.ART

As the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia unfolded under the curatorial direction of Carlo Ratti, the city once again transformed into a global arena of architectural speculation, ecological inquiry, and radical design thinking. With the theme Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective., this year’s Biennale invited national pavilions to interrogate the future of architecture in light of climatic, technological, and societal shifts. Among the vast and varied scope of projects, five national pavilions stand out for their conceptual rigor, poetic resonance, and speculative ambition.

Nordic Pavilion — Industry Muscle: Five Scores for Architecture
Sweden, Norway, Finland | Giardini

Set within Sverre Fehn’s iconic 1962 modernist structure, the Nordic Pavilion challenges architectural conventions through a choreographic lens. Curated by Kaisa Karvinen for the Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki, the exhibition—featuring Finnish artist Teo Ala-Ruona—presents architecture not as a static environment, but as a performative space entangled with the body, gender identity, and ecological trauma. Through a series of “scores,” the pavilion critiques the fossil-based infrastructures underpinning modernism and opens up space for trans and non-normative perspectives within spatial discourse.

Japan Pavilion — In-Between
Giardini

Japan’s contribution, In-Between, curated by the architect Jun Aoki and commissioned by the Japan Foundation, articulates a quietly radical ethos. Anchored in the Japanese philosophical concept of ma—the space or pause between things—the pavilion gestures toward a worldview that collapses the human/non-human binary. The architectural installation becomes a meditation on coexistence and non-duality, proposing an alternative design logic attuned to both the climate crisis and the rise of artificial intelligence. 

Uzbekistan Pavilion — A Matter of Radiance
Arsenale

Centering on the remarkable Sun Institute of Material Science—also known as the Sun Heliocomplex—the Uzbekistan’s pavilion, titled A Matter of Radiance, revisits a monumental feat of late Soviet scientific ambition. Built in 1987 near Tashkent, this solar furnace remains one of only two of its kind in the world, designed to test material behavior under extreme temperatures. Rather than framing the Heliocomplex as a relic, the exhibition explores its ongoing scientific and cultural relevance, inviting visitors to consider how such structures can be reinterpreted within a global, post-Soviet, and climate-conscious context. 

Iceland Pavilion — Lavaforming
Arsenale

How can destruction become a resource? Iceland’s Lavaforming, curated and conceptualized by Arnhildur Pálmadóttir in collaboration with s.ap architects, embraces the island’s violent geology as a design opportunity. Drawing from Iceland’s volcanic activity and tectonic dynamism, the pavilion proposes lava as a future building material—one that could potentially reduce carbon emissions while suggesting a deeper alliance between humans and Earth systems. Both speculative and grounded, Lavaforming offers a vision where architecture adapts not just to nature but with it.

Bahrain Pavilion — Sweating Assets
Arsenale

Awarded the prestigious Golden Lion for Best National Participation, Bahrain’s Sweating Assets is a compelling study in climate adaptation and infrastructural poetics. The pavilion reframes air conditioning—often criticized for its environmental impact—as a site of latent potential. In Bahrain’s searing heat, cooling systems inadvertently produce high levels of condensate water. Instead of condemning these systems outright, the exhibition explores how their byproducts might be redirected within a broader ecological choreography.

Featured image via Japanese Pavilion.