Promotion: The School of Architecture and Design at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) has participated in this year's Venice Architecture Biennale with an event titled Students as Researchers: Creative Practice and University Education.

The Architecture and Design school's participation in the Venice Biennale is the latest in a string of achievements spearheaded by Maria Perbellini, Dean of NYIT's School of Architecture and Design.

Curated by Perbellini, alongside deputy curators and professors Marcella Del Signore, Sandra Manninger and Athina Papadopoulou – with the support of the IDC Foundation and the Municipality of Peccioli – the event showcases a series of installations and exhibits that explore how architecture must evolve to adopt more responsible practices.

Introducing the event, the New York-based school said that the talent of its students is vital in order to develop "radical visions that can challenge the conventionality of market-oriented societies".

According to the school, the work on show in Venice is the result of its collaborative teaching model whereby students and teachers exchange critical ideas so that teaching becomes a "research instrument".

The event includes a variety of multimedia installations, workshops, symposia and publications.

Global Mass – Living Mass. Beyond Artificiality: Living Materials is a composite and multimedia installation created in collaboration with students from 20 other international universities, including the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, UNIBE in the Dominican Republic and Chandigarh University in India.

Here, the installation's collaborative production and creative process were recorded and recomposed into a physical exhibition titled "University Dialogs" which showcases how creative practices and processes are developed in global contexts.

The event also includes a virtual exhibition titled Knowledge Transfer curated by RMIT professor, Tom Kovac; designer, researcher and educator, Daniela Ghertovici; architect and Zaha Hadid Architects principal, Patrik Schumacher; and the New York Tech curatorial team, Perbellini, Del Signore, Manninger and Papadopopulou.

Housed within two digital platforms called CityX Venice and Metrotopia Metaverse, the virtual exhibition features online lectures, roundtable discussions and workshops, which aim to bring together the world's leading architects, researchers and educators.

The virtual exhibition's aim is to showcase how contemporary design is responding to disruptive global patterns and technologies that are transforming architectural practice.

For example, CityX Venice features a series of pavilions where visitors can explore online exhibitions and event content from around the world and engage with interactive features.

It includes the cutting-edge work of world-renowned architecture schools and institutions such as SCI-Arc, Penn Weitzman, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, MIT, Innsbruck University, NYIT, USC, Curtin University, RMIT University, Taubman University and The Architectural Association, among others.

Meanwhile, Metrotopia Metaverse is an interactive digital exhibition featuring large-scale works by Zaha Hadid Architects, MAD, OMA, Coop Himmenblau, Morphosis, LAVA, Contemporary Architecture Practice, Archi-Union Architects, NFTism and UNStudio, among others.

Metrotopia Metaverse, created by Zaha Hadid Architects and Daniela Ghertovici's research-based design lab, ArchAgenda, is billed as "a design metropolis for the knowledge economy".

According to the organisers, it serves as a 'design sandbox', an "isolated testing environment used by software developers for the 'physical' future'" where digital experiences are blended with physical ones.

Students as Researchers: Creative Practice and University Education is on show at the Armenian Culture Studies and Documentation Center, Dorsoduro 1602, Venice, from May 20 until 26 November 2023.

The event is one of nine collateral events taking place across the city that form part of The Laboratory of the Future, an exhibition curated by the Biennale's curator, Ghanaian-Scottish architect Lesley Lokko.

In addition to the Architecture and Design school's participation in the Venice Biennale, in recent years, it has taken significant strides in various domains, including research initiatives, publications, design competitions, student engagement, career opportunities, and stronger, more productive cooperation with the professional fields.

Highlights include the establishment of unique research labs in the fields of biomaterials, AI/machine learning, robotics, and state-of-the-art digital fabrication facilities at both its Manhattan and Long Island campuses.

In addition, it has developed strategies for the continuous integration of emerging technologies in STEM curricula including interdisciplinary courses, workshops and experiential learning activities.

To learn more about the NYIT School of Architecture and Design, visit its website.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for the School of Architecture and Design at the New York Institute of Technology as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.