D-ARCH members exhibit at the Biennale di Venezia

Swiss Pavilion

The Pavilion of Switzerland at this year's Biennale di Venezia is curated by Axelle Stiefel, Elena Chiavi, Amy Perkins, Myriam Uzor and Kathrin Füglister. Their research draws on materials from gta Archives, that preserves the estate of the architect Lisbeth Sachs. For the opening of the Biennale, the book “Lisbeth Sachs: Architect, Researcher, Publicist” will be newly translated into English and published by gta Verlag.

Canadian Pavilion

The architect and bio-designer Andrea Shin Ling, who is currently a doctoral fellow at the Chair of Digital Building Technologies, leads the Living Room Collective that represents Canada at the Biennale. The pavilion utilizes materials embedded with living cells to create a biological architecture. The external page project called "Picoplanktonics" is an extension of the living and regenerative materials research at ETH Zurich.

Rolex Pavilion

For the first time, Rolex has commissioned an outside architect to create a new pavilion in the Giardini. It was designed by Professor Mariam Issoufou, who took part in the Rolex mentoring programme in 2018–2019. Through her design for the Rolex pavilion, she celebrates the heritage of Venetian craftsmanship, hoping to inspire visitors to support artisanal practices in their own communities.

Holy See

The architecture office MAIO of Professor Anna Puigjaner is participating alongside Tatiana Bilbao Estudio in the Vatican Pavilion, curated by Marina Otero Verzier and Giovanna Zabotti. During the Biennale the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice di Castello, dating back to 1171, will be restored. The construction site will remain open to the public and allow insights into the craftsmanship; additionally cultural and social events will also take place in the rooms. The Biennale jury external page honoured the project with a special mention.

Turkish Pavilion: Anti-Ruin

The installation "Anti-Ruin" in the Turkish Pavilion was realised with Geopolymer Binder Jetting, a 3D printing technology developed by Dr. Pietro Odaglia at the Chair of Digital Building Technologies to turn industrial byproducts into bespoke, ready-to-use building parts. Designed by OZRUH and built from recycled marble dust, the structure revives discarded materials while renewing the ancient language of monumental stone through computational design and additive manufacturing.

Sun Stone

In the Arsenale, Professor Débora Mesa Molina with her architecture practice Ensamble Studio presents the installation "Sun Stone", that appears as a monumental yet weightless rock. Its thin crust, crafted by mixing minerals and conglomerates, epitomizes the fusion of the natural and the synthetic, the ancient and the contemporary. The luminous and enigmatic floating structure blurs the lines between art, technology, and architecture, and merges earth and sun, two essential elements for architecture and life.

A Robot's Dream

The Chair of Gramazio Kohler Research is involved in the main exhibition in the Arsenale, together with the ETH spin-off Mesh, the artist Armin Linke and other partners. The installation consists of a hanging, robotically manufactured rebar structure and a humanoid robot that dreams. The project explores the relationship between automation, craftsmanship, and materiality in architecture. It was programmed in collaboration with the Robotic Systems Lab and the Computational Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich.

Geological Microbial Formations

The project in the Arsenale combines biotechnology and robotic fabrication to transform construction waste into new mineral structures, inspired by the layered growth of stromatolites. In the installation, visitors can witness an evolutionary process of material formation driven by microbial activity, offering insight into the potential of living systems in architectural materials.

HouseEurope!

The European citizens' initiative ‘HouseEurope!’ is calling for a ‘Right to Reuse’ for existing buildings. The initiative was co-initiated by Professor Arno Brandlhuber and his architectural practice in Berlin. An installation in the main exhibition sheds light on the background and the demands of the citizens' initiative.

From waste to energy

The professorship of Hubert Klumpner is involved in the main exhibition with a speculative design called “From waste to energy”. The project that was developed for the city of Santiago de Chile explores the idea of hybrid installations in low-income neighbourhoods that turn organic waste into biogas and fertilizer, combining urban agriculture, energy production, and education.

Future Cities Laboratory Global

FCL Global presents two contributions at the Biennale: “Perspectives” and “Designing resilient blue-green infrastructures in the peri-urban landscape of Antananarivo, Madagascar”. The installations demonstrate how the use of digital technologies can support the development of urban scenarios to strengthen the resilience of settlement systems and meaningfully adapt them to environmental changes. In addition to the exhibition, espazium has published a TEC 21 external page special issue on FCL Global, which external page can be downloaded here.

Planting Buildings

The architecture collective Material Cultures is presenting 1:1 prototypes at the Biennale that were created during the visiting studio at ETH Zurich. Students have built structures from plant-based materials such as cork, hemp and grass, rethinking construction through climate, culture, and local ecology.

gta exhibitions

The exhibition, a site-specific display by Reba Maybury and Lucy McKenzie, reimagines the architecture of Ca’Buccari, a new exhibition venue in Sant’Elena, Venice, founded in 2024. The former shopfront units, connected as an enfilade and framed by an arcade, are emphasized as vitrines showcasing new collaborative works by the two artists.