The Art Studio at RDG Planning & Design designed a welcoming shelter in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo: RDG Planning & Design)
By Steve King
For a few more days, the Art Studio at RDG Planning & Design is part of one of the most influential cultural events in the world: the 19th International Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition. The team’s work appears in the U.S. Pavilion exhibition, “Porch: An Architecture of Generosity,” which features the porch as a symbolic and physical space of welcome.
RDG was invited to contribute a public art installation called “Do Something GOOD for Your Neighbor,” originally commissioned for Fort Worth’s public art collection. Only a handful of U.S. projects were selected for the pavilion, placing RDG’s work alongside some of the most inventive examples of American architecture and design.
The Venice installation is a 12:1 scale model of the original project in Texas, where carved wooden benches sit below a weathering steel archway engraved with quotes from local interviews about the surrounding neighborhood. It’s inspired by Fort Worth’s ecology, architecture and local history, and it connects the city’s past and present.
The materials suggest endurance, the structure evokes shelter and openness and the form encourages interaction. As a whole, it reflects RDG’s belief that design can be an act of generosity — one that invites participation, fosters connection and reflects community identity.
“The porch is both a literal and symbolic space, where the personal meets the public and where generosity and hospitality shape our neighborhoods,” said RDG Artist and Senior Partner Matt Niebuhr, who leads the Art Studio. “‘Do Something GOOD for Your Neighbor’ gives form to stories that were nearly lost, preserving memory and offering new space for shared community identity.”
The project also reflects RDG’s broader design philosophy. Across educational facilities, civic parks and community centers, the firm often starts from the idea of the porch — a place where people gather, share stories and experience belonging. Recent examples include the Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences Campus, Plaza de La Raza in South Omaha and the Forest County Potawatomi Community Center in Wisconsin.
Participation in the Venice Biennale marks a milestone for the firm, reinforcing its view that public art and design play an essential role in inclusive placemaking. It also offers a moment to reflect on how generosity — expressed through materials, form and intention — can shape spaces at every scale.
At the U.S. Pavilion, a newly constructed porch by Arkansas architect Marlon Blackwell greets visitors from around the world, setting the tone for the exhibition’s themes of welcome, equity and connection. RDG’s installation stands among diverse responses from designers across the country, each imagining a more inclusive and community-centered architectural future.
Although the exhibition closes this Sunday, Nov. 23, “Do Something GOOD for Your Neighbor” continues to echo the pavilion’s guiding idea: that a simple gesture of hospitality can invite the past, engage the present and imagine a more connected future.
Steve King is an architect and senior partner at RDG Planning and Design with a 2,400-day Duolingo streak. He and his family visited the Venice show a few weeks ago.
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