Main Programme of second International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam announced. 

The main programme of the second international Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) was announced today. The theme of the Biennale is ‘The Flood’. With the exhibitions The Water City, Mare Nostrum, Polders, Three Bays and Flow, the Biennale will spotlight the relation between water and architecture in the Netherlands and around the world. Adriaan Geuze, landscape architect and director of the office West 8, is curator of the event. 

For one month, from 26 May to 26 June 2005, the exhibitions will be on show at Las Palmas and the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam. In addition, the Biennale will feature numerous conferences, lectures, excursions, a film programme, a public weekend and a City Program. The event is intended to become a venue for an international exchange of expertise, historical knowledge and future visions that explore the advantages and disadvantages of living and working with water. 

The Dutch Water City 
This exhibition portrays the past, present and future of typical waterside towns in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the shape of scale models. The history of these towns underlines the fact that the current problem of rising water levels and advancing urbanisation, no matter how acute, is just one more chapter in the centuries-old tradition of living alongside and with water. A tradition of inventive designers and engineers who must once again rise to the challenge to come up with innovative solutions for this problem.

Mare Nostrum 
Mare Nostrum focuses on one of the most remarkable aspects of globalisation: the rise of mass tourism that relies on the presence of water. Moderate and subtropical coastal regions are a favourite destination for holidaymakers and temporary migrants who stay for the winter period. Coastal tourism is slowly spreading around the world and is a mixed blessing for local culture, ecology, economy and politics.

Polders 
The Dutch landscape of polders framed by perfectly straight ditches and dikes, and dotted with windmills, cattle and farmhouses is famed the world over. But this landscape is under siege. Advancing urbanisation, as well as changes in the agricultural and water-storage sectors, will significantly influence how the countryside is planned in the future. Highlighting the polders once again and pointing out their landscape and spatial qualities will enable us to assess the merits of developments in these areas more accurately. The development and uniqueness of the landscape will be illustrated in the exhibition with fifteen characteristic polders. (until 4 Sept.) 

Three Bays 
The exhibition Three Bays presents an extensive comparative study of four centuries of living and building in the bays of Tokyo and Amsterdam and the lagoon of Venice. (until 4 Sept.)

Flow 
Flow presents a number of internationally selected projects by young offices that are experimenting with the relation between water and landscape. The exhibition also features student work produced during an international master class with as theme ‘Design Flood Resistant Housing’. (until 21 Aug.)

For more information and pictures, please contact: 
Noortje van de Sande (Press Officer) or Carlie Janszen (Head of Communications) 
T: +31.10.20.600.33 F:+ 31.10.43.643.35 Email: press@iabr.nl http://www.biennalerotterdam.nl