The board of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam has appointed Adriaan Geuze to curate the second International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam. He succeeds Francine Houben, curator of the first International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, which was held in Rotterdam from 7 May to 7 July 2003.
Geuze is attached to, and co-founder of, West 8 urban design & landscape architecture and Surrealistic Landscape Architecture (SLA) in Rotterdam, and also teaches at Harvard University in Boston. He will continue his design activity at West 8 without disruption.
The second International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam will focus on "water" in relation to architecture, urban design, landscape architecture and physical planning. Water has been the decisive factor in human settlement throughout all periods and cultures. The history of architecture contains numerous cases where water has even been deployed in a euphoric manner. The questions revolve around whether modern technology, overpopulation and climate change are now disrupting the relation between humanity (settlement) and water, and exposing the fragility of systems.