By Xristina Argyros & Ryan Neiheiser

This publication is the catalogue from the Greek Pavilion at the 16^th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2018, by multidisciplinary studio Neiheiser Argyros. The School of Athens is an ambition: a utopian vision of a free, open, informal, and common space for learning. It is an in-between space. Neither inside nor outside, not quite a room, but also not simply a space for circulation. Although we typically think of learning taking place in the classroom, educators and architects have recognised for thousands of years that learning also takes place in the space between: in the hallways, on the stairs, at the café, in the quad. Socrates taught in the Agora. Plato founded his Academy in the olive grove outside of Athens and often taught while walking. The exhibition at the Greek Pavilion considers these academic common spaces as architectural specimens; objectively identified, classified, and made legible for analysis, comparison, and debate. There is no absolute definition of the academic commons. It remains subjective and open for debate.