The Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 is about how architecture needs to adapt to climate change. One installation by Michelangelo Pistoletto’s immerses visitors in a powerful sensory experience, designed to evoke the sea level rise that Venice is expected to face by 2100. This year’s Biennale, curated by architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, brings together over 750 participants from diverse disciplines to explore architecture’s role in responding to extreme weather . Ratti, who lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), emphasizes that while reducing emissions is vital, adaptation is equally crucial. Architecture, he argues, must lead the way in rethinking how we live and interact with our changing environment.
Innovative Responses to the Global Climate Crisis
The Biennale showcases a range of adaptive strategies for climate change. One standout project comes from the Technical University of Munich, where landscape architects studied the Khasi people of Meghalaya, India. This community has long used living rubber trees to form resilient, self-sustaining bridges that connect remote areas, and also help prevent landslides. Researchers have documented over 70 of these structures using 3D scanning and are now applying similar techniques in Germany, such as the “Arbor Kitchen” – a living structure that provides shelter for a communal space using living trees, that continue to grow. These projects highlight how traditional ecological knowledge and modern technology can merge to create sustainable architecture.
Circular Economies and Collective Intelligence
Another highlight is Tosin Oshinowo’s award-winning installation inspired by Lagos markets, where discarded Western goods are repurposed into functional items. This grassroots circular economy not only reduces waste but also minimizes carbon emissions. Oshinowo’s work exemplifies the Biennale’s theme of collective intelligence – learning from informal systems and community-driven innovation. As Carlo Ratti notes, the Biennale is a call to action, and a global conversation on how architecture can adapt, evolve, and inspire in the face of climate change.
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