Author: Yagmur Baydir

Taiwan has officially inaugurated its collateral event at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Titled NON-Belief: Taiwan Intelligens of Precarity, the exhibition opened on May 8, 2025, at the historic Palazzo delle Prigion. Led by curators Cheng-Luen Hsueh, Ping-Sheng Wu, Sung-Chang Leo Chiang, and Meng-Tsun Su, Taiwan’s pavilion explores the nation’s architectural ingenuity through the lens of precarity, an architectural intelligence born from vulnerability. The concept of “[non]” anchors the exhibition’s framework, positioning Taiwan’s architectural culture as one that thrives in ambiguity, adapts in uncertainty, and envisions possibility through marginality. The NON-Belief exhibition features 17 proposals…

What if architecture didn’t just exist in nature, but behaved like it? That’s the provocation behind BIOTOPIA: Propagative Structures, the visionary installation by The Why Factory and artist Federico Díaz at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. Presented in the main exhibition curated by Carlo Ratti under the theme Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., the project reimagines a future in which biology becomes the basis of design, and our cities are not just livable but alive. Developed by The Why Factory, the think tank led by Winy Maas at TU Delft, in collaboration with visual artist Federico Díaz, BIOTOPIA is part installation,…

At the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Lagos-based Oshinowo Studio presents Alternative Urbanism: Self-Organising Markets of Lagos, a powerful multimedia installation exploring informal economies and circular systems rooted in West African urbanism. Invited by Biennale curator Carlo Ratti, the studio responds to his call for rethinking architecture through the lens of the circular economy. The project focuses on three dynamic, self-regulating markets in Lagos, Ladipo Market, Computer Village, and Katangua, each a hub for second-hand materials, electronics, and clothing. These spaces are more than commercial zones. They function as decentralized, bottom-up infrastructures of repair, reuse, and…

At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, Diller Scofidio + Renfro introduce Canal Café, an unexpected and provocative installation that invites the public to literally drink Venice. Located within the Arsenale, this experimental espresso bar converts lagoon water into purified water used to make what may be the most distinctive espresso in Italy. The concept is both playful and profound. While Venice’s canals have long symbolized the city’s beauty and cultural wealth, they are also tied to more sobering associations, pollution, flooding, and environmental vulnerability. Canal Café reclaims these waters, treating them as both a resource and a metaphor. The installation…

At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, a collaboration between Holcim and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena’s firm ELEMENTAL introduces a new kind of building, one that stores carbon instead of emitting it. Presented within the Time Space Existence exhibition, the full-scale prototype brings together biochar technology, recycled materials, and a rethink of how we address urgent housing needs. The project centers on a Basic Services Unit, a precast housing model built for speed, scale, and sustainability. It follows ELEMENTAL’s philosophy of incremental design: offering essential components like sanitation and structure, while allowing future residents to expand and personalize their homes…

Opening at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, FundamentAI offers a visionary take on urban design, one shaped not only by artificial intelligence, but by the ecological intelligence of Venice’s lagoon. Developed by ecoLogicStudio in collaboration with the Synthetic Landscape Lab at the University of Innsbruck, the project invites visitors to experience architecture as a co-evolution between human, machine, and microbial life. Located in the historic Arsenale, FundamentAI anchors its immersive installation in a provocative question: What if cities didn’t just respond to people, but to nature itself? Anchoring the project is a speculative but deeply…

Opening on May 10, 2025, at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the Luxembourg Pavilion unveils Sonic Investigations, a sensorially immersive exhibition that shifts architectural focus from the visual to the auditory. Curated by Valentin Bansac, Mike Fritsch, and Alice Loumeau, with contributions from sound artist Ludwig Berger and philosopher Peter Szendy, the exhibition transforms the Arsenale’s Sale d’Armi into a spatial soundscape rooted in listening. In a world saturated by images, Sonic Investigations asks: what happens when we close our eyes and tune in instead? Drawing inspiration from John Cage’s 4’33” and the theories of…

At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) unveils Ancient Future, a living exhibition that bridges Bhutanese tradition with advanced technology. Presented in the Arsenale as part of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition curated by Carlo Ratti, the project celebrates the design of Bhutan’s upcoming Gelephu International Airport, where heritage craftsmanship is scaled through robotics. At the center of the installation are four glulam timber beams, each 3.5 meters long, shaped in the diamond pattern that will define the airport’s mass timber diagrid structure. Two of these beams are hand-carved on site by Bhutanese artisans Sangay Thsering and…

For the first time in its history, the Republic of Togo is participating in the Venice Architecture Biennale. Set within the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, the Togo Pavilion, titled Considering Togo’s Architectural Heritage, marks a major cultural milestone, spotlighting the nation’s rich and complex built environment on a global stage. Curated by architecture and research studio Studio NEiDA, co-founded by Jeanne Autran-Edorh and Fabiola Büchele, the pavilion is hosted at Squero Castello and offers a layered reflection on Togo’s architectural legacy. With studios based in Lomé and Berlin, Studio NEiDA approaches architectural discourse through an Afrocentric and equity-focused lens, making…

The National Pavilion UAE opens its sixth participation at the Venice Architecture Biennale with Pressure Cooker, a bold exhibition curated by architect and researcher Azza Aboualam. On view from 10 May to 23 November 2025 at the Arsenale’s Sale d’Armi, the exhibition explores the intricate relationship between architecture, food security, and climate change, with a special focus on adaptive greenhouse systems designed for arid environments like the UAE. Presented as part of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Pressure Cooker positions architecture not just as a spatial discipline, but as a tool for survival and resilience…