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Many Houses, Many Worlds.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The project explores dwelling as a global phenomenon, connecting diverse architectural forms and complex material histories. Through the analysis of a contemporary house and an archive of traditional dwellings, it challenges the dominant logics of building.
The project “Many Houses, Many Worlds”, presented at the 2021 Venice Biennale, is structured around two main sections: “A House Deconstructed”, a critical investigation of a contemporary house in Seattle, and a global housing archive that explores the diversity of dwelling forms around the world.
A House Deconstructed analyzes modern architecture’s heavy reliance on four primary materials: steel, concrete, glass, and plastic. These materials, symbols of modernity, became dominant only with the rise of industrialized construction. The house is seen as a “black hole” that absorbs energy, resources, and labor, yet rarely reveals the stories and implications behind its making.
The second part of the exhibition features an interactive digital library that collects examples of traditional and unconventional dwellings, such as caves, underground huts, and ritual shelters.
Many Houses, Many Worlds encourages reflection on architecture not just as an aesthetic product, but as the result of complex historical, material, and social processes. The project emphasizes the importance of recognizing the interconnections between dwellings and the global dynamics that shape them.
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