Together, this network of educators, practitioners and students has spent years documenting more than a century of Australia’s most inventive multi-dwelling housing, drawing on projects from every state and territory. The exhibition responds directly to Australia’s identity as one of the most urbanised populations in the world, an identity that sits at odds with the country’s popular image of itself as a suburban, single-house nation. Lived In will bring this housing history to life in Venice through drawings, data, photographs and film, exploring both well known and lesser known projects to show how housing shapes, and is shaped by, everyday life.
This year’s Biennale theme, set by curators Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, is Do Architecture – For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality. As the Australian Institute of Architects describes it, the theme calls for a return to architecture’s most concrete and essential dimension, grounded in direct relationships to land, materials and community. Lived In speaks to that brief closely, looking back at how Australians have lived while contributing to the live national conversation about housing supply and the environmental cost of our cities.
How the Project was Selected
The Australian Institute of Architects, which has served as Commissioner for Australia’s Venice exhibitions since 2008, opened this year’s process to Australia’s architecture schools, inviting future-focused research proposals. Twenty-one submissions came in from 11 institutions. A selection panel including Adam Haddow, Senlina Mayer, Candice Halliday, Cameron Bruhn and Michelle Newton shortlisted four teams before selecting Lived In.
AASA President Chris Brisbin noted that working directly with the schools to choose the project gives the Biennale a broader reach, engaging practitioners, academics and students and building impact across the sector that will outlast the exhibition itself.
Outgoing Institute President Adam Haddow framed the stakes plainly: Australia is confronting hard questions about housing, density, affordability and climate, and architecture has a role to play not only through new design, but through what we can learn from the housing we already have.
The Team
Lived In is led by Creative Directors Kerstin Thompson (KTA) together with Maryam Gusheh, Lee-Anne Khor and Louise Wright of Monash Urban Lab. The Housing Atlas of Australia research network spans Bond University, Adelaide University, Monash University, RMIT University, University of Canberra, University of Queensland, University of Tasmania, University of Western Australia, UNSW and Western Sydney University, with further institutions expected to join in 2026 and 2027.
The exhibition is presented on behalf of the nation in partnership with Creative Australia, with Brickworks as Principal Partner. Following Venice, the exhibition will travel to Australia in 2028 in partnership with Museums of History NSW.
We look forward to sharing more as the project develops.
Source: Australian Institute of Architects Link to article
Images:
Napier Street Housing, Kerstin Thompson Architects, 1998.
Domain Park Apartments, Robin Boyd, 1962.
Cairo Apartments, Best Overend (Taylor, Soilleux & Overend), 1936.
