Last chance to see - the Lisbon Architecture Triennale

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale (until 16 January) is one of the youngest architecture festivals in Europe, with this year's offering being only the second such event to take place. The organisers have attracted a host of top flight names to the proceedings including curators Sir Peter Cook, Luis Santiago Baptista and Max Risselada, working under chief curator Delfim Sardo to take on this year's theme: 'Let's talk about houses'.

“The Triennale aims to establish itself as an outstanding forum for discussing issues of contemporary architecture, starting from the principle that architectural practice is a fundamental expression of the creation of place, the construction of an integrating sense of citizenship, and cultural affirmation,” explains a Triennale spokesman.

One of the main events is Let's talk about houses: Between North and South, an exhibition at the Museu Collecao Berardo based around two emblematic experiments – the SAAL project and Alison and Peter Smithson's House of the Future. The show examines the meaning of the specificity of place, the modernist legacy and new solutions to the question of dwelling. Sir Peter Cook's contribution can be found in the exhibit The Nordic Connection, for which he undertook a tour around Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Cook explored the Nordic traditions of wood, lightness, turf and sea, which lead him to eight practices including Snohetta AS, Jensen & Skodvin Architects and Anttinen Oiva Architects, all of which have projects on display.

Elsewhere, Diogo Seixas Lopes was entrusted with the curatorship of the section exploring the relationship between Switzerland and Portugal, in particular the selection for Borderlines: the Novartis case. Designed by Siza Vieira, Souto de Moura and Peter Maerkli, the buildings chosen are all part of the pharmaceutical company's HQ campus in Basel.

Student architecture of course also plays a central part in the festival, with curator Manuel Aires Mateus' Cova da Moura competition project at the Museu da Electricidade. Here 30 proposals from students of architecture and landscape architecture are exhibited to showcase their take on rehousing citizens of the north Lisbon area Cova da Moura in response to the question: 'How is it possible for architecture to contribute to making concrete improvements to the living conditions of the people of this neighbourhood?' Make sure to see the winning design by four students from Universidade Autonoma de Lisboa under coordinator professor Pedro Campos Costa.

Andrea Klettner is a freelance journalist and the editor of Love London Council Housing