by: AIA New York
We are thrilled to announce exciting news for the AIA New York and New York City architecture community: Susan Chin, FAIA, Hon. ASLA, founder of Design Connects, has been appointed as co-commissioner of the U.S. Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, working with lead co-commissioner Peter MacKeith, Assoc. AIA, dean of the Fay Jones School at University of Arkansas, and co-commissioner Rod Bigelow, executive director of Crystal Bridges Museum.
Chin has a storied history with AIA, having served as 2013-2014 Vice President on the AIA National Board leading the Board Community Committee and participated in the Women in Architecture Leadership Summit. Locally, she served as 2005 AIA New York President after having chaired the chapter’s Design Awards and Finance committees. Additionally, Chin served on the AIA New York State board (2007–2009), while also serving on national committees such as Component Partnerships (2008) and Long Range Planning (2008).
She formed her independent consultancy, Design Connects, in 2019, after over eight years spent leading the Design Trust for Public Space, a New York City nonprofit organization at the forefront of shaping the public realm.
Titled PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, the Venice show will open May 24, 2025, focusing on the porch as “a central element in American architecture, highlighting its social, environmental, and democratic significance.” The exhibition will deliver a new temporary porch attached to the front of the U.S. Pavilion, completed in 1930 by William Adams Delano. The temporary porch environment will be designed by Marlon Blackwell of Marlon Blackwell Architects, Stephen Burks of Stephen Burks Man Made, Julie Bargmann of D.I.R.T. studio, and Maura Rockcastle of Ten x Ten Landscape Architecture and Urbanism. It follows the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale exhibition curated by Cleveland-based SPACES at the U.S. Pavilion, which focused on the role plastics play in perpetuating ecological collapse. The Architect’s Newspaper will be the exhibition’s media partner.
Chin’s extensive background in urban design and civic leadership promises to provide crucial and insightful perspective to the project. As the team prepares for the 2025 Biennale, we eagerly anticipate how they will showcase American architecture at this celebrated global forum.