Middle East Pavilions Shine At Venice Biennale Architettura 2025

For the 19th edition of Venice’s illustrious international Biennale Architettura 2025, under the framework of ‘One Place, One Solution’, participating nations were asked this year to explore architectural strategies grounded in their own local context, while also addressing broader global issues.

“Architecture has always been a response to a hostile climate,” explained exhibition curator Carlo Ratti. “From the earliest ‘primitive hut’, human design has been led by the need for shelter and survival, driven by optimism; our creations have always strived to bridge the gap between a harsh environment and the safe, livable spaces we require.”

“For decades, architecture’s response to the climate crisis has been centered on mitigation,” he continued, “designing to reduce our impact on the climate, but that approach is no longer enough. The time has come for architecture to embrace adaptation, rethinking how we design for an altered world.”

Facing some of the most acute climate and environmental challenges in the world, the countries of the Middle East have responded to this year’s Biennale with a truly impressive and varied array of exhibitions. Here are just a few of the highlights from the show:

Highlights from the Venice Biennale Architettura 2025

United Arab Emirates – ‘Pressure Cooker’

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Curated by architect Azza Aboualam, ‘Pressure Cooker’ transforms the UAE into a case study examining the ways in which architecture can be used to enhance food security in the face of agricultural disruption brought about by climate change.

Developed based on a three-part research methodology bringing together archival materials, fieldwork and design-build experimentation, this exhibition puts forward a proposal for an experimental series of adaptive greenhouses suitable for hot, dry climates with little to no rainfall. Created as a modular kit-of-parts for greenhouses, the kit breaks down the architectural vocabulary of a greenhouse into basic components which can be assembled in a variety of different configurations based on specific requirements. The flexibility of this system is demonstrated in the various assemblies displayed within the pavilion space itself, offering an approach for a future in which food cultivation and architecture can be seamlessly integrated throughout our existing artificial environments, creating resilient food production practices suited to both individual or community needs.

The exhibition is also accompanied by ‘Pressure Cooker Recipes: An Architectural Cookbook’; a companion publication edited by Aboualam that puts research and storytelling together in a recipe book format that serves to highlight both sustainable food practices, and their relationships to architecture within arid environments.

Saudi Arabia – ‘The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection’

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‘The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection’ from Saudi Arabia places the spotlight on the work of the Um Slaim Collective – formed in 2021 by Syn Architects founders Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi – and their mission to document, preserve and recontextualise the traditional Najdi architecture of Riyadh, now at risk due to the rapid expansion of urban development.

Split into two sections, divided by hanging fabric walls embroidered with images of Riyadh neighbourhoods containing Najdi architecture, one side of the pavilion focuses on works undertaken by the Collective themselves, such as the creation of the Shamalat Cultural Centre in Diriyah, consisting of drawings, maps and photographs, while the other side demonstrates various alternative approaches to documentation, ranging from poetry to performance. The pavilion’s center includes a table with publications on and models of Najdi architecture, promoting discussions and collaboration between visitors. The exhibition also enfolds a sonic element, created by musician and composer Mohammed Alhamdan, also known as 7amdan, layering the sounds of urban life in Riyadh with music.

Lebanon – ‘The Land Remembers’

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Curated by Collective for Architecture Lebanon (CAL), ‘The Land Remembers’ has been created to directly address the intentional destruction of both the natural and societal fabric of Lebanon, centering upon alternative approaches to healing degraded and damaged environments.

Driven by decades of armed conflict, political instability and unrestricted urban expansion, the ecology of Lebanon has already suffered greatly, but now this harm is being radically accelerated by a deliberate ecocide perpetrated by the Israeli Defense Force, primarily through the use of incendiary and highly toxic white phosphorus munitions, and the illegal targeting of agricultural lands.

The pavilion exhibition gathers multiple contributions from both researchers and architects, asking visitors to reexamine their own relationship to the land. At the heart of the exhibit is an immersive, sensory experience that highlights the resilience of nature, embodied in compacted earth bricks impregnated with wheat seeds that will germinate over the six-month course of the Biennale; a living demonstration of the land’s ability to regenerate, representing hope and renewal – even in the face of destruction—and acting as a blueprint for sustainable recovery in areas damaged by fighting all over the world.

Bahrain – ‘Heatwave’

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Winner of this year’s Golden Lion for Best National Participation, ‘Heatwave’ serves as a practical demonstration of an innovative passive outdoor cooling mechanism and shade structure, inspired by a fusion of traditional Bahraini cooling methods and modern engineering.

Curated by architect Andrea Faraguna, the concept of this system is based around the combination of a solar chimney connected to a geothermal well, drawing in cooler air from beneath the ground while expelling hot air, establishing a thermo-hygrometric axis that regulates a comfortable, controlled microclimate without the need for mechanical devices. The design can also be scaled for various urban applications, from public spaces to working areas, offering both protection from the sun and high temperatures through sustainable means, even in the most challenging of climates.

Visitors find themselves sandwiched between a distinct floor and a cantilevered ceiling of matched dimensions, supported by a central column. The space is envisioned as a representation of a construction site where ideas of climate, architecture and social equality meet, complemented by undulating piles of immense sandbags that double as seating. The exhibition reinforces the unbreakable ties that exist between man-made environments and the work—and workers—necessary to build and maintain them.