The 2012 deCordova Biennial is a survey exhibition focused on emphasising the quality and variety of work rather than on any single or overarching theme. Highlighting artists from across New England, the exhibition displays a diverse range of approaches to media and content. The exhibition is co-curated by deCordova curator Dina Deitsch
and independent curator and former owner/director of the Judi Rotenberg Gallery in Boston, Abigail Ross Goodman. This version of the Biennial features 23 artists and collaborative projects and occupies the entire museum and beyond— reaching into the park, Boston, and nearby communities through several
public, off-site projects.

The Dutchman Bas Princen (1975°) is one of a generation of photographers who are in their very own way associated with the 'New Topographics'. This is a group of ten now historical landscape photographers that includes Robert Adams and Bernd & Hilla Becher, and while they distanced themselves from subjectively-tinged photography in an attempt to render the stark reality as faithfully as possible, Princen objectifies the urban space in a comparable way but with his tongue in his cheek. Seen through Princen's lens, anonymous urban architecture assumes an almost magical and vaguely surrealist air.

This exhibition features five architectural propositions that critically challenge the discipline’s prevailing attempt to address the environmental crisis as either an engineering problem to be simply ‘solved’ (by an invisibly banal technology), or camouflaged (by a slippery digital ‘performalism’). Rather than reviling or revering technology, SOUPERgreen explores the way technology may enhance constructive engagement with the environment, by promoting more exuberant green experiences. The show includes newly completed projects by Wes Jones, Doug Jackson, Aryan Omar, Steven Purvis, and Randolph Ruiz, demonstrating how this ‘souped up’ approach to green architecture leverages the expressive potential of ‘meaner, greener’ technology.

The architectonic qualities of Mike Bouchet sculptures on are show in this exhibition. Featuring recent and new work, the Cobra Museum has given free rein to the Frankfurt-based American artist, with the central sculpture being ‘Sir Walter Scott’ (2010), a newly reworked edition of ‘Watershed’, which was initially presented at the 2009 Venice Biennial. Other works include ‘Bouchet Pool Office’ (2010), an operating office for Bouchet’s custom-made swimming pools; 'Colony Garden' (2010), a 16 sq m plateau that appears like an island floating in space; and 'Bright and White Amateur Golf' (2010), an indoor golf installation.

If you like an exhibition that does what it says on the title then this snapshot of international architecture’s next generation ticks the box. Exploring work by young architects from the annual Architectural Review Awards, which is now in its 12th year, the programme is open to architects and designers under 45, and regularly attracts over 500 entries from around the world. A diverse selection of projects covering buildings, interiors, product design, engineering structures, urbanism and landscape is on display, with winners including Shima Kitchen by Atelier Ryo Abe, Teshima Island, Japan, and Studio East Dining by Carmody Groarke, Stratford, London, UK.

Initiated by Alessandro Petti, Sandi Hilal and Eyal Weizman in 2007, Decolonizing Architecture is a project set up as a research studio and residency programme in Beit Sahour, Bethlehem. The studio examines architecture to articulate the spatial complexities of decolonization, taking the conflict over Palestine as their main case study. Collaborating with a range of individuals including artists, filmmakers, activists, academics and non-profit organisations, this exhibition builds on their work over the last three years and is comprised of research material, photography, architectural models and  video/film works, and brings together three core projects (De-Parcelization, Return to Nature, and The Red Castle and the Lawless Line).

Initiated, curated and organised as a joint venture between DAM (no relation, ed.) and DekaBank, which also finances the IHA, this award is given to a building that stands out for its special aesthetic appeal, pioneering design, integration into the cityscape, sustainability but also innovative technology and cost-effectiveness, with planners and developers awarded the prize jointly. Nominated buildings had to be at least 100m-high and commissioned in the last two years and this year’s five finalists include the Aqua Tower in Chicago by Studio Gang Architects (developer: Magellan Development Group) and The Met in Bangkok by WOHA Architects/ associated architects: Tandem Architects (developer: Pebble Bay Thailand).

One to get architects and lovers of architecture smacking their lips, the World Architecture Festival attracts over 1000 architects from 80 countries (including Isay Weinfeld from Brazil and household names such as Studio Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid Architects and David Chipperfield Architects) for a programme that mixes exhibitions, seminars, competitions and networking opportunities among its many activities. The multimedia thematic exhibition Transformations relates to the way in which the built environment can be transformed by a combination of client commitment, architectural imagination, technological development and professional teamwork, while seminar speakers including Will Alsop, Josep Anton Acebillo and Jo Noero.

With the theme Let’s Talk About Houses, this Triennial is intended to stimulate debate about the question of housing in the world today. Activities centre on three exhibitions, an international conference about the relationship between architecture and politics, with the overall event designed to be platform for discussion about questions involving the social aspect of architecture, its ethical component and the cultural importance of architecture today. Highlights include A House in Luanda: Patio and Pavilion, a design competition in collaboration with the Luanda Triennial for the construction of a controlled-cost, single-family dwelling for the city of Luanda.

Present in many cultural traditions and loaded with symbolism of the human condition, this exhibition reviews the concept and representation of the labyrinth throughout history, making a clear distinction between single-path labyrinths and mazes, labyrinths with a choice of paths, and reflecting on the relevance of this element and different practices and uses today. The show comprises a series of varied spaces illustrated by works from a number of different sources, formats, authors and periods, such as archaeological pieces, engravings, photographs, maps, screenings and models, plus specially created audiovisual, animated and interactive pieces.