IT’S ABOUT TIME: 10th INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE

Founded in 2001, The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam focuses on the social significance of architecture, primarily urban planning. International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam is a think and do tank and a biennial platform for architecture, urban design, spatial planning and landscape architecture. The 10th edition of the Architecture Biennale Rotterdam takes place from 22 September to 13 November 2022 in Rotterdam’s city harbors. IABR will conclude this anniversary edition in a festive way. On 11, 12 and 13 November IABR will once again pull out all the stops to present a substantive and festive program with contributions from curators, makers and performers.

It’s About Time, the 10th edition of the Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, more than a wake-up call, showcases realistic courses towards a livable future. The exhibition draws attention to social issues and their solutions, in the form of more than 150 inspiring practical examples by architects and designers from around the world. The consequences of climate change were predicted 50 years ago by the Club of Rome and they published The Limits to Growth in 1972.
“The consequences of our footprint on planet Earth are increasingly noticeable: melting ice caps, forest fires, floods and periods of drought. The situation as it is today was predicted 50 years ago by the Club of Rome, an informal group of academics, scientists, politicians, diplomats and industrialists who published The Limits to Growth in 1972. In this report, the club outlined the possible consequences of an exponential increase in population, agricultural production, resource extraction, industrial production, pollution, and the loss of biodiversity. The report caused a commotion worldwide and marked the beginning of environmental awareness”- IABR

Fifty years after the publication of the Club of Rome report, the 10th edition of the Architecture Biennale Rotterdam takes stock, bringing together historical research (since 1972), inspiring practical examples (anno 2022) and future scenarios (towards 2072). This overview paints a picture that is both worrisome and hopeful. The exhibition features work that documents and maps the causes and consequences of climate change, creating a contemporary landscape that reflects the effects of climate change and calls for a response to this constructed hyper-reality.

IT’S ABOUT TIME hints at the ever-mounting time pressure under which we are trying to counteract the effects of climate change and connect them to other social challenges.

Future Generation: This is 2072, showcases graduation projects by a group of young designers from the Netherlands and Belgium, focusing on time and speed as crucial factors in architecture and spatial design processes and appeals to the profession to work effectively to resolve socioecological urges. Divided into five chapters, the exhibition contains fragments, projects, topics, and movements that will determine the architectural landscape of 2072: the year the Club of Rome oriented its prophetic publication The Limits to Growth towards. The five chapters are: Local Cosmopolitans, Earthly Promises, Urban Biotopes, Social Ecologies, and Flourishing Landscapes.

The primary exhibition unveils the works of 50 designers, architects, and researchers, addressing and persuading the issues regarding the future of the planet. The exhibition comprehends three design attitudes: the Ancestor, the Activist, and the Accelerator. The Ancestor, exemplified by Anupama Kundoo, weaving the past, the present and the future, paced down construction processes, collaborating with indigenous labor and materials. The Activist strives for a hands-on approach nurtured by the community-driven projects intervening in the public realm or media. The Accelerator deploys technology to accelerate the transition of existing systems through innovation.

IABR linchpins on the future of the city where, in just a few decades, nearly 80 percent of the world’s population will produce more than 90 percent of our wealth—and this will have to be done sustainably. Envisioning a gateway to a sustainable future, IABR believes in solving the climate crisis by achieving socially inclusive resilient cities through good design. “It’s About Time” exhibits at the Ferro, a former Gas Storage Facility located in the western harbor region whereas “The Future Generation” exhibits at Keilezaal. An extensive program of guided tours, lectures, and debates enriches the experience of the exhibition and aims to create a dialogue around knowledge accumulation and experimentation. The IABR enables research as well as concrete (cultural) contributions to the changes needed for a sustainable and equitable future for mankind and the planet.