For the 14th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, its curator Rem Koolhaas (Rotterdam, 1944) chose the title Fundamentals. Under this motto, the objective is to discover new paths in architecture by revisiting its fundamental elements. To this end, the Dutch architect and founder of OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) explained that the exhibition would be “about architecture, not architects (...), Fundamentals will focus on histories – on the inevitable elements of all architecture used by any architect, anywhere, anytime.” It is no surprise thus that the exhibition curated by Koolhaas in the central pavilions of the Biennale should be titled ‘Elements of Architecture,’ and that it proposes an in-depth analysis of what he considers to be the fifteen key elements out of which architecture is made: floor, wall, ceiling, roof, door, window, facade, balcony, corridor, fireplace, toilet, stair, escalator, elevator and ramp. This exhibition, complemented with a catalogue organized in fifteen books, one devoted to each element, is the result of a research of over two years developed in collaboration with AMO (the research branch of OMA), Harvard University and a number of experts.