Open Invitation

Project Partner
19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia U.S. Pavilion

Project Mission
Invite everyone to create architecture rooted in shared authorship, creative optimism, and collective care.

Guiding Principles
Like our community-centered projects, Open Invitation invites the public to be an active participant in the work. Together, each person helps to slowly reveal twelve guiding principles and core beliefs that drive our work.

1.  Architecture is for everyone.
2. How we build shapes how we live. 
3. Design begins with listening.
4. Constraint inspires innovation.
5. Optimism is applying creativity to any context.
6. Collaboration expands what is possible.
7. Infuse beauty in every space.
8. Spaces can support and heal.
9. Design for longevity.
10. Learn from what is built.
11. Mission drives every project.
12. To design is to build the world we want to see.

Responding to the curators’ call to interpret the American porch as an architecture of generosity, Open Invitation asks what it means to build a world where people see themselves in design, and where design is shaped by those it serves. Rather than making a model, we modeled the way we work: a process grounded in curiosity, optimism, and collaboration. Visitors joined in the transformation by taking a postcard, slowly uncovering our practice’s guiding principles, affirming that design can be generous, inclusive, and for all.

Architecture for Public Benefit Team
Chana Haouzi, Matthew Okazaki, Akima Brackeen, Cameron Runte

Collaborators
Part of PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, the U.S. Pavilion exhibition at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
Organized by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas in collaboration with DesignConnects and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Fabricators: Avenue Metal
Printing: Spudnik Press