The figure of Lina Bo Bardi was proposed by Hashim Sarkis, current curator of the Biennale Architettura 2021, and approved by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia.
According to the statement made by Hashim Sarkis:
According to the statement made by Hashim Sarkis:
"If there is one architect who embodies most fittingly the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2021, it is Lina Bo Bardi. Her career as a designer, editor, curator, and activist reminds us of the role of the architect as convener and importantly, as the builder of collective visions. Lina Bo Bardi also exemplifies the perseverance of the architect in difficult times whether wars, political strife, or immigration, and her ability to remain creative, generous, and optimistic throughout [...]
Above all, it is her powerful buildings that stand out in their design and in the way that they bring architecture, nature, living, and community together. In her hands, architecture becomes truly a convening social art."
Above all, it is her powerful buildings that stand out in their design and in the way that they bring architecture, nature, living, and community together. In her hands, architecture becomes truly a convening social art."
Born in Rome in 1914, as Lina Achillina Bo (Lina Bo Bardi). Although she studied architecture at the University of Rome, her special poetic world began with the incessant creation of drawings since she was a child that would accompany her throughout her life. After obtaining the title of architect she moved to Milan. Following the destruction of her office during World War II, Bo Bardi, together with Bruno Zevi, founded the publication A Cultura Della Vita. As a member of the Italian Communist Party, she met the critic and art historian Pietro Maria Bardi, with whom she would move to Brazil, given the sad panorama that the war left in Italy.
In Brazil, her proposals, ideas, and her architecture hybridized brilliantly with nature, popular culture in a country that was being built socially and culturally, which was joined by the desire to create architecture for the people.
She lived in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, or Salvador. Her legacy was impressive and reflected in projects of all scales, from houses such as the House of Glass (an essential work of modern architecture in Brazil) to innovative theaters or museums such as the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), where her architecture was influenced by international mega-structural currents and the result was a suspended a 70-meter-long building over a square, which was also a balcony to the city, a work that runs through countless examples such as the restoration of the Solar do Unhão in 1940, the Chame-Chame House in 1964, the Sesc Pompéia in 1977 and the People Theater in 1984.
"We hope that the 2021 edition of La Biennale —rather than inflate her popularity as an architectural icon— will help to even better contextualize and communicate the depth of Lina Bo Bardi’s critical view of the world: always caring for the least culturally represented, consistently aware of the importance of diversity in art and architecture, and committed to a multidisciplinary approach to architecture
The 2021 Special Golden Lion resounds with the impact of the architect’s own words: Lina Bo Bardi’s life and oeuvre are not of the past, but still very much of the present. In fact, they seem more relevant today than ever before as markers of both architectural and human heritage."
The 2021 Special Golden Lion resounds with the impact of the architect’s own words: Lina Bo Bardi’s life and oeuvre are not of the past, but still very much of the present. In fact, they seem more relevant today than ever before as markers of both architectural and human heritage."
The Golden Lion for a professional career is an award that the Architecture Biennale regularly grants. Among the latest winners are: Rem Koolhaas (2010); Álvaro Siza (2012); Phyllis Lambert (2014); Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2016); and Kenneth Frampton (2018). However, the special in memoriam award so far has been exceptional, before Bo Bardi, the Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara was awarded this distinction in 2010, on the recommendation of Kazuyo Sejima, curator of the Biennale of that same year, edition that hosted also an exhibition dedicated to the work of Bo Bardi in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini.
