top of page

crtry.

Biennale Architettura 2025 — Venice as a Laboratory for Intelligence

Location: Venice, Italy


Date: May 10 – November 23, 2025


Project: Biennale Architettura 2025 — 19th International Architecture Exhibition


Why it Matters: Positions architecture as a civic practice in a moment of ecological urgency and technological acceleration



Biennale Architettura 2025 brings together over 100 projects under the direction of Carlo Ratti, the architect and engineer known for connecting design with data, cities, and collective intelligence. His theme, Intelligens: Shaping a Living Intelligence, asks how architecture can respond to ecological breakdown, technological shifts, and social fragmentation without falling back on nostalgia or spectacle.



ree

Venice itself becomes the test case. The Biennale frames the city as a “living laboratory”—fragile and enduring at once, caught between water, history, and human presence. Across the Giardini, Arsenale, and dozens of sites throughout the city, participants explore what it means to build when resilience is less a slogan than a condition of survival.


Highlights

  • Main Exhibition (Giardini & Arsenale): Rather than a single storyline, Ratti organizes thematic paths that move from energy and circular economies to materials reuse, AI in design, and architecture’s role in rebuilding trust.


  • National Participations: 63 countries respond to the curatorial framework, from established pavilions like the U.S., Japan, and Germany to new presences including Benin, turning Venice into a global stage for architecture’s political and cultural stakes.


  • Padiglione Italia (Civitas): A look at the city as a political and ecological commons, where archival research meets experimental installation.


  • Special Projects: The Applied Arts Pavilion with the Victoria & Albert Museum explores craft and new materials; Intelligent Venice (VSF) tests digital infrastructures; the Holy See Pavilion continues its focus on architecture as a site of ethics and dialogue.


  • Collateral Events: Independent shows animate churches, palazzi, and off-site spaces, extending the Biennale across the city.


  • Biennale College Architettura: A platform for students and young practitioners, positioning the exhibition as a site of learning.


  • Public Programs (GENS): Conferences and workshops bring together architects, artists, scientists, and activists to debate climate, migration, and technology.


Prizes and Jury

The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement honors architects who have reshaped the field, while the international jury will award Golden and Silver Lions to projects that best reflect the Biennale’s curatorial vision.


A Living City, A Living Exhibition

If the 2023 Biennale speculated on possible futures, the 2025 edition sets that conversation inside a city already negotiating its survival. Venice is both backdrop and laboratory. With projects spanning bioclimatic research, AI-driven design, and radical acts of reuse, this Biennale argues that architecture is less about static form and more about systems of care, intelligence, and collective responsibility.






 
 
bottom of page