"Necto" depicts fiber panels stretched across brick columns. A man is walking in front of them.

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Editor’s note: This story, which focuses on Cornellians’ contributions to each project, was adapted from a feature by the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. More detailed descriptions of each work, including complete information on contributors, can be found there.

By Cornellians staff

The 2025 edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale—an international celebration and exploration of the field, held in alternating years—opened in mid-May, with a focus on design that addresses the challenges of climate change.

Among the creativity on display through late November is work by more than a dozen Cornell alumni, faculty, and students. Additionally, Cornellians served as curators of three national pavilions: those of Spain, Qatar, and Pakistan.

“The message of this Biennale is urgent: the built environment must adapt to an altered planet,” says the exhibition’s curator, Italian architect and educator Carlo Ratti. “Architecture, then, is no longer just about form—it is about survival. To meet this challenge, it must adapt itself, drawing on every form of intelligence we possess: natural, artificial, and collective.”

Here's a visual sampling of Cornellians’ work on display in Venice:

Acapulco: Selective Memories

Jose Castillo, professor and chair of architecture

"Acapulco: Selective Memories" includes a wooden triangular staircase with people sitting on it
Ricardo de la Concha

The project envisions how Acapulco—formerly a hub for trade and jet-set travel—can be sustainably revitalized, in the face of its current social, environmental, and economic challenges.


Doxiadis’s Informational Modernism

Farzin Lotfi-Jam, assistant professor of architecture

"Doxiadis’s Informational Modernism" depicts a hanging square platform with an architectural model. There are freestanding glass display cases with documents on them.
provided

The exhibit examines the intertwining of cities, people, and information systems, with a focus on a pioneering computing center in Greece.


From Waste to Resource: Robotic 3D Printing for Recycling Plastics

David Costanza, assistant professor of architecture

"From Waste to Resource: Robotic 3D Printing for Recycling Plastics" shows people looking at an exhibit that includes a robot and displayes of recycling materials
provided

The project challenges the perception of plastics as disposable—recasting them as durable, affordable, and sustainable materials through advanced recycling techniques and more.


AquaPraça

AAP Dean J. Meejin Yoon, BArch ’95 & Eric Höweler, BArch ’94, MArch ’96

"AquaPraça" on display. It is a floating white square platform surrounded by water. A woman is walking past it.
Agnese Bandini

AquaPraça comprises the design of a 4,000-square-foot-floating cultural plaza, aimed to serve as a platform for global climate dialogue.


Laguna

Wonne Ickx, visiting lecturer in architecture

"Laguna" shows a former textile factory that has been repurposed and rebuilt
provided

The exhibit showcases the transformation of Laguna, a former textile factory in Mexico City that's in the process of being converted into usable space via sustainable principles.


Necto

Florian Idenburg, professor of the practice in architecture

"Necto" depicts fiber panels stretched across brick columns
Iwan Baan

Necto comprises knitted natural fibers embedded with luminous threads; they're lightweight, portable, and easily assembled—leaving no trace after they're exhibited.

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BeLieving in the Mountains

Mary Anne Ocampo, MArch ’04

"BeLieving in the Mountains" depicts a 3D color scan of a mountain village
IUAV

Using film, drones, data, interviews, and other methods, the project investigates the intersection of climate change, depopulation, and cultural heritage in a community in the Dolomite mountains.


In the Fold of Shadows: Prosthetic Dialogues

Laura-India Garinois ’16, BArch ’17

Part of "In the Fold of Shadows: Prosthetic Dialogues" -- there are lighted panels with color photos of buildings, and people are looking at them.
provided

The project shares how residents of Andalusia have come together to combat record heat waves, through such methods as adding fountains and shade.


The Porch: Urban, Aquatic, and Crystaline

Michael Manfredi, MArch ’80

"The Porch: Urban, Aquatic, and Crystaline" depicts a rectangular box shaped like a porch with folked architecture plans inside and as the roof
provided

The installation is part of an exhibition in the U.S. Pavilion—PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity—exploring the nature of the porch as a quintessentially American space.


Spanish Pavilion

Curated by Manuel Bouzas, design teaching fellow in architecture

A view of "Internalities: Architectures for Territorial Equilibrium" in the Spanish Pavilion. There is a low wooden platform with architectural models and large color photos of building materials on the wall.
Luis Díaz Díaz

The pavilion’s exhibits include Internalities: Architectures for Territorial Equilibrium, which considers the decarbonization of architecture in Spain through adaptations in materials, energy, labor, residues, and emissions.


Qatar National Pavilion

Curated by Sean Anderson ’96, BArch ’96, associate professor of architecture

"Beyti Beytak. My Home is Your Home. La mia casa è la tua casa" depicts a wooden wall panel with a circular window, behind a dome appearing to be made of folded paper
Giuseppe Miotto / Marco Cappelletti Studio

Beyti Beytak. My Home is Your Home. La mia casa è la tua casa explores how hospitality is embodied in the architecture and urban landscapes of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.


Pakistan Pavilion

Curated by Arsalan Rafique, MArch ’14

image from Pakistan Pavilion's “(Fr)Agile Systems”
Omer Ehtisham

(Fr)Agile Systems highlights Pakistan's vulnerability to climate-related disasters; it also underscores the inequity of the global climate crisis, with many nations suffering disproportionately.

In addition to the works pictured above, two non-AAP alumni are participating in the Biennale:

Computer science professor Jon Kleinberg ’93 contributed to Archive and the City, which explores unexpected parallels between archival practices and urban planning. Anthropology alum Austin Lord, PhD ’22, contributed to Fragile Frontlines: A Forensic Atlas of Loss & Damage, which investigates climate-driven crises in the Hindu Kush Himalaya.

(Top: Photo of Necto by Iwan Baan.)

Published June 1, 2025


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