No Doubt About It traces the inspirations, intentions and design strategies of six projects designed by architects from Armenia, China, Georgia, Germany, Latvia and Poland. Three theatres, two museums and one residential block are examined in different stages of development through assertive positions that emerged from experimenting with intuitive ideas and perpetual doubts. Thus, the title transmits a critical, if not to say sarcastic view of what the exhibition’s curator, Vladimir Belogolovsky, the founder of the New York-based non-profit Curatorial Project, identifies as “congratulatory, safe and confident moment in the profession, to the point that most practitioners now know how to create architecture that’s relevant, proper and correct.” He says the bucket list is consistent and limited: “Architecture must be sustainable, regional, made of ecologically friendly materials, integrated into nature and it should never start from scratch. That’s about it.” He thinks this consensus is unhealthy and that diversity is what’s needed urgently—diversity of inspirations, methodologies, positions and questions asked.

The exhibition provides a platform for intentionally diverse, even contradictory ideas that are charged by innovation and ecological concerns, individualism and collaboration, artistry and pragmatism and freedom from any ideology. The curator is convinced that we need to discover what we like and what we need, not know a priori. Sharing, discussing and juxtaposing distinct ideas is the ultimate goal of this exhibition, which is presented on a cross-like freestanding apparatus that carries six projects, one by each studio, depicted through hand drawings, photos, models, videos and surrounded by an assembly positioned against the gallery’s wabbly brick walls made up of video interviews conducted by the curator and dozens of movie star-style posters with the architects’ quotes across their faces, in English and their respective languages. All graphics are designed by Prague-based graphic designer Peter Bankov and the show is designed by Shanghai-based architects Weili Zhang and Jie Song, who were inspired by the 1925 City in Space display apparatus designed by Frederick Kiesler, whose quote in the introduction states: “Form does not follow function. Function follows vision. Vision follows reality."  

The participants could not be more diverse. Zaiga Gaile of Zaigas Gailes Birojs from Riga, Latvia, presents her unique vision for the historical Wagner Theater. The adaptive reuse project, situated in the heart of Latvia’s capital, was initiated by the architect’s husband, a developer, entrepreneur and Latvia’s former PM, Māris Gailis. He formed the Riga Richard Wagner Society and led the ground funding campaign; the German Bundestag is one of the project’s biggest donors. The architect explains her design methods on one of the posters, stating, "I always start by making drawings; they are my fantasies."

Berlin architect Sergei Tchoban of Tchoban Voss Architekten displays his freehand drawings from performance-led sessions he had with professors and students of the Waldorf School in Magdeburg, Germany, for a new Festival Hall on the school’s landscaped campus, now under construction. In his interview, he explains, "When I draw, I let my sketch be free to take me wherever it will."

The next project is by Robert Konieczny, the founder of KWK PROMES in Katowice, Poland. He returned to the project he completed almost a decade ago, the Przelomy Dialogue Centre in Szczecin. The architect now oversees the site’s landscape improvements to make a popular, award-winning project even more attractive. In the show’s video, he insists, “This is the time for experimentation! Go beyond expectations! I want our buildings to lead to discoveries.”

Nikoloz Lekveishvili of TIMM Architecture, based in Tbilisi, Georgia, integrates his study of a traditional gossip balcony into the ground-up residential block, Metra Hills, which he has been designing in his hometown. The architect suggests that a balcony could be a theatrical stage. His poster declares quite provocatively, “It is important to escape the sensation of gravity, even if only for a moment." In the video, he affirms, “Architecture is a dialogue, not silence.”

Ashot and Armine Snkhchyan, the co-founders of snkh studio from Yerevan, Armenia, are engaged in transforming the Yerevan Museum of Modern Art, the 1980s Soviet Modernist building, an icon to some and an eyesore to others. The husband-and-wife team attacked it with bold personal statements in their early schemes before recognising the original structure’s unique potential. "Providing the city with public space is the most important gesture," the architects conclude. It was overheard that their interview with the curator made some traction in Yerevan and even reached the city’s mayor. The project that was originally developed as a speculative idea now has the potential to be realised.

The only non-European practice, Beijing-based Yingfan Zhang and Bu Xiaojun of Atelier Alter Architects draw our attention to their completed adaptive reuse theatre, the Dali Transformer Theatrical District. The sprawling complex rethinks the urban experience in the ancient city of Dali, Yunnan, China. While describing their design attitude, the couple points out in their interview, "We are transforming a city into a theatre and a theatre into a city." Apart from their project in Dali, Atelier Alter also exhibits their Dunhuang Con-stella-tion, an alluring galaxy-like installation at the Chinese Pavilion, curated this year by China’s most talked about architect, Ma Yansong, whose firm MAD Architects has been actively transforming skylines around the world.

STIR is a media partner with the exhibition No Doubt About It which will remain on view through November 23, 2025, coinciding with the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale curated by Torino, New York and London-based architect, engineer and educator Carlo Ratti under the theme Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.