#BiennaleArchitettura2025 - Pavilions
People - Architects - Curators - Exhibitors - Designers - Artists
The International Biennale Architettura 2025 - curated by - Carlo Ratti - till 23 November - takes place in the Arsenale and in the Giardini. This year’s Exhibition - entitled - Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective - explores how diverse forms of intelligence—human, natural, artificial, and collective—can shape a more adaptive built environment. "Intelligens," meaning "people" in Latin, calls for collaboration beyond AI and digital tools. With over 300 contributions from 750+ participants—architects to artists, scientists to chefs—serves as a living lab for interdisciplinary experimentation. In times of adaptation, architecture must be inclusive, dynamic, and deeply collaborative.
Golden Lion for best National Participation
Kingdom of Bahrain - Heatwave
Golden Lion for best National Participation went to the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Pavilion offers viable proposal for extreme heat conditions. As the designers explain, “Architecture must address the dual challenges of environmental resilience and sustainability". The ingenious solution can be deployed in public spaces and in locations where people must live and work outdoors in conditions of extreme heat. The pavilion uses traditional methods of passive cooling typical of the region and reminiscence of wind towers and shaded courtyards.
Curator and Exhibitor - Kingdom of Bahrain Pavilion - Andrea Faraguna
Seen in the Arsenale
Fashion Designer - Diane von Furstenberg - President of La Biennale di Venezia
Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Carlo Ratti - curator - Biennale Architettura 2025
Italia Pavilion
TERRÆAQUÆ. L’Italia e l’intelligenza del mare
Curator - Guendalina Salimei
Seen in the Italia Pavilion
Adriano Berengo
Republic of Uzbekistan - Pavilion
A Matter of Radiance
The National Pavilion of Uzbekistan explores the Heliocomplex - Sun - a modernist solar furnace built in 1987 near Tashkent, one of only two such structures globally. Initially part of Cold War scientific rivalry, it mirrored France’s Odeillo facility. Once a symbol of utopian progress, the furnace now sits in a suspended future, oversized for its current context. Instead of viewing its obsolescence as failure, the pavilion sees it as a space for critical reflection. It questions the structure’s contemporary scientific and cultural relevance. This opens pathways to reimagine its purpose beyond mere preservation.
Ireland Pavilion
Assembly
Assembly in the Ireland Pavilion is both a gathering of people and the act of constructing a whole from parts—central to architecture. Created by architects, a composer, poet, and woodworker, it’s a circular, modular structure for non-hierarchical dialogue among strangers. Meant for public spaces, it invites civic participation. Inside, soundboxes play music, poetry, and interviews, forming a polyphonic soundscape. The pavilion is both instrument and reflection—on how we come together and what we build when we do.
co-curator and co-exhibitor - Louise Cotter
Sultanate of Oman Pavilion
Traces
Traces draws inspiration from the traditional Omani Sablah—a communal space where stories are shared and bonds are built. More than architecture, the Sablah embodies cultural memory, resilience, and sustainable design. The pavilion reimagines this space, blending past and present to inspire future connections. Each corner tells a story of authenticity, creativity, and intergenerational continuity.
The Jury - Seen at the Arsenale
Hans Ulrich Obrist - Paola Antonelli - Mpho Matsipa
Kingdom of Morocco Pavilion
Materiae Palimpsest
Materiae Palimpsest is a manifesto exploring the future of traditional Moroccan know-how through an immersive, multi-sensory installation. Composed of 72 varied-height columns made from diverse local materials, the pavilion evokes Morocco’s landscapes and construction cultures. It serves as both a tactile glossary and a call to [re]think, [re]use, and [re]adapt ancestral techniques for future innovation.
co-curator and co-exhibitor - El Mehdi Belyasmine
Latvia Pavilion
Landscape of Defence
What does it mean to live on NATO’s external border during conflict? This exhibition explores Latvia’s military defence from the perspective of its border residents. It highlights how geography creates a constant threat, shaping both daily life and the landscape. The aim is to examine the link between defence and spatial conditions, contributing to global architectural discourse.
Co-exihibitor - Manten Devriendt and Co-curator - Co-exhibitor Liene Jakobsone
Pavilion of the Applied Arts
La Biennale di Venezia - Victoria and Albert Museum London
On Storage
The Pavilion of the Applied Arts, presented for the ninth consecutive year by La Biennale di Venezia and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, is titled On Storage. The exhibition explores the global architecture of the storage spaces used to move goods and presents a new six-channel film titled Boxed: The Mild Boredom of Order, directed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). The work was commissioned in view of the public opening of the V&A East Storehouse in London, a new operational warehouse and free admission visitor centre of the V&A designed by DS+R. Curated by Brendan Cormier, Chief Curator of V&A East, in collaboration with DS+R.
Curator - Brendan Cormier
V&A East Storehouse - Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Seen at the Arsenale
Designer - Margherita Palli and Trendsetter - Alan Journo
United Arab Emirates - UAE - Pavilion
Pressure Cooker
Pressure Cooker explores how architecture can support food security, using the UAE as a case study. The project reimagines greenhouse models to suit the region’s climate and context, integrating them into urban life. It examines existing, often hidden, food-growing systems and proposes adaptable, climate-responsive structures. Through this, the exhibition envisions architecture as a tool for sustainable food futures.
United States of America Pavilion
Porch: An Architecture of Generosity
Porch: An Architecture of Generosity reimagines the American porch as a symbol of hospitality, democracy, and community. Serving as both structure and gathering space, a new porch frames the U.S. Pavilion and hosts performances, dialogue, and social exchange. Inside, the exhibition showcases 50+ American designers and architects whose work addresses urgent social, cultural, and environmental issues through the ethos of the porch.
Spirit House - Plywood Prototype - 2025
Stepehn Burks Man made Objects of Belonging
Seen in the U.S.A. Pavilion
Artist - Anish Kapoor
GBR: Geology of Britannic Repair
GBR: Geology of Britannic Repair explores how architecture is implicated in ongoing “empires of geology” defined by forms of extraction that are complicit in inequality, injustice, and environmental degradation while also recognising that architecture also offers opportunities for repair, reparation, and renewal. The exhibition transforms the British Pavilion into a site for reinventing and reimagining the relation between architecture and the earth.
Great Britain Pavilion - Jury Special mention
GBR: Geology of Britannic Repair
The Jury's Special Mention went to Great Britain for the dialogue with Kenya on reparation and renewal, the pavilion reveals architecture’s ties to extraction, inequality, and environmental harm. The Jury highlighted the efforts to reimagine architecture’s relationship with geology and commends the Venice Fellowship for fostering knowledge exchange between Venice, Great Britain, and Kenya.
Author, design writer - Annie Kelly and Photographer - Tim Street-Porter
Germany Pavilion
Stresstest
The German Pavilion immerses visitors in the reality of the coming urban climate. Divided into Stress and De-Stress, it contrasts extreme heat with solutions for resilient urban planning. A windsock installation by Christoph Brech illustrates climatic forces, while the pavilion itself runs on solar power with all materials planned for reuse.
Germany Pavilion
Stresstest
In-Between
The Japan Pavilion explores a new form of intelligence emerging from the “in-between”—the space between humans and architecture. Drawing on the Japanese concept of ma, it suggests intelligence exists not in humans or machines alone, but in their dialogue. As generative AI evolves, the exhibition invites us to rethink intelligence beyond human boundaries, embracing a more fluid, relational perspective.
Japan Pavilion
In-Between
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