Belgian pavilion at Biennale Architettura 2025

Plant Intelligence

Every four years since 2004, the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) has produced an exhibition in the Belgian pavilion. It has coordinated, alternately with the French Community of Belgium, the Belgian contribution. This year, the theme ‘Plant Intelligence’ takes centre stage. On the initiative of the Flemish Government and commissioned by the Flanders Architecture Institute, the team of Bas Smets and Stefano Mancuso will present Building Biospheres in the Belgian pavilion. The exhibition shows the ongoing research on the possible impact of plant intelligence on architecture, and more specifically on the indoor climate.

Building Biospheres

Throughout time, we have built shelters to protect ourselves from the weather’s unpredictability: temperature swings, wind, rain and snow. What began as rudimentary protection evolved into highly controlled microclimates, separating the indoor from the outdoor conditions. Today, most buildings have a completely artificial climate that responds to the needs of their users.

In nature, the desired climate for humans is most closely approximated in the subtropics, characterized by warm summers, mild winters and an almost constant temperature. Based on plants from this climate zone, Building Biospheres envisions a future where buildings evolve into dynamic biospheres. Plant behaviour is monitored with precision and the harvested data is used to activate irrigation, lighting and ventilation. This produces a new symbiosis between what the plants need, what the building can handle and what people desire.

Bas Smets

Bas Smets has a background in landscape architecture, civil engineering and architecture. He founded his firm in Brussels in 2007 and has since completed more than 50 projects internationally with his team of 25 architects and landscape architects. His realised projects include the Parc des Ateliers in Arles, the park of Thurn & Taxis in Brussels, and the Himara Waterfront in Albania. In 2022 he won the international competition for Les Abords de Notre-Dame in Paris.

He was appointed Professor in Practice at the GSD of Harvard University in 2023. With his design studio he explores new ways to transform the city into an urban ecology, capable of producing cooling microclimates to counter climate change.

Stefano Mancuso

Stefano Mancuso is the founder of plant neurobiology and one of the world's leading authorities in this field which explores signaling and communication at all levels of biological organization. He is professor at the University of Florence and has published more than 300 scientific papers in international journals. His last books (translated in 27 different languages) include Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence; The Revolutionary Genius of Plants, a New Understanding of Plant Intelligence and Behavior (Galileo Award); The Nation of Plants; The Incredible journey of plants; Tree stories. Some of his recent exhibitions include: The Florence Experiment (with Carsten Holler) at Palazzo Strozzi (2018, Italy); The Nation of Plants during the XXII Triennale di Milano, La Triennale di Milano (2019; Italy); The Botany of Leonardo (with Fritjiof Capra) at Santa Maria Novella (2019, Italy). Symbiosia (with Thijs Biersteker) at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (2019; France), Econtinuum (with Thijs Biersteker) at NXT Museum (2021, The Netherlands); Mutual aid at Architecture Biennale Venezia (2021; Italy); Talking God at the Thailand Biennale 2022; Prana at the Museum of Oriental Art (MAO) (2022; Italy)

Prototype

In the run-up to the Biennale Architettura 2025 in Venice, the team of Bas Smets, together with plant ecophysiologist Kathy Steppe of Ghent University and software developer Dirk De Pauw of Plant AnalytiX, worked from October 2024 to March 2025 on a prototype of the installation for the Belgian pavilion. Working in a greenhouse on Campus Coupure, they experimented with innovative climate control for buildings.

Invited Architects on Building Biospheres

Four young teams are developing new architecture in which natural intelligence plays the leading role. The architects will investigate the spatial impact of the prototype that curators Bas Smets and Stefano Mancuso are presenting in the Belgian pavilion. The designers will work intensively with the curators, coordinated by Lisa De Visscher (freelance architectural consultant) and Petrus Kemme (Flanders Architecture Institute). The design teams are:

• Elmēs

• Maud Gerard Goossens and Henri Uijtterhaegen

• Panta

• Lisa Mandelartz Schenk and Steven Schenk