Venice Biennale Architettura 2025 – A Visual Journey Through the Most Striking Pavilions
/The 2025 edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale opened its doors with a powerful, forward-looking theme: “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.” Curated by Carlo Ratti, this year’s event is an ambitious, multi-layered exploration of how architecture intersects with human and non-human intelligences. As I wandered through the Giardini and Arsenale, camera in hand, I encountered spaces that provoked thought, emotion, and above all—conversation.
Here’s my personal selection of some of the most visually and intellectually compelling national pavilions you should not miss:
🇭🇺 Hungary – “There Is Nothing to See Here”
The Hungarian Pavilion offers a provocative take on the evolving role of architects. Curated by Márton Pintér, the exhibition showcases 12 professionals who have applied their architectural expertise beyond traditional practice. Set within a recreated abandoned architecture studio, the pavilion critiques the shifting role of the profession and investigates alternative career trajectories. It's a compelling commentary on the versatility and adaptability of architectural knowledge in today's world.
🇧🇪 Belgium – “Building Biospheres”
A collaboration between landscape architect Bas Smets and plant neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso, this pavilion is alive—literally. A micro-forest equipped with sensors demonstrates a kind of plant intelligence, making you feel like a guest in a world where architecture meets botany. It’s immersive, strange, and striking.
🇺🇸 United States – “Porch: An Architecture of Generosity”
This reimagining of the American porch, with its raw wooden construction and layered contributions from over 50 designers, speaks to community, climate resilience, and the spaces in-between. A social and architectural commentary that feels grounded and approachable.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom – “Geology of Britannic Repair”
This one hits hard. It confronts the enduring environmental and spatial legacies of colonialism, framed around the Great Rift Valley as both metaphor and material. It’s bold, dark, and layered—more essay than installation.
🇮🇸 Iceland – “Lavaforming”
Think lava as architecture. Iceland’s contribution envisions building with lava in a post-carbon future. It’s conceptual, almost sci-fi, but deeply rooted in geological truth. Visually sparse, but intellectually dense.
🇩🇪 Germany – “Stresstest”
Germany goes all-in on heat—literally. The pavilion confronts climate extremes, with uncomfortable temperature zones designed to make you sweat, pause, and think. A sensory experience, though not one for the faint-hearted.
🇨🇭 Switzerland – “Reimagining Lisbeth Sachs”
This elegant, understated tribute to Swiss architect Lisbeth Sachs brings her subtle, humane approach to life. Quiet, poetic, and moving—a celebration of overlooked female voices in architecture.
🇶🇦 Qatar – “Beyti Beytak”
Marking its Biennale debut with a permanent pavilion, Qatar explores hospitality as architecture. It’s rich in texture and cultural layering, with voices from across the Middle East and South Asia. Warm, welcoming, and thoughtfully curated.
🇱🇻 Latvia – “Landscape of Defence”
A powerful look at the militarization of landscapes. This one gets under your skin. Stark imagery and sharp commentary on how defense infrastructure embeds itself into civilian life.
🇲🇽 Mexico – “Chinampa Veneta”
Drawing on ancestral Mesoamerican agricultural practices, this pavilion proposes alternative models of ecological sustainability. The blend of history and innovation is beautifully done.
Final Thoughts
The 2025 Biennale is less about formal aesthetics and more about relationships between people, technologies, nature, and the spaces they share. It’s one of the most intellectually engaging editions in years, and for me, one of the most photogenic.
Whether you’re an architect, photographer, or just curious, don’t miss it.
