Knowlton School architecture students, under the direction of Professors Jeffrey Kipnis, Stephen Turk, and Jose Oubrerie, have installed a stunning collection of models and drawings at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. The Knowlton School group joined Eisenman Architects, students from Yale University, and the Belgian architecture practice DOGMA in developing the Piranesi Variations, a reinvestigation of Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s 1762 canonic renderings of ancient Rome, Campo Marzio dell’antica Roma. The Knowlton School’s contribution, entitled Field of Dreams, reanimates the passions, perversions and spectacles of Rome. The work has been well received: swarmed with visitors at the exhibition, tagged with thousands of Facebook “likes”, and praised by Architectural Record as the entry that best addressed the Biennale’s theme, Common Ground, inspiring "real inter-generational dialogue."

The website NOTCOT.com called the Piranesi Variations “(o)ne of the most visually inspiring projects at the Venice Architecture Biennale this year.”  The article goes on to describe the Knowlton School’s contribution as “mesmerizing.”

Eisenman / Kipnis: The Venice Biennale

Faculty and students at the Knowlton School will have a unique opportunity this autumn to learn more about the Piranesi Variations and Field of Dreams when the Knowlton School hosts a public conversation with Peter Eisenman and Jeff Kipnis on November 13 where the topic will be this year’s Biennale project.

Field of Dreams Banvard Gallery Exhibit

Also on November 13, an exhibit highlighting the development of Field of Dreams opens at the Knowlton School's Banvard Gallery.

Field of Dreams Reception

To commemorate these events, a reception will be held in the Knowlton Hall Center Space following the November 13 Eisenman/Kipnis presentation.

All events are free and open to the public.

Photo credit: Nico Saieh