20/10/2025
KSUAE student project among the top five in the International Architecture Biennale competition in Brazil
On October 18, 2025, the results of the two-stage competition among architecture schools for the 14th International Architecture Biennale were announced in São Paulo, Brazil.
A team of KSUAE student architects, led by professors Ilnar and Rezeda Akhtyamova, first advanced to the finals, which included 30 architecture schools from Brazil, the USA, Germany, Lebanon, Chile, Italy, Portugal, Peru, and Ecuador. The jury selected five winning projects and three honorable mentions from the schools' submissions. Among the winners was a team of KSUAE students with their project "Non-Toxic Succession* The Babylon Project" (From Toxic Ruins to Urban Revival).
The International Architecture Biennial in São Paulo was held for the 14th time, but for the first time in five years, it was held offline: the exhibition and a rich program of events took place over the course of a month in Ibirapuera Park, at the Oca Exhibition Center. This year, the organizers (the Brazilian Institute of Architects of the Department of São Paulo) announced a two-stage competition among architecture schools to reward the most interesting student projects.
The TIArch student team from KSUAE was the only one to represent Russia in this competition! The top five schools included: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Politecnico di Torino (Faculty of Architecture and Design), Italy; Santa Catarina State University (Brazil); Kazan State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, TIArch Studio, and Jade University of Applied Sciences (Germany). The jury also recognized projects from the School of Architecture and Design of the American University of Beirut; the Autonomous University of Chile; Federal University of Rio Grande.
This year's topic is "Extremes." The curators posed the question: "How can architecture help avoid the negative and extreme consequences of climate change?" As a result, the exhibition presents a collection of architectural solutions from around the world that address the theme of architecture's response to climate change. Projects were selected across five themes: "Forest Preservation and Urban Greening," "Embracing Water," "More Reconstruction and Sustainable Construction," "Movement and Access to Places with Renewable Energy," and "Ensuring Climate Justice and Social Housing." In their application, TIArch studio sought to encompass all the themes outlined by the organizers, and the title of the exhibition manifesto is "Non/toxic succession* The Babylon project," under the motto: "We are responsible for what our predecessors built." This addresses the issue of abandoned buildings that have lost their relevance in the present day and, acting as a "parasite" on the urban fabric, create a "toxic" environment around themselves. Such architecture marginalizes neighborhoods, creates problems, or complements existing ones. Today, this legacy poses a serious challenge for architects and requires specialized design to address these accumulated problems.
Students from the TIArch studio at KSUAE, with extensive experience participating in international architectural competitions, have compiled a large collection of works and projects on this topical subject and presented their exhibition in the format of the "Babylon" project, thereby formulating a unique perspective on the city as the interconnectedness between complex, sometimes opposing forces—society and nature, nature and technology, and technology and society again.
The exhibition brought together 36 projects, many of which have won and placed first in various international competitions, providing a multifaceted response to the question of preserving and reusing obsolete architectural objects.
KSUAE students from various undergraduate and graduate programs participated in preparing the application and exhibition, under the guidance of professors Ilnar Akhtyamov and Rezeda Akhtyamova. These students included Artur Akhunov, Sofya Shcherbak, Daria Shel, Artyom Sultanov, Radmir Valeev, Danil Nazarov, Diana Iksanova, Vladimir Obrosov, and Olga Erukova. At the announcement ceremony, the jury members emphasized their great impression of the KSUAE students' projects, their diversity, and their relevance to the Biennale's topic.
Congratulations to the student team and their supervisors on their victory!
The News is submitted by International Relations Dept of the University.