The prominent porch in front of the US pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale is designed to suggest “An Architecture of Generosity.”
Photographer: Simone Padovani/Getty Images EuropeAmerica, ‘Nation of Porches’
The US pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale highlights a global idea that found its best expression in American buildings: the porch.
Of all America’s contributions to world architecture, the humble porch might not be the first thing that springs to mind. These usually modest structures are nonetheless the focus of the US pavilion exhibit at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, the world’s largest and arguably most prestigious architectural exhibition.
Entitled “Porch! An Architecture of Generosity,” the installation both highlights the distinctiveness and ubiquity of the US porch and proposes it as a shining example of unsung qualities in the nation’s built environment that deserve to be more widely celebrated and emulated. The exhibit extolls the porch as an illustration of graceful climate adaptation, an amenity that fosters neighborliness and a space that balances private and public uses — all while inviting people to shelter and mingle. The exhibition’s curators argue, in fact, that America’s love of porches reveals something about the nation itself.