What We Share, the Nordic Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale

What We Share, installation view, the Nordic Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale; photo © Riccardo Bianchini / Inexhibit.

What We Share, the Nordic Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale

Entitled “What We Share. A model for cohousing”, the exhibition of the Nordic Counties Pavilion at the 2021 Biennale answers the question “What are you willing to share with other people?”, that the pavilion’s curators, Norwegian architects Helen & Hard, posed to the occupants of the Vindmøllebakker cohousing complex they designed some time ago.

The residents were asked to imagine a cohousing model especially focused on shared collective space. The Venice exhibition is, therefore, the “materialization” of the ideal space envisaged by them, a space in which typical residential, more private, functions coexist with spaces for work– exemplified by a luthier workbench and a loom, for example – and spaces for relaxing, such as gardening areas and children playgrounds. The exhibition also demonstrates how participatory planning can create both a sense of community and a sustainable living environment.

Nordic Counties Pavilion – What We Share. A model for co-housing
Exhibition concept & design: Helen & Hard, Stavanger, Norway.
Commissioners: Stina Högkvist, The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Norway
Carina Jaatinen, Museum of Finnish Architecture. Kieran Long, ArkDes, The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design.

What We Share, installation view, the Nordic Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale; photos © Riccardo Bianchini / Inexhibit.