Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 Curated by Carlo Ratti | “Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective.”

INTRODUCTION

This year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Carlo Ratti under the theme “Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective”, offered an experience that pushed us beyond the boundaries of architecture—as designers, collaborators, and citizens navigating a rapidly evolving world.

Together with my business partner, I spent several immersive days in Venice, exploring a diverse landscape of national pavilions, speculative projects, living installations, and algorithm-driven structures. Rather than presenting a unified vision of the future, the Biennale revealed a rich, often contradictory ecosystem of ideas, highlighting the complexity and plurality of architectural discourse today.

What follows is not a comprehensive review, but rather a glimpse into this year’s Biennale from our perspective. We’ve highlighted a few of the pavilions and installations that resonated most with us, though we acknowledge that the sheer scale and conceptual density of the event make any interpretation necessarily partial and subjective.

One of the most striking themes that emerged from this year’s Biennale was the dual challenge facing contemporary architecture. On one hand, there is a clear and urgent drive to respond to the climate crisis—to protect, restore, and engage in meaningful dialogue with nature. On the other hand, we witnessed a growing reliance on advanced technologies aimed at optimizing performance, efficiency, and adaptability.

Interestingly, this forward-looking embrace of high-tech innovation was often accompanied by a parallel sense of nostalgia—a renewed appreciation for handmade materials, organic forms, and natural patterns. This return to the tactile and the elemental reflects a broader cultural interest in biophilic design, where architecture seeks to reconnect humans with the natural world through texture, scale, and sensory experience.

SELECTED PAVILIONS

Polish Pavilion: “Lares and Penates: About Building a Sense of Security in Architecture”

The Polish Pavilion, presented an exploration of how architecture fosters a sense of security. The exhibition juxtaposed modern safety elements like fire extinguishers and surveillance cameras with traditional symbols such as horseshoes and sacred corners. This blend of the contemporary and the folkloric highlighted architecture's role in providing both physical and emotional protection. It was a poignant reminder of the deep cultural narratives embedded in our built environments.

Commissioner: Agnieszka Pindera
Curator: Aleksandra Kędziorek
Exhibitors: Krzysztof Maniak, Katarzyna Przezwańska and Maciej Siuda
Venue: Giardini

United States: PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity

Commissioner/Curator: Peter MacKeith, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas
Exhibitors: Stephen Burks Man Made (Stephen Burks; Malika Leiper), University of Arkansas, Community Design Center (Stephen Luoni), Urban Design Build Studio, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design (John Folan, FAIA), Places Journal Editorial Board, Charlie Hailey, Timothy Hursley, and 54 individual exhibitors
Venue: Giardini

This pavilion invited visitors to slow down. A full-scale wooden porch stretched across the façade, welcoming us to sit, observe, talk. It was a simple, understated gesture—but it worked.
The exhibition reflected on the porch as a liminal space, where private and public meet, where community happens without being forced. Inside, archival materials and contemporary installations expanded this idea into a broader conversation about race, class, and access to shared space in American cities.

We left talking about how much we overlook these “in-between” spaces in our practice—and how vital they really are.

Belgium: 'Building Biospheres'

Commissioner: Flanders Architecture Institute
Curators: Bas Smets, Stefano Mancuso
Exhibitors: Bureau Bas Smets (Bas Smets, Eva De Meersman, Luka Cockx, Erik De Waele), University of Ghent (Kathy Steppe), Plant AnalytiX (Dirk De Pauw), Elmēs, Maud Gerard Goossens, Henri Uijtterhaegen, Panta, Lisa Mandelartz, and Steven Schenk with Lisa De Visscher and Petrus Kemme
Venue: Giardini

Belgium's exhibition, curated by landscape architect Bas Smets and biologist Stefano Mancuso, introduced a living prototype integrating over 200 plants into an architectural system. The pavilion demonstrated how plant intelligence can guide architectural form and function—cooling, purifying air, and creating comfort. “Building Biospheres” acted as a working model for architecture as an active ecological system, reinforcing the central theme of natural intelligence.

Germany: STRESSTEST

Commissioner: Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building
Curators: Nicola Borgmann, Elisabeth Endres, Gabriele G. Kiefer, Daniele Santucci
Exhibitors: A24 Landschaft; ADEPT; Agence Ter; Atelier Descombes Rampini; atelier le balto; Atelier Loidl; augustinundfrank/winkler; Barkow Leibinger; bauchplan; bbz landschaftsarchitekten; bbzl böhm benfer zahiri; bfs d flachsbarth schultz; bgmr Landschaftsarchitekten; capattistaubach urbane landschaften; Christian Neumeier + Hildegard Rasthofer: Christoph Brech; Christoph Hesse Architects; David Chipperfield Architects; EMF landscape architects; Foster + Partners; GemüseheldInnen Frankfurt; GTL Landschaftsarchitektur; Gustav Götze; GROSS.MAX. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS; Grüntuch Ernst Architects; gruppe F | Freiraum für alle; Hanns Joosten; Henning Larsen; IN SITU / Paysages et urbanisme; Iwan Baan; Julian Rosefeldt; Karres en Brands; Krebs und Herde; KUEHN MALVEZZI; Landschaftsarchitektur+; liebald+aufermann LOLA Landscape Architects; Lützow 7; MAN MADE LAND; MTD Landschapsarchitecten; MVRDV; POLA Landscape Architects; raderschallpartner; rajek barosch landschaftsarchitektur; relais Landschaftsarchitekten; RMP Stephan Lenzen; Robin Winogrond; Sauerbruch Hutton; SLA; Stefan Tischer; Studio Vulkan; Uniola; Valentien + Valentien; Vogt Landscape Architects; Wagon Landscaping; WES LandschaftsArchitektur
Venue: Giardini

The German Pavilion responded to rising global temperatures with a sensory-based installation that placed visitors into environments mimicking future heat scenarios. The spatial narrative moved from discomfort to potential architectural adaptations. Strategies such as shaded courtyards, thermal massing, and water cooling were presented in both speculative and practical formats, raising urgent questions about urban thermal resilience.

Japan: In-Between

Commissioner: The Japan Foundation; Curator: Jun Aoki
Exhibitors: Tamayo Iemura, Asako Fujikura + Takahiro Ohmura , SUNAKI (Toshikatsu Kiuchi and Taichi Sunayama)
Venue: Giardini

The Japan Pavilion explores the evolving nature of intelligence in the age of generative AI, a technology rapidly approaching a potential singularity where it may surpass human intelligence. This shift prompts a reevaluation of what intelligence means. Drawing on the Japanese concept of ma—the space or tension between two entities—the pavilion introduces the idea of the “in-between” as a new framework. This concept sees intelligence not as residing solely in humans or machines, but as something that emerges in the relational space between them. Through a dialogue between humans and architecture, the pavilion invites reflection on this emerging, boundary-blurring form of intelligence. There was a lesson here about letting technology serve culture, not replace it.

THE ARSENALE EXHIBITION — “Intelligens”

The Arsenale Exhibition: A Multisensory Exploration of Intelligence in Architecture

Housed within the historic Arsenale, the main exhibition of the Venice Architecture Biennale was curated into four interrelated sections, each examining a distinct form of intelligence shaping architectural practice today. The experience was immersive, layered, and often emotionally charged—at once beautiful and unsettling. The dense spatial choreography, rich in sensory detail, evoked a sense of urgency that mirrors the instability and complexity of our current global condition.

• Natural Intelligence

  This section explored the lessons architecture can draw from biological systems and ecological processes. Projects ranged from biomimetic facades and algae-integrated wall systems to spatial morphologies shaped by environmental simulations. A recurring theme was the acknowledgment of non-human intelligence—not just as inspiration, but as an active partner in shaping responsive, adaptive design. These works suggested that architecture must evolve in closer dialogue with nature’s own logics and patterns.

• Artificial Intelligence

  Here, the focus shifted to the impact of AI on the architectural process. Exhibits demonstrated how machine learning, generative algorithms, and real-time data can be leveraged in material optimization, design iteration, and operational performance. Some installations presented AI as a co-designer—expanding creative potential—while others raised critical questions about authorship, ethics, and the shifting role of the architect in an increasingly automated, data-driven world.

• Collective Intelligence

  This section celebrated participatory approaches and community-based design. Through examples of crowdsourced urban strategies, decentralized planning models, and projects informed by local, lived experience, the exhibits emphasized the power of collective knowledge. The tone was practical and optimistic, advocating for a more inclusive definition of intelligence—one that recognizes the value of co-authorship and grassroots input in shaping built environments.

• Out

  The most speculative of the four sections, Out challenged visitors to consider architecture in extreme, often non-terrestrial contexts. From deep-sea habitats to post-anthropocene landscapes and planetary futures, these projects pushed the boundaries of architectural imagination. While conceptual in nature, they posed profound questions about the adaptability of architecture and its capacity to serve beyond human-centered needs.

author: Joanna Maria Daoud