasting realities of today's society pose for our living space”. Sarkis is Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT since 2015 and had already participated in the 2016 Architecture Biennial as a member of the jury.
“The world is putting new challenges in front of architecture - explained Sarkis. I look forward to working with participating architects from around the world to imagine together how we are going to rise to these challenges”.
The 17th International Architecture Exhibition will take place from May 23rd to November 29th, 2020.
About Hashim Sarkis
Hashim Sarkis is an architect, educator, and scholar. He is principal of Hashim Sarkis Studios (HSS), established in 1998 with offices in Boston and Beirut. He is also the Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 2015.
Before joining MIT, Sarkis was the Aga Khan Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at Harvard University. He has also taught at the Rhode Island School of Design, Yale University, the American University of Beirut, and the Metropolis Program in Barcelona.
The architectural and urban projects of HSS include affordable housing, houses, parks, institutional buildings, urban design, and town planning. HSS has received several awards for its projects in Lebanon, including for the Housing of the Fishermen of Tyre, Byblos Town Hall, and the Courtower Houses, on the coast of Aamchit. The firm’s work has been exhibited around the world, including at the Pavilion of the United States at the Biennale Architettura 2014 and the Pavilion of Albania at the Biennale Architettura 2010, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the International Architucture Biennale Rotterdam, the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture of Shenzhen/Hong Kong, and the Bienal de Arquitectura y Urbanismo in Valparaíso. The work has also been published extensively, most recently in a monograph by NESS.docs (New York, Barcelona: Actar, 2017).
