Venice Biennale: Golden Lion for climate-resilient architecture
The Golden Lion for the best national contribution at the 2025 Architecture Biennale in Venice was awarded to the Bahrain Pavilion – a project focused on heat-adapted architecture with original contributions from Professor Alexander Puzrin. In total, five projects involving the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zurich are on display at the Venice Biennale. They illustrate how research and technology can pave new ways for sustainable construction.
Under the theme “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective”, the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale explores innovative building practices for a world shaped by climate change, resource scarcity, and technological transformation. Until November 23, experts from around the world are presenting their work at the exhibition – among them, numerous researchers from ETH Zurich. This article highlights the contributions from the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (D-BAUG).
Pavilion of the Kingdom of Bahrain
The external page Bahrain Pavilion's contribution “Heatwave” presents an architectural prototype for climate-resilient public spaces, designed to mitigate the effects of extreme heat. The modular structure draws on traditional Bahraini cooling strategies such as wind towers and courtyards but has been reinterpreted using modern technologies. A central column supports a cantilevered roof that creates a pleasant microclimate through passive cooling, ventilation and shading – without any external energy input.
Professor Alexander Puzrin from the Institute of Geotechnical Engineering at ETH Zurich was responsible for the thermomechanical concept. Together with architect Andrea Faraguna and civil engineer Mario Monotti, he developed an aerodynamic system that diverts hot airflows into a deep geothermal well and a tall solar chimney and creates cooled zones – an innovative contribution to a new form of thermal architecture.
In awarding the Golden Lion, the external page Biennale jury described the project as a “viable proposal for extreme heat conditions” and praised its synthesis of technical innovation and environmental sustainability. With heatwaves intensifying worldwide, the jury emphasized that architecture of this kind is more urgent than ever.
Future Cities Laboratory Global
FCL Global is presenting two contributions at the Biennale: “external page Perspectives” and “external page Designing resilient blue-green infrastructures in the peri-urban landscape of Antananarivo, Madagascar.” The installation explores different urban contexts and demonstrates how the use of digital technologies can support the development of urban scenarios in order to strengthen the resilience of settlement systems and meaningfully adapt them to environmental changes. Based on FCL Global's data and methods, the results are brought to life through mapping and projections. Short and concise videos illustrate the work of the researchers and provide an insight into the tools developed at FCL Global. An external page special edition of TEC 21 magazine explores the topic in greater scientific and design depth.
Vegetal, Animal, Mineral, Other (VAMO)
external page VAMO is an experimental structure made entirely from renewable and recycled materials. Hemp ropes and wooden rings form a bell-shaped support system, enveloped by panels made from organic waste materials such as coffee grounds, coconut shells, and leather fibers. The installation is completely dismantlable, transportable, and biodegradable – without metal nails or synthetic binders – and impressively illustrates the vision of a circular, regenerative architecture. VAMO is a collaboration of the D-BAUG research group for Circular Engineering for Architecture, MIT, and Anku.ch. The installation will be returned to Switzerland after the Biennale and reused on site.
Insieme
external page Insieme is a structure built from reclaimed bricks salvaged from demolition sites. Combining digital tools with traditional circular practices, the project promotes creative reuse in architecture. Broken bricks, once destined for landfill, were repaired using a 3D-printed material made from construction waste. They now take centre stage as ornamental elements co-designed through a participatory process. Digital material passports trace each component’s origin and highlight its potential for future use. Insieme brings past and future together through technology and reuse. [Download Press Package (PDF, 365 KB)]
Geological Microbial Formations
In the project “external page Geological Microbial Formations,” architectural forms are created not through conventional construction, but through biological growth. A robotic arm layers recycled material such as sand or sawdust, which is solidified with the help of microorganisms. This process is based on stromatolites – natural, layered rock formations – and opens up perspectives for regenerative construction that relies on cultivated material growth rather than raw material extraction. The installation is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration including the D-BAUG research group for wood-based materials. [Download Press Package (PDF, 85 KB)]
Further information
The external page Biennale Architettura 2025 in Venice runs from 10 May to 23 November 2025.