Amid rising sea levels and growing calls for adaptable infrastructure, AquaPraça is a proposal for a floating cultural plaza hosting gatherings for global climate dialogue. Developed by CRA–Carlo Ratti Associati and Höweler + Yoon for the upcoming COP30 in Brazil, the public space harnesses natural intelligence, responsive technologies, and Archimedes’ principle to adapt to rising water levels and occupancy demands, exploring a new symbiosis between architecture and the environment.

The structure spans over 400 square meters and comprises a series of sloping surfaces and adaptive systems. Sensors, responsive technologies, and the natural flow of water work together to ensure the submersible platform adjusts its buoyancy in real-time. As water levels shift, so does AquaPraça, holding and releasing water to maintain a minimal difference between its surface and the sea. It is also designed to meet visitors at eye level with the ocean, bringing various perspectives on the realities of climate change into physical, immediate view. While models were unveiled at the main exhibition of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, the design team will return in September to debut the built prototype. In November, it will be taken to COP30 in Belém where it will anchor the Italian Pavilion, and as the summit concludes, the structure will remain in the Amazon as a long-term cultural landmark.

UPDATE September 3rd, 2025: On September 5th, 2025, AquaPraça is set to make its public debut in Venice during the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Presented by Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, in partnership with the COP30 Presidency, the floating plaza will activate the Venetian waterfront as a civic stage before beginning its transatlantic journey to Brazil. Visitors will be able to experience the platform’s sloping surfaces and responsive water-balancing systems firsthand, immersing themselves in a shifting equilibrium.

all images by DSL Studio, unless stated otherwise

A FLOATING PLAZA FOR climate discourse at COP30 in THE AMAZON 

AquaPraça is currently under construction by Cimolai in northeastern Italy, and at COP30, to be held in the Amazonian city of Belém, it will host exhibitions, workshops, and symposia as the centerpiece of Italy’s pavilion, capable of hosting over 150 people at once. Beyond its distinct position carved into the sea, the project is defined by its insistence on responsiveness.

‘In 1979, Aldo Rossi launched the Teatro del Mondo at the first Biennale Architettura, positing that architecture could engage with the past,’ says Carlo Ratti, curator of the 2025 Biennale and co-founder of CRA. ‘Today, AquaPraça shows how architecture can engage with the future — by responding to climate and engaging with nature rather than resisting it.’ 45 years after Rossi’s floating theatre moved through the Venetian lagoon, this new platform builds on that legacy, recasting architecture’s role as an active participant in shaping the environmental futures of the cities it touches.

AquaPraça makes its public debut in Venice

the floating plaza will activate the Venetian waterfront as a civic stage

visitors will be able to experience the platform’s sloping surfaces

from November 10th to 21st, 2025, it will be anchored in Belém

sensors, responsive technologies, and the natural flow of water work to ensure the platform adjusts its buoyancy

comprising a series of sloping surfaces and adaptive systems

the structure spans over 400 square meters

AquaPraça is a proposal for a floating cultural plaza hosting gatherings for global climate dialogue

developed by CRA–Carlo Ratti Associati and Höweler + Yoon

the project made its debut at the Venice Architecture Biennale in September 2025

project info:

name: AquaPraça

architect: CRA–Carlo Ratti Associati | @crassociati, Höweler + Yoon | @howeleryoonarchitecture

collaborators: Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy’s Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CIHEAM Bari, World Bank Group’s Connect4Climate program, Bloomberg Philanthropies

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More than an installation, City of Plants is a research project that questions our relationship with nature in the urban realm. Presented at the Biennale Architettura 2025 and curated by Carlo Ratti, City of Plants is the result of a collaboration between Parcnouveau and MAD and explores new scenarios of coexistence among humans, plants, and artificial intelligences. In an era where cities are complex layers of materials, technologies, and living presences, the project proposes a paradigm shift: to rethink the landscape not as a static backdrop, but as a relational and dynamic system where people, nature, and AI coexist as active agents.

invited by Carlo Ratti, curator of the 19th Venice International Architecture Biennale, Ma Yansong presents City of Plants, an architectural installation by MAD | all images courtesy of MAD

CARLO RATTI CURATES ai-RESPONSIVE ECOSYSTEM 

The installation by MAD emerges from this investigation as a responsive ecosystem made up of three main elements: a base equipped with environmental sensors, three living micro-landscapes enclosed in transparent cases, and an immersive sound and light environment that constantly evolves. With the contribution of the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, electrodes capture the environmental conditions affecting the plants—humidity, temperature, light—and translate them into sound frequencies that compose a real-time musical landscape. At the same time, visitors’ movements are detected and interpreted by intelligent algorithms, generating an ever-changing dialogue between humans and the vegetal world.

In this shared space, natural and artificial intelligences converge to create a common language in which plants are no longer passive presences, but active interlocutors capable of expressing states, needs, and rhythms. The design combines advanced technologies of sensing and bio-interaction with a material and spatial presence that blurs the boundary between art, architecture, and landscape. Transparent domes, resting on organically shaped bases, host curated micro-forests: miniature self-regulating ecosystems that recall both autonomous and fragile worlds. Their futuristic, greenhouse-like appearance evokes landed spaceships, while the interplay between the engineered shell and the spontaneous vitality of the vegetation generates a subtle tension between architecture and nature.

City of Plants presents a vision of a future urban landscape where humans and nature coexist in harmony

CITY OF PLANTS IS AN INVITATION TO RETHINK LANDSCAPE 

Visitors are invited to touch, listen, and perceive, transforming the installation into a sensitive machine where the human body becomes part of the work. The historical backdrop of the Corderie dell’Arsenale, with its raw bricks and traces of time, contrasts with the smooth surfaces of the structures, producing a suspended atmosphere in which past and future intersect. Here, nature is not nostalgia, but a project of future cohabitation.

As Margherita Brianza, founder of Parcnouveau, affirms: ‘City of Plants is an invitation to rethink the role of landscape in contemporary cities—towards spaces that are not only efficient or optimized, but capable of hosting creative encounters between intelligences and generating harmony through complexity.’ On view inside the Corderie dell’Arsenale until November 23, 2025, City of Plants will continue to evolve through the passing days, seasons, and the relationships it will be able to activate.

City of Plants continuously monitors plant growth conditions in real time through environmental sensors

in this future city, the richness of human sensory experience within nature becomes the primary measure of urban quality

the installation is composed of a responsive base equipped with high-precision sensors, an integrated AV interaction system, and three connected ecological landscapes enclosed within dome-like structures

as visitors enter, sensors embedded in the floor detect the rhythm of their footsteps, which are also translated into sound through a custom algorithm

City of Plants is enclosed within a single dome that unifies the entire installationwith this project, MAD symbolizes both ecological conservation and a vision for a hopeful future

project info:

name: City of Plants

event: 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale Di Venezia
design: MAD | @madarchitects & Parcnouveau | @parcnouveau

principal partners: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
design team: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano, Andrea D’Antrassi, Chiara Ciccarelli, Giuseppe Zaccaria, Evrim Ecem Saçmalı, Licia D’Antrassi, Giovanni Colombara, Fiona Ziying Qi, Alessandro Fisalli, Julian Salvadori
experience design and AI research: Bruno Zamborlin
landscape: Parcnouveau | @parcnouveau
lighting: Flux CS
bonsai specialist: Crespi
musical composer: Michele Tadini
visual artist: Proloog.tv
additional support: ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Logli Saint-Gobain

on view: May 10th — November 23rd, 2025

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In an exploration of architecture’s emotional and cultural dimensions, Mexican studio MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona presents ‘Crafting Atmosphere’ at Palazzo Mora, Venice. This exhibition, part of the European Cultural Centre’s ‘Time Space Existence’ exhibition during Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, serves as an immersive spatial narrative, distilling the firm’s design ethos into a powerful experience. It is a meditation on how architecture can transcend mere form and function, inviting visitors to engage with space as a layered and deeply felt construct.

all images by Patricia Parinejad unless stated otherwise

The ‘Crafting Atmosphere’ exhibition, presented by MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona, is structured around three core design strategies, each articulated on a distinct wall to form a conceptual triptych: ‘Transitional Thresholds’, ‘Subtractive Light’, and ‘Transformative Skins’. ‘Transitional Thresholds’ explores the power of liminal spaces – the portals and pauses that create temporal resonance. ‘Subtractive Light’ emphasizes the sculpting of space through voids, allowing light to become a primary material that frames and intensifies experience. Finally, ‘Transformative Skins’ showcases envelope systems where a single tectonic unit becomes a modulating surface, expressing both identity and permeability.

MATERIA + gustavo carmona narrates emotion of architecture in venice exhibition

emotional and cultural layers of architecture

A luminous line encircles the installation, binding the diverse elements into a continuous perceptual loop. On the floor, tactile models invites slow, deliberate observation, while a suspended linen canvas above unfolds a constellation of architectural drawings and sketches. This vertical archive of thought and process – part exhibition, part spatial poem – affirms architecture as a cultural act: a vessel for memory, ritual, and transformation. ‘Crafting Atmosphere’ is a counterpoint to the relentless pursuit of efficiency and abstraction in contemporary architecture. It is a powerful call for presence, for sensual intelligence, and for the creation of spaces that remember and resonate long after they have been experienced.

The ‘Crafting Atmosphere’ exhibition, presented by MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona as part of  the European Cultural Centre’s ‘Time Space Existence’ exhibition, can be viewed at Palazzo Mora from May 5 – November 23, 2025 during Venice Architecture Biennale 2025.

it is part of the European Cultural Centre’s ‘Time Space Existence’ during Venice Architecture Biennale 2025

visitors are invited to engage with space as a layered and deeply felt construct

the exhibition is structured around three core design strategies

image by MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona

drawings by MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona

Crafting Atmosphere is a counterpoint to the relentless pursuit of efficiency and abstraction in architecture

drawings by MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona

drawings by MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona

project info:

exhibition: Crafting Atmosphere
designer: MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona | @_materia

curator: European Cultural Centre

venue: Palazzo Mora, Venice

dates: May 5 – November 23, 2025

photography: Patricia Parinejad

sponsors: Zordan, Arozarena y Páramo, Predecon, Factor Eficiencia, Poesía Glass Studio, Kendu, Cristal + Diseño, Asintelix

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

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Coinciding with Venice‘s 19th International Architecture Biennale, Edra furnishes the Fondazione Querini Stampalia with its contemporary collection, marking a significant new chapter that elevates the museum‘s historic and evolving cultural landscape. This renewal, inaugurated on May 5th, 2025, under director Cristiana Collu and commencing on the symbolic birth date of its philanthropic founder Count Giovanni Querini Stampalia (1868), aims to elevate the Foundation as a key reference point for the Italian and international art scene. Within this historically rich context, elements from the Edra Collection establish a harmony with the Foundation’s architecture and cultural orientations.

Absolu sofa by Francesco Binfaré inside the Riva Botta area | all images by ​​Pietro Savorelli, courtesy of Edra

FURNITURE WITH TUSCAN ROOTS

Since 1987, Edra has maintained a precise philosophy centered on producing comfort, elegance, and performance with superlative quality. Rooted in Tuscany, the company deeply integrates the region’s timeless aesthetic and traditions into its very essence. Its design language stems from profound and long-term experimentations led by its diverse authors, leading to products conceived for lasting relevance. 

This core principle finds a natural resonance with the Fondazione Querini Stampalia‘s own historical and forward-looking ethos, an alignment that allows Edra’s furnishings, positioned in reception areas and exhibition rooms, to reinforce the sense of hospitality and enrich the visitor’s experience.

Standard sofa by Francesco Binfaré and Cicladi table by Jacopo Foggini, inside the Corte Mazzariol

HARMONIZING HERITAGE WITH CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE

Edra’s furniture selection thoughtfully interacts with the palazzo’s unique interplay of light, materials, water, and the garden, demonstrating how contemporary design can be integrated respectfully within historic contexts. At the entrance, the Corte Mazzariol welcomes visitors with three compositions of the Standard sofa in light grey, dark brown, and an outdoor version in Every Place brown. This space serves as the fulcrum of the entire complex, featuring a suspended curtain that intercepts the light and makes it vibrate as if on the surface of the water of a canal.

Standard sofa by Francesco Binfaré and Cicladi table by Jacopo Foggini, inside the Corte Mazzariol

Further inside, the Scarpa Area, a meticulously designed space on the Querini’s ground floor, features the Absolu sofa in blue velvet. This area is a testament to Carlo Scarpa’s architectural genius. Between 1959 and 1963, he redesigned this section to create an exhibition and meeting space along with a courtyard garden. This space also offers a preview of ‘No Stone Unturned. Conceptual Photography,’ an exhibition dedicated to Californian artist John Baldessari.

The Baldessari exhibition continues on the Palazzo’s third floor, in the Portego, which is furnished with the On the Rocks sofa and Sherazade in light shades, complemented by the Grinza armchair in smoky grey. Through these considered placements, Edra’s pieces not only offer comfort and style but also deepen the dialogue between the Foundation’s rich historical layers and its contemporary vision.

Grinza armchair by Estudio Campana and Cicladi table by Jacopo Foggini inside the Scarpa Area

project info:

company: Edra | @edra.official

location: Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice | @fondazionequerinistampalia

products: Absolu sofa, Sherazade sofa, Cicladi table, Standard sofa, Grinza armchair

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Presented as part of the Time, Space, Existence exhibition organized by the European Cultural Centre (ECC) in Venice, the Diamanti bridge is the result of a multi-institutional collaboration led by Professor Dr. Masoud Akbarzadeh, his team at the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory (University of Pennsylvania), and Sika Group Switzerland, led by Karolina Pajak.

The small-scale prototype of the structure was fabricated by the Dutch firm Vertico, while the 10-meter version was 3D printed by Carsey3D in France. The bridge is composed of nine prefabricated concrete segments, 3D printed using a robotic arm and a two-component cementitious mix developed by Swiss construction chemicals company Sika. The geometry of each segment includes voids and surface articulation that support structural performance and enhance sustainability metrics by lowering embodied carbon. These segments are held together by eight ungrouted steel cables, forming a post-tensioned system that is functional and reversible. No adhesives or grout are used in the connections, making the bridge entirely demountable and recyclable.

The project explores the future of construction through computational geometry, modularity, and additive manufacturing. Engineered around funicular logic and fabricated using robotic 3D concrete printing, the 2.5-meter-long bridge model offers a glimpse into how architectural spans can evolve toward material efficiency and demountable systems.

Diamanti bridge proposal design in Paris | visualizations by Fortes.vision, courtesy of Massive Form

3D-printed Concrete Construction Uses Polyhedral Forms

Drawing on the design method of Polyhedral Graphic Statics (PGS), the Diamanti project channels compressive and tensile forces through a polyhedral form optimized for performance with minimal material. The geometry of the structure is shaped by force flow and fabrication constraints and integrates anticlastic diamond surfaces that stiffen the segments, distribute loads, and reduce concrete usage without sacrificing integrity.

While the version on display at the seventh edition of ECC’s Time Space Existence in Venice spans 2.5 meters with a slim 26 cm depth, the design led by Professor Dr. Masoud Akbarzadeh has been successfully tested at a full 9-meter span, underlining its scalability. The underlying concept proposes a rethink of how construction systems can reduce reliance on massive reinforcement, cut material waste, and favor ease of disassembly. The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory team integrates computational design with innovative material systems.

Professor Dr. Masoud Akbarzadeh and his team at the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory design the Diamanti bridge

cross-disciplinary collaboration shapes low-carbon prototype

The Diamanti bridge reflects a systems-based approach that links academic research with industrial application. Each phase of the project was carried out through a network of collaborators. Sika Group developed a customized cementitious mix tailored for robotic extrusion. Carsey 3D printed the parts and managed the logistics of fabrication and assembly, while post-tensioning expertise was provided by AEVIA. Structural modeling and analysis were conducted independently by researchers at City College of New York and Villanova University, and physical load testing took place at the CERIB institute in France.

Diamanti should be understood as a working prototype, a testbed for modular construction methods that focus on material efficiency, reversibility, and low-carbon performance. Its design is driven by a logic of force distribution, demonstrating how structural performance, ease of assembly, and future disassembly can be integrated within a single prefabricated system.

the bridge is composed of nine prefabricated concrete segments

the geometry of each segment includes voids and surface articulation that support structural performance

enhancing sustainability metrics by lowering embodied carbon

segments are held together by eight ungrouted steel cables

part of the Time, Space, Existence exhibition in Venice | image via @masoudakbarzadeh

a post-tensioned system that is both fully functional and reversible | image via @masoudakbarzadeh

the model spans 2.5 meters with a slim 26 cm depth | image via @masoudakbarzadeh

challenging the conventional concrete–timber hierarchy | image via @vertico.xyz

a testbed for modular construction methods | image via @vertico.xyz

project info:

name: Diamanti

design and structural engineering: Prof. Dr. Masoud Akbarzadeh | @masoudakbarzadeh (Massive Form | @massive_form), Amir Motavaselian, Dr. Maximilian E. Ororbia, Hua Chai, Yefan Zhi, Teng Teng, Pouria Vakhshouri, Dr. Mathias Bernhard (Polyhedral Structures Laboratory | @polyhedralstructureslab, University of Pennsylvania)

exhibition: Time Space Existence 2025

location: Giardini della Marinaressa, Venice, Italy

organized by: European Cultural Centre (ECC) | @ecc_italy

3D printing: Vertico

material and mix development: Sika Group (Karolina Pajak, Leon Trousset, Severin Mueller, Mylene Bernard, Fabrice Decroix)

fabrication + assembly: Carsey 3D

post-tensioning: AEVIA

structural analysis: Advanced Building Construction Lab, City College of New York (Prof. Dr. Damon Bolhassani, Dr. Fahimeh Yavartanoo)

load testing: CERIB, France

material calibration: Prof. Dr. Joseph Yost, Javier Tapia (Villanova University)

additional support: Paul Kassabian, Blaise Waligun

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At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, Morocco’s national pavilion addresses challenges posed by earthquakes across the region by taking an elemental approach to material, memory, and seismic resilience. Titled Materiae Palimpsest, the exhibition takes form as an evocative landscape bridging construction research prototypes with an artistic scenography. We see a cluster of columns built from natural local materials such as rammed earth, stone, and timber sourced from across Morocco, configured as a series of passageways almost reminiscent of architectural ruins – perhaps the aftermath of an earthquake. They all encircle a hologram representing the human condition and ancestral knowledge — ‘It’s intentionally fragile and immaterial, confronting the physical nature of the materials around it,’ Khalil Morad El Ghilali tells designboom during our visit to the pavilion.

The architect, who co-curated the exhibition with El Mehdi Belyasmine, explains how these structures function as sectional scale models manifesting the duo’s ongoing research into how local construction know-how can be revitalized to shape earthquake-proof architecture. ‘We’ve been gathering around 136 completely different techniques and materialities from all around the country — from the north to the south — that we’ve here integrated into 72 columns. These columns serve as a kind of guide for construction, particularly for architects interested in sustainable development,’ he explains.

all images by Venice Documentation Project — Samuele Cherubini, courtesy of the Pavilion of the Kingdom of Morocco

celebrating material intelligence at venice architecture biennale

Materiae Palimpsest resonates in light of Morocco’s devastating 2023 earthquake. In rebuilding affected rural settlements, Khalil Morad El Ghilali’s practice, and others like it, have demonstrated how heritage-based techniques can perform better than concrete in these particular contexts. The architect points out that some of his team’s pilot structures near the epicentre remained undamaged, owing to a combination of local craftsmanship and adapted engineering, rooted in generational know-how. This extends El Ghilali’s approach that is driven by the urgency to reframe ancestral methods as scalable, adaptive, and technically sound alternatives to industrial construction. ‘Instead of abstract concepts, we aim to improve local crafts through practical upgrades in engineering and architecture, without losing sight of what people can really do at a large scale,’ he shares. El Mehdi Belyasmine adds:  ‘Working with the land — using local soil, traditional tools, and ancestral know-how — allows us to reconnect with our heritage while also empowering local labor and craft. It’s not nostalgia — it’s continuity. It’s about building with intention, with care, and with respect for the people and the place.’

This philosophy grounds the pavilion in a clear critique of contemporary architectural education and practice, which, the duo notes, often privileges conceptual gestures over material literacy. Calls for a broader reflection on how architectural knowledge is produced, as El Ghalili reflects: ‘Too often today, architects don’t know how to build with their hands. They’re trained to be conceptual rather than constructive.’ He frames revisiting these embodied modes of making is as a return to a collaborative, ground-up process that brings designers back into conversation with materials, with place, and with the people who build, as emphasized by the flickering hologram figure at the center of the space, and the traces of the human hand it confronts as carried in each of the columns. Read our full interview with the architects and co-curators below.

Materiae Palimpsest addresses challenges posed by earthquakes across the region

interview with Khalil Morad El Ghilali & El Mehdi Belyasmine

designboom (DB): Can you introduce the idea behind the creation of the pavilion?

Khalil Morad El Ghilali (KMEG): The idea was to sublimate the materiality and showcase the diversity of local construction techniques across Morocco. We’ve been gathering around 136 completely different techniques and materialities from all around the country — from the north to the south — that we’ve here integrated into 72 columns. These columns serve as a kind of guide for construction, particularly for architects interested in sustainable development.

This pavilion is one of our latest experiments: we used post-tensioned, prefabricated blocks as a potential solution for rebuilding in earthquake-affected areas. The entire pavilion was also assembled in three days. The blocks are solid, not hollow, and actually the heaviest one weighs 500 kilograms, and yet they were mounted like Lego pieces.

El Mehdi Belyasmine (EMB): The Moroccan Pavilion is conceived as an experimental space to deepen the understanding of cultural identity and highlight the significance of spatial performance — through visual aesthetics, scents, textures, and tactile sensations — creating an immersive and authentic experience within a dynamic environment. This approach should be implemented in all architectural projects. It is essential to design with a strong connection to the local context and its surroundings, recognizing these conditions as foundational architectural elements.

A hologram sits at the center of the space, representing the human condition and ancestral knowledge

DB: There are many layers to the scenography, from the almost ruins-like landscape of columns, to the textiles and the screen at the center. Can you share more about that?

KMEG: We’ve divided the scenography into three main elements.

The first is the columns, which reflect building, engineering, and architecture. The second is the tools. These are represented by the muqarnas hanging from the ceiling, which were historically used to construct such elements. We sourced them from different villages, and each tool carries the trace of a human hand and an imprint of collective engineering. The third element is the human condition, represented by a hologram. It’s intentionally fragile and immaterial, confronting the physical nature of the materials around it.

EMB: I wanted to create a space that pushes the boundaries of how we understand and express cultural identity. It’s an experimental platform that explores spatial performance — not just through form and function, but through texture, scent, sound, and atmosphere. Architecture should be felt, not just seen.

the pavilion takes an elemental approach to material, memory, and seismic resilience

DB: The presence of the hologram was quite unexpected after walking through all these tactile details. What role does it play within the overall composition?

KMEG: It raises a question about whether we should keep chasing extraordinary technologies to solve our problems, or whether we should instead ask what we can learn from our ancestors — not archaeologically, but humbly. There’s a vast body of knowledge gathered over thousands of years, and this project is about reconnecting with that wisdom rather than erasing it and starting from scratch.

So for us, this pavilion becomes a place of knowledge, collective intelligence, scent, fabric, texture, memory. Like a foyer, a place to gather. It reflects how Moroccans welcome people, how spaces are warm and inviting. Each brick, each tool, each trace carries human intelligence. Confronting these elements — between the artificial and the natural — was very important to us and the main idea of the pavilion.

tools, historically used for construction and craft, are hung from the ceiling

DB: Does the hologram, as a symbol for the ‘human condition’, serve as more of a symbolic counterpoint to the raw materials surrounding it, or tie them together?

KMEG: For us, it’s a confrontation. The hologram is encased in glass and placed at the center of the room, and above it, we placed some of the heaviest formwork elements, really emphasizing its fragility. But then it’s also symbolically loaded; it’s a memory of what might remain of the human condition in the future if we lose our connection to materiality and making. Maybe that’s all we’ll have left, a memory.

The idea is to really highlight the tension between the immaterial and the physical — between where we are headed and what we still have.

these tools were sourced from different villages in Morocco

DB: Building on that, what kind of questions do you hope visitors will walk away with? Is the goal to present solutions, or to create space for reflection, or both?

KMEG: We’re not trying to offer definitive answers, but rather pose questions. Let people find their own meanings through the combinations of materials we present, like earth from Marrakech and stones from the coastal areas and rivers. These materials allow for different engineering possibilities, including seismic resistance, construction, elevations.

It’s really an individual experience, but also a collective one at the same time. The pavilion’s passages ensure that only one person can stand inside a column at a time. We wanted each visitor to directly face the materiality of that individual column, despite the openness of the layout.

each element carries the trace of a human hand and an imprint of collective engineering

DB: You’ve emphasized that your reference to traditional techniques isn’t nostalgic or archaeological. Can you elaborate on how these indigenous methods can be applied today, especially in the face of environmental challenges?

KMEG: The main contemporary application is earthquake resistance. You probably heard about the earthquake in Morocco two years ago. It affected regions where villages were traditionally built using earth and stone. Unfortunately, many of those techniques have been lost, and what replaced them, like poor-quality concrete, wasn’t adapted to the climate or structural needs.

Since then, one of the main questions has been to consider how we can rebuild those villages. And so we’ve been working with local techniques and engineering knowledge. Some of our projects, built near the earthquake zone using these methods, had no damage, and I’ve also been publishing research around this. The idea is to provide technologies that are accessible and replicable, technologies that people can actually assess and use, rather than ones completely out of reach due to the pace of innovation.

72 columns form passageways evoking architectural ruins

There are areas without internet, robotics, or digital tools. So instead of abstract concepts, we aim to improve local crafts through practical upgrades in engineering and architecture, without losing sight of what people can really do at a large scale. We worked directly with local craftspeople for this, and we built with our hands, with media,

In many ways, this is also a critique of the architectural profession.

Too often today, architects don’t know how to build with their hands. They’re trained to be conceptual rather than constructive. We need to bring back the role of the master builder. This pavilion was built by hand, together with craftspeople and media specialists. We wanted to show that design must happen through communication, with those who actually know how to make.

the columns materialize 136 construction and material techniques and know-how from across Morocco

DB: Beyond technical performance, do these traditional methods also offer a more meaningful way to build,  culturally or socially?

EMB: One of the main issues with 20th-century architecture in Morocco was the imposition of modernist ideals that were disconnected from our cultural and environmental context. Imported styles and industrial materials were favored over local knowledge and tradition, which led to buildings that didn’t speak to the identity or needs of Moroccan communities. It created a kind of architectural amnesia — spaces that felt alien rather than rooted.

For me, earth-based architecture is not just a technical solution; it’s a cultural and humanist response. It’s about returning to methods that reflect who we are and where we come from. Working with the land — using local soil, traditional tools, and ancestral know-how — allows us to reconnect with our heritage while also empowering local labor and craft. These approaches bring a tangible depth to the work and ensure that architecture remains a collective, grounded act. It’s about building with intention, with care, and with respect for the people and the place.

celebrating material intelligence at the Venice Architecture Biennale

‘I wanted to create a space that pushes the boundaries of how we understand and express cultural identity.’

textile art by Soumyia Jalal

‘It’s about building with intention, with care, and with respect for the people and the place.’

‘Working with the land allows us to reconnect with our heritage while also empowering local labor and craft.’

‘We wanted each visitor to directly face the materiality of that individual column, despite the openness of the layout.’

project info:

name: Materiae Palimpsest — Morocco Pavilion

curators: Khalil Morad El Ghilali, El Mehdi Belyasmine

program: Venice Architecture Biennale | @labiennale

dates: May 10th — November 23rd, 2025

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The Grid, designed by Trung Mai / Ad hoc Practice, is an adaptive reuse project situated within the former Gia Lam Train Factory in Hanoi. Presented at the Venice Biennale 2025, curated by Carlo Ratti, the intervention reinterprets the site’s industrial remnants into an exhibition space, framing the existing structure as a repository of spatial and cultural memory. Rather than introducing new architectural elements, The Grid exposes the site’s latent formal logic, treating it as a spatial archive. This approach aligns with the principles of behavioral archaeology, wherein the built environment is studied through the material traces of human activity. The design strategy emphasizes recontextualization, both conceptually and materially, positioning reuse as a form of dynamic preservation that engages with contemporary questions of urban development and memory.

all images by Trieu Chien

Ad hoc Practice Reimagines Gia Lam Factory’s Layered History

Hanoi’s ongoing urban expansion has led to the relocation and decommissioning of several socialist-era factories, placing their architectural and cultural legacies at risk. The Gia Lam Train Factory, formerly a mechanical hub at a key railway junction, has become emblematic of this transitional condition. The structure’s layered past, which spans colonial, wartime, and reformist periods, provides the backdrop for a design inquiry into Vietnam’s industrial narrative. The exhibition space within the factory is conceived as both an archaeological site and a testing ground for new forms of spatial engagement. By occupying part of the abandoned structure, The Grid reflects on the site’s transformation from production facility to cultural artifact. Through systematic reconstruction, the project, developed by architects at Ad hoc Practice, led by Trung Mai, frames the factory not only as a container of industrial materials but also as a repository of memory, labor, and ideology.

The grid-based design draws from two key references: the 19th-century urban planning principles of Ildefons Cerdà’s Eixample district in Barcelona, and the internal ceiling structure of the warehouse itself, a product of mid-20th-century engineering. This dual reference reinforces themes of order, equality, and modularity, principles foundational to Vietnam’s post-war industrialization. Sunlight filtering through the original ceiling panels creates dynamic light conditions across the exhibited objects and architectural fragments. This quality of light reinforces the project’s temporal focus and enhances the spatial reading of the factory’s preserved form.

The Grid reactivates the abandoned Gia Lam Train Factory through adaptive reuse

Collective Memory Transforms the Factory’s Spatial Future

Structurally, the project maintains and adapts the existing building framework. The design incorporates participatory construction methods, including collaborations with students and community members, to explore alternative futures for the site. The exhibition encourages dialogue on retrofitting strategies, slow construction, and site-responsive design, offering a critical perspective on contemporary development practices that prioritize rapid turnover and high-density production.

The Grid by Trung Mai / Ad hoc Practice positions adaptive reuse as a method of cultural inquiry. By transforming the factory into a site for reflection and experimentation, the project engages with Vietnam’s urban condition while foregrounding the role of collective memory in shaping spatial futures.

latent architectural forms are revealed rather than replaced

traces of Vietnam’s industrial legacy become spatial anchors within the former factory

The Grid treats the site as a spatial archive of cultural memory

the former mechanical hub now becomes a platform for cultural reflection

layers of history, from colonial to post-reform, inform the spatial logic of the intervention

exhibited fragments and artifacts reflect labor, ideology, and material memory

order and modularity frame the project’s formal and conceptual structure

the intervention avoids spectacle, focusing instead on subtle spatial reactivation

the space operates as both exhibition and research platform

architecture becomes a tool for reading and writing the city’s industrial past

retrofitting strategies are tested on site, advocating for slow, responsive design

the preserved ceiling structure acts as a light modulator across the space

the factory is reframed as a living document of urban transformation

project info:

name: The Grid
architect: Ad hoc Practice – Ha noi Ad hoc | @hanoiadhoc_adhocpractice

lead architect and curator: Trung Mai 

design team: Viet Phung, Trang Pham, Duong Nguyen, Ha Hoang, Lauren Lu, Ngoc Nguyen, Linh Tang

guest artists: Vy Trịnh, Jennifer Vanderpool
location: Hanoi, Vietnam

photographer: Trieu Chien | @trieuchien

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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The seventh edition of Time Space Existence, the biennial architecture exhibition organized by the European Cultural Centre (ECC), returns to Venice through 23 November 2025. Spread across three historic venues — Palazzo Mora, Palazzo Bembo, and the Marinaressa Gardens — the show brings together 207 participants from over 52 countries, reaffirming its role as a global platform for architectural dialogue and experimentation. This year’s theme, Repair, Regenerate, Reuse, invites architects, designers, artists, and researchers to respond with works that span speculative proposals, academic research, and built interventions. Highlights include a net-zero housing prototype by HOLCIM and ELEMENTAL, and Sombra, a kinetic, light-responsive pavilion by MVRDV, both installed at Marinaressa Gardens. Notable contributions also come from Zaha Hadid Architects, Adjaye Associates, Korean architect Moon Hoon, and many more. 

Elemental and Holcim Basic Services Unit installation view at Marinaressa Gardens | all images © Celestia Studio

REPAIR, REGENERATE, REUSE

This year’s exhibition invites tangible responses to climate and social crises. Instead of posing hypothetical questions, participants present real-world solutions: architecture studio Vuild addresses rural decline in Japan using local forestry and digital fabrication, while Semillas empowers Amazonian communities through participatory architecture. Canadian firm Blouin Orzes blends traditional Inuit knowledge with modern techniques to respond to harsh northern climates.

The exhibition also includes speculative futures: Collectif Carré Noir imagines a utopian territorial reorganization, and Delft University showcases Indigenous-led design methodologies through film. These works question architecture’s conventional limits, embracing regeneration and equity as central design imperatives.

Semillas installation view at Palazzo Mora

HIGHLIGHTS across venetian venues

The Marinaressa Gardens become a laboratory of environmental dialogue. HOLCIM and Alejandro Aravena’s ELEMENTAL unveil a scalable housing prototype using low-carbon materials. MVRDV’s Sombra, a kinetic installation responsive to sun and shade, explores architecture’s adaptive potential. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech and Cloud 9’s PolliNATION pavilion reintroduces pollinators to the Venetian lagoon, turning ecological restoration into spatial form.

Meanwhile, across venues, many projects foreground material reuse, vernacular methods, and local identity. Coburg University constructs a pavilion from regional ‘waste timber’; GRAS and Huguet experiment with terrazzo made from recycled fragments. Zaha Hadid Architects and University of Calgary explore modular systems designed for disassembly and reuse, advancing circular construction logic.

Others engage history and place: Materia (Mexico) reimagines cultural heritage buildings in harmony with the landscape, while A Interiors blends desert tradition with contemporary living in Riyadh. María Isabel Paz preserves endangered textile techniques through urban storytelling in handmade rugs.

MVRDV, Airshade Technologies, Metadecor, Alumet, ARUP, Van Rossum Engineering, AMOLF Institute SOMBRA installation view at Marinaressa Gardens

A LIVING LAB FOR FUTURE ARCHITECTURE

With projects ranging from activist landscapes to modular prototypes and speculative utopias, Time Space Existence 2025 offers a cross-section of how architecture can regenerate rather than extract, reconnect rather than divide. As ECC’s Rachele De Stefano notes, the exhibition doesn’t just ask what architecture is, but what it could become — a driver of systemic change rooted in repair, resilience, and responsibility.

Enter Projects Asia Interwoven, 2025 installation view at Marinaressa Gardens

Juan José Castellón xmade Rice University Impluvium Redux installation view at Palazzo Mora

Moon Hoon installation view at Palazzo Bembo

Virginia Tech and Cloud 9 unEarthed Second Nature PolliNATION, 2025 installation view at Marinaressa Gardens

Coral Gallery – Roberto Vivo The Human Tribe Totem, 2024 installation view at Marinaressa Gardens

Henriquez Partners Architects Symplasma, 2025 installation view at Palazzo Bembo

Adjaye Associates International Children’s Cancer Research Centre, 2025 installation view at Palazzo Bembo

Pfeifer Jones Architecture Organ Drone Dome, 2025 installation view at Palazzo Mora

Pfeifer Jones Architecture Organ Drone Dome, 2025 installation view at Palazzo Mora

project info: 

name: Time Space Existence 2025
organized by: European Cultural Centre (ECC) | @ecc_italy
location: Palazzo Mora, Palazzo Bembo, Marinaressa Gardens in Venice, Italy 
dates: 10 May – 23 November 2025

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At ETH Zurich, scientists develop a building material that is alive and store carbon dioxide from air using growing bacteria and hydrogel. The research has already been applied to the 3D printed biostructures inside the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 as well as in Dafne’s Skin at the 24th International Exhibition in Triennale Milano. The team’s goal is to make living materials that can be used for construction and to capture and store carbon dioxide from air using photosynthesis. To achieve this, they combine active cyanobacteria with hydrogel, and as a result, they can shape it using a 3D printer. 

The living material, then, grows, and as it does, removes the carbon dioxide from the air. The scientists add that the material only needs sunlight, a kind of artificial seawater with nutrients, and carbon dioxide to survive, and because of this, they believe it can be used in architecture to store carbon, which in turn can help fight climate change. The building material that stores carbon can also cause minerals to form with a chemical reaction that happens during photosynthesis. These solid minerals trap the carbon dioxide in a more stable way than biomass does.

all images courtesy of ETH Zurich; photos by Yifan Cui and Dalia Dranseike, unless stated otherwise

cyanobacteria is able to form and build up minerals

A reason that the building material that stores carbon dioxide is possible to use for architecture is because as the cyanobacteria is able to form and build up the minerals inside the living object, it becomes harder and stronger eventually, and the structure becomes solid over time. In the published study, the scientists document their laboratory tests where they discovered that the building material kept absorbing carbon dioxide for over 400 days, or more than a year. Then, most of the captured carbon was stored as solid minerals inside the material. 

The scientists have also used hydrogel as the base to mix cyanobacteria with because it is light enough to allow nutrients, and even carbon dioxide, to pass through it and spread out within it evenly. The team turns to 3D printing to shape the building material that stores carbon dioxide, and they’ve also created tailored shapes that allow the light to come inside the object so the nutrients can spread inside and bacteria can stay active for more than a year inside the material. For the scientists, this is a low-energy, eco-friendly way to capture carbon dioxide from the air.

view of a 3D printed lattice structure using cyanobacteria in hydrogel

Projects where the living material is applied to

Some projects have already started applying the building material that stores carbon dioxide to their works. The first is in Picoplanktonics, which is an exhibition of 3D printed biostructures inside the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. Led by Andrea Shin Ling, a doctoral student at ETH Zurich and lead designer of the Living Room Collective, the project uses cyanobacteria on a large scale to capture and store carbon dioxide from the air. It is an example of how the bacteria hardens the structure enough to be used in architecture and construction.

The second is at the 24th International Exhibition at Triennale Milano through an installation called Dafne’s Skin. A collaboration between MAEID Studio and Dalia Dranseike, it is part of a larger exhibition called We the Bacteria: Notes Toward Biotic Architecture, which looks at how living things can be used in architectural design. The structure is covered with wooden shingles where microorganisms are growing on the wood, creating a green layer over time. This green layer, called a patina, is usually a sign of aging or decay, but here it’s part of the design, changing the look of the wood while absorbing carbon dioxide from the air over time.

3D-printed pineapple with cyanobacteria growing inside after a development period of 60 days

3D printed cup that can trap carbon dioxide from air

detailed view of Dafne’s Skin at Triennale Milano

living patina on wood (II): Microbial texture (visualisation, generated with AI) | image by Lorem / Luca Pagan

Picoplanktonics in Canada Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 | photo by Valentina Mori | read here

the project uses cyanobacteria on a large scale to capture and store carbon dioxide

project info:

name: Dual carbon sequestration with photosynthetic living materials

institutions: ETH Zurich, University of Wyoming | @ethzurich, @uofwyoming

scientists: Dalia Dranseike, Yifan Cui, Andrea S. Ling, Felix Donat, Stéphane Bernhard, Margherita Bernero, Akhil Areeckal, Marco Lazic, Xiao-Hua Qin, John S. Oakey, Benjamin Dillenburger, André R. Studart, Mark W. Tibbitt

study: here

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At the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, MAD presents Chinese Paper Umbrella, an outdoor installation at the China Pavilion that reflects the theme ‘Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.’ The soft, splaying structure brings the delicate form of the traditional Chinese oil paper umbrella to architectural scale, transforming it into a performative pavilion that offers rest and shelter.

The work situates itself between ancient knowledge and contemporary experimentation. It provides a microclimate within the gardens of the China Pavilion, and a demonstration of how traditional materials can evolve when paired with environmental sensing and adaptive design strategies. In this way, the installation demonstrates MAD’s interest in the emotional and experiential qualities of space, and its broader efforts to humanize technological systems through architecture.

The project remains on view at the China Pavilion through November 23rd, 2025, as part of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

images courtesy MAD

ancient chinese craft arrives in venice

Positioned in the garden near the terminus of the Arsenale exhibition route, MAD’s Chinese Paper Umbrella is at once a sculptural intervention and a space for pause. The umbrella is constructed with Xuan paper — an absorbent, fibrous material traditionally used for calligraphy — treated with multiple layers of tung oil. This process renders it both water-resistant and translucent, enabling it to withstand the maritime conditions of Venice while filtering light in ever-changing ways.

Visitors stepping beneath the Beijing-based architects‘ canopy encounter a shift in atmosphere from the Biennale beyond. Light is softened, shadows stretch and contract with the time of day, and the sensation of temperature alters as air circulates through the permeable seams of the paper. The structure’s scale retains an intimacy, inviting individuals to linger, reflect, or simply observe the rhythms of weather and daylight as they pass through the space.

the project is installed in the garden of the China Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale

a paper umbrella with Responsive Technology

Beyond its material craftsmanship, MAD incorporates contemporary environmental technologies into its Chinese Paper Umbrella. A misting system embedded at the apex of the umbrella activates in response to high temperatures, cooling the shaded area beneath and subtly amplifying the sensory qualities of the space. The integration of OPPLE Lighting’s Smart Dynamic Light (SDL) system allows the canopy to adjust to changes in light and weather. This dynamic interplay between natural and artificial systems highlights the structure’s sensitivity to its environment.

The paper surface, though treated for durability, is designed to change with time. As sun, moisture, and wind weather the material, the umbrella will gradually yellow and soften. This slow transformation is not concealed, but rather embraced as part of the design. MAD’s intention is to foreground impermanence not as decay, but as a condition of coexistence with the natural world.

MAD draws from traditional Chinese oil paper umbrellas, scaled to create a public shelter

Xuan paper is coated with tung oil to produce a durable and translucent surface

smart lighting responds to environmental changes using OPPLE’s dynamic light technology

the umbrella structure breathes through its seams while maintaining shade and shelter

a misting system cools the air in response to high temperatures during dry weather

the pavilion creates a gentle shift in light, air, and temperature for visitors below

project info:

name: Chinese Paper Umbrella

architect: MAD | @madarchitects

event: 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale Di Venezia

location: Arsenale – Magazzino Delle Cisterne, Castello 2169/F, 30122 Venice, Italy

on view: May 10th — November 23rd, 2025

photography: courtesy MAD

design team: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano, Jiang Yunyao, Zhou Rui, Yang Xuebing, He Linxi, Huang Juntao, Pan Siyi, Valentina Olivieri
lighting partner: OPPLE Lighting
structural consultant: RFR Shanghai
fabrication: Far East Façade

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