The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture has reasons to celebrate. School lecturer Estel Ortega will, alongside journalist Pati Núñez, co-curate the Catalan proposal at the 16th Venice Biennale, which will take place from 26 May to 25 November. The project finished first in a contest organised by the Ramon Llull Institute to select a curator for the pavilion dedicated to Catalonia, included in the international exhibition’s Collateral Events section. The team of architects from Olot, RCR Arquitectes, winner of last year’s Pritzker Award, will occupy a place of prominence in the space entitled “Catalonia in Venice”, with a proposal focused on the studio’s creative universe: RCR: Dream and Nature.

On 3 May, the project was officially presented at the official headquarters of the Official Association of Architects of Catalonia (COAC). During the event, the director of the Ramon Llull Institute, the entity charged with organising Catalonia’s contributions to the Biennale since 2009, highlighted the key role of Estel Ortega and Pati Núñez in this year’s project. “The two co-curators were entrusted with the task of understanding RCR Arquitectes’ wishes and translating them into concrete content for the pavilion”, emphasised Manuel Forcano.

“RCR: Dream and Nature explores the values and attitudes underlying the style of architecture promoted by the Olot-based studio, with emphasis on RCR’s intimate and significant relationship with nature”, explained Estel Ortega during the presentation ceremony. 

Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramón Vilalta –from RCR Arquitectes–, together with Estel Ortega and Pati Núñez, have created an installation that revisits the relationship between humans and the world by taking a look at the La Vila estate in La Vall de Bianya (Girona), the site on which their project for the Venice Biennale hinges. 

The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture’s presence in the Catalan Pavilion will also be bolstered with the involvement of five of the School’s students in the parallel exhibit “Schools in Venice”. In this regard, projects by Lara Pérez, Cristina Coll, Carlota Aluja, Marta Delgado and Oriol Anglada will be on display at this venue, in which all Catalan schools of Architecture are eligible to participate, for the duration of the Biennale. From 9 to 29 October, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture will also take part in the Catalan Pavilion with a series of events that will be announced shortly.