Early May the 19th edition of the Biennale Architettura kicks-off in Venice. The Flanders Architecture Institute is commissioner of Building Biospheres, the Belgian contribution. The exhibition, curated by Bureau Bas Smets and Stefano Mancuso , investigates the impact of plant intelligence on architecture.
How will architecture evolve with an influence of plant intelligence? With their exhibition concept Building Biospheres, landscape architect Bas Smets and climate scientist biologist Stefano Mancuso explore a new relationship between nature and architecture. Building Biospheres proposes to think of buildings as artificial microclimates in which plants play a crucial role in purifying air and cooling space. Using the latest insights into plant intelligence, the project aims to make urban environments more liveable and sustainable. The Belgian pavilion at the 2025 Biennale will serve as a laboratory to explore and demonstrate these ideas.
Supporting team:
Four young design teams are developing new architecture, with natural intelligence in the leading role. They are investigating 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 over the coming months, coordinated by Lisa De Visscher (freelance architectural consultant) and Petrus Kemme (Flanders Architecture Institute). The design teams are:
The exhibition Building Biospheres is accompanied by the catalogue of the same name, edited by Bas Smets, Bart Decroos and Dennis Pohl. With contributions by Stefano Mancuso, Bart Decroos, Véronique Patteeuw, Kathelin Gray, Lydia Kallipoliti, Daniel Barber, Kathy Steppe & Dirk De Pauw, Erik De Waele, Lisa De Visscher & Petrus Kemme, Bas Smets, Dennis Pohl.
In spring 2024, the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) invited architects, urban planners, designers, researchers, critics and artists to develop an exhibition concept for the Belgian pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2025 in Venice. The jury decided which three teams could further develop their proposal for the exhibition in the Belgian pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2025.
10.05.2025 - 23.11.2025
Belgian pavilion, Giardini della Biennale
Venice
Italy
production Flanders Architecture Institute
commissioner Dennis Pohl
curators Bureau Bas Smets and Stefano Mancuso
in collaboration with University of Ghent
young architects Elmēs, Maud Gerard Goossens and Henri Uijtterhaege, Panta, Lisa Mandelartz and Steven Schenk
coordination young architects Lisa De Visscher and Petrus Kemme
on the initiative of and with the support of the Flemish Government
main partner Reynaers Aluminium
partners:
supporting member:
member:
