html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" The British Pavilion, which was awarded a Special Mention for National Participation at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, is presenting GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.The Rift Valley is a geological feature that extends from southeast Africa via Mozambique, Kenya, and Ethiopia, along the Red Sea, through Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon, to southern Turkey, is the geographical, geological, and conceptual focal point of the show.Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025The exhibition is curated by a multidisciplinary team of curators, including Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi of the Nairobi-based architecture studio Cave_bureau, UK-based curator and writer Owen Hopkins, and academic Professor Kathryn Yusoff, collaborated on the show. A variety of international practitioners, such as Mae-ling Lokko and Gustavo Crembil, Thandi Loewenson, and the Palestine Regeneration Team / PART - Yara Sharif, Nasser Golzari, and Murray Fraser, have commissioned installations in addition to the curatorial team's creations.Entrance to the British Pavilion. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025"A dialogue between Great Britain and Kenya about reparation and renewal" earned the British Pavilion a Special Mention from the jury. The Pavilion displays an extraction-defined architecture that leads to degradation of the environment and inequity. The Venice Fellowships Programme is a noteworthy project for knowledge exchange between Venice, Great Britain, and Kenya. The jury also highlights attempts to envision a new relationship between architecture and geology.Room 2: “Rift Room,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hokins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025"We are hugely honoured that GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair has been recognised by the jury. The exhibition creates a vital space for dialogue and collaboration between our two countries that builds on their difficult, traumatic and deeply unbalanced past relationship, to imagine different possible futures," said curators Kabage Karanja, Stella Mutegi, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. "Architecture has a unique capacity to further repair, renewal and restitution and we are delighted that this message has so resonated for the jury. We have already been overwhelmed by the visitor response to the exhibition, and we hope it will continue to challenge and inspire those who visit over the coming months," the curators added.Room 2: “Rift Room,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hokins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025"The British Council, the curators and I are honoured to be awarded a Special Mention by the jury of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition and we would like to extend our thanks to the jury and La Biennale di Venezia," Sevra Davis, Director of Architecture Design and Fashion at the British Council and Commissioner of the British Pavilion."GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair confronts difficult conversations of the role played by architecture in extractive relations while also creating opportunities for hope, optimism and joy.""I am immensely proud of the curators and our partners for their work on this historic collaboration between the UK and Kenya which celebrates connection between the two countries - in line with our mission of building understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide," Davis added.Room 5: “Lumumba’s Grave,” Dr Thandi Loewenson. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision (detail). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 5: “Lumumba’s Grave,” Dr Thandi Loewenson. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 2: “Rift Room,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hokins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 5: “Lumumba’s Grave,” Dr Thandi Loewenson. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 1: “Earth Compass,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision (detail). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision (detail). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 3: “Objects of repair” - Palestine Regeneration Team/PART (Yara Sharif, Nasser Golzari, Murray Fraser). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 3: “Objects of repair” - Palestine Regeneration Team/PART (Yara Sharif, Nasser Golzari, Murray Fraser). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 6: “Vena Cava,” Mae Ling Lokko and Gustavo Crembil. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 4: “Shimoni Slave Cave,” Cave_bureau with Phil Ayres and Jack Young, Centre for Biohybrid Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 4: “Shimoni Slave Cave,” Cave_bureau with Phil Ayres and Jack Young, Centre for Biohybrid Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 4: “Shimoni Slave Cave,” Cave_bureau with Phil Ayres and Jack Young, Centre for Biohybrid Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 1: “Earth Compass,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 1: “Earth Compass,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 1: “Earth Compass,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Additionally, at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in 2023, the British Pavilion received a Special Mention for Dancing Before the Moon. Since 1937, the British Council has been the organizer of the British Pavilion, which features the top UK artists, architects, designers, and curators in the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia.The British Pavilion serves as a significant forum for conversation about modern art and architecture thanks to these exhibitions and the British Council's Venice Fellowships program, which was launched in 2016.GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair can be visited at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 which runs from Saturday 10 May to Sunday 23 November 2025.Find out all exhibition news on WAC's Venice Architecture Biennale page. Exhibition factsTitle: GBR – Geology of Britannic RepairCommissioner: Sevra Davis British Council; Curators: Owen Hopkins, Kathryn Yusoff, Kabage Karanja, Stella Mutegi; Exhibitors: cave_bureau, Palestine Regeneration Team (PART), Mae Ling Lokko & Gustavo Crembil, Thandi Loewenson; Venue: GiardiniThe exhibition will run from Saturday 10 May to Sunday 23 November 2025The British Pavilion is commissioned and managed by British Council Architecture.The top image in the article: Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025. All images © Chris Lane, British Council.> via The British Pavilion

Three Formerly Enslaved Artists Created Beautiful Pottery 150 Years Ago, and Now Their Wares Are Coveted Around the World The stunning vessels from the H. Wilson & Company were forgotten for generations, only to gain new appreciation for the craftsmanship that went into them Photographs by DeSean McClinton-Holland Jacoba Urist June 2025 A jar made by H. Wilson & Company in Capote, Texas. Right, the muddy banks of Salt Creek, a tributary of the Guadalupe River about 50 miles northeast of San Antonio, where Wilson’s pottery company sourced its fine red clay.  The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; DeSean McClinton-Holland In 1856, the Reverend John McKamie Wilson Jr., a Presbyterian minister and entrepreneur interested in clay science, relocated from North Carolina to Texas. There in the Capote Hills—a rural, sparse enclave in Guadalupe County, 12 miles from the town of Seguin—Wilson opened a business called Guadalupe Pottery. Wilson mainly sold jugs, churns, crocks and cemetery flower jars. The pots featured crescent handles and a deep chocolate-colored interior of liquefied clay. Before refrigerators and iceboxes, high-fire, nonporous pottery was essential to life—the Tupperware or Ziploc bags of the 19th century. Clay pots preserved everything from grains, beef and butter to whiskey and even drinking water. The potters who worked under Wilson’s direction mostly used alkaline glaze, one of the oldest methods in ceramics, to create a glassy exterior from a slurry of wood ash, sand and clay. An arduous process in the 1850s, it took days to stoke underground wood-burning kilns to a high enough temperature for a successful firing. Three of Wilson’s potters were enslaved servants who traveled to Texas with him—Hiram, James and Wallace. For more than a decade, these men were responsible for nearly every facet of Guadalupe Pottery’s production: from mixing clay and expertly “throwing” the pots on a kick wheel to glazing and stacking vessels and meticulously controlling the temperature and duration of the kiln’s flames. The men kept working for the reverend even after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. In Texas, slavery didn’t end until June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order No. 3, informing the people of Texas that all who’d been enslaved were free—the event commemorated as Juneteenth.  Paula King Harper, a descendant of Hiram Wilson, sits on the steps of the Sebastopol House in Seguin, Texas, with Wilson vessels from her own collection. Harper leads the Wilson Pottery Foundation and coordinates the Wilson Pottery Show each October. DeSean McClinton-Holland Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99 This article is a selection from the June 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazine In 1869, Hiram founded his own stoneware business at a new site with James and Wallace, H. Wilson & Company. (Though not biologically related, all three took their enslaver’s surname, the practice of some Black Americans at the time.) Some scholars believe that H. Wilson & Company was the first business in Texas founded and owned by formerly enslaved people.  Pots created by the hands of Hiram Wilson and his colleagues have been passed down through households and sold at garage sales over the course of many generations. Today, their rich history, as well as their distinctive styles and glazes, make the jugs sought-after acquisitions for museum collections. Left to right: A preserve jar, a three-gallon butter churn and a large jar with a lid from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; a stoneware jar from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.  The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (3); NMAH A century and a half later, the pots they made are celebrated in the ceramics world. In silvery grays and greens, with uneven salt drips and textured glazes that resemble the moon’s surface or, sometimes, an orange peel, Wilson wares are coveted both as objets d’art and for their extraordinary story of Black self-determination in the postwar South. Wilson pottery now resides in museums across the United States, from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston—an indelible part of the country’s entrepreneurial and creative heritage.   The story of Hiram, James and Wallace Wilson is woven through with threads of folklore, given the sparse records kept at that time, particularly for people born into slavery. But over the last 50 years, researchers have uncovered more details about the Wilsons. Georgeanna Greer—a San Antonio pediatrician and ceramics collector-aficionado—was passionate about locating abandoned kilns, and she left a trove of Wilson information behind, including a 1973 taped interview with James Wilson’s son, James Wilson Jr.  Capote Baptist Church has been in the midst of a restoration since 2012. After a new pastor, Terry Williams, arrived, its membership surged from 4 congregants to 85. DeSean McClinton-Holland A wooden cross on the property of the Capote Baptist Church that Hiram Wilson founded in 1872 DeSean McClinton-Holland Emancipation offered the Wilsons an opportunity none had ever expected. Establishing a pottery business was complex and costly. It meant finding a suitable site, testing clay, constructing a kiln and hiring proficient workers. And the men did all this in an “intensely dangerous environment,” said Ashley Williams, a recent fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In the late 1860s, Black residents of Guadalupe County “filed almost 200 complaints with the Freedmen’s Bureau for unpaid wages and violent crimes” perpetrated against them. A Baptist missionary from Maine, the Reverend Leonard Ilsley, helped Hiram buy 600 acres of land for $500 and likely either gave Hiram a personal loan or served as a guarantor in the transaction. When Hiram died in 1884­—survived by his wife, Senia, and 11 children—Ilsley served as administrator of his estate. One of Hiram’s great-great-granddaughters, LaVerne Lewis Britt, first discovered her connection to the potters after her retirement, when she became interested in genealogy. Over the course of five years, she researched and wrote a book called In Praise of Hiram Wilson, which describes how her ancestor created a thriving post-slavery community in Capote. Hiram set aside 10 of his 600 acres for a Baptist church and became its minister. The white steepled chapel remains active today, beside a cemetery with cedar and crape myrtle trees. Many Wilsons have been laid to rest there, including Hiram, whose grave is marked by a tall obelisk.  Pastor Terry Williams has been leading the Capote Baptist Church since 2015. When he arrived, he says, he felt the spirit of Hiram Wilson and other former slaves who founded the church in 1872—“a cold breeze coming up in the summertime.”  DeSean McClinton-Holland A Bible rests on the piano at Capote Baptist Church. Right, the building has been in the midst of a restoration since 2012. After Pastor Williams arrived, its membership surged from 4 congregants to 85. Hiram also founded a one-room schoolhouse where Paula King Harper, another of his descendants, says her grandmother once taught. King Harper is the current president of the Wilson Pottery Foundation. On the phone, she described how interest in her celebrated ancestor’s technique has spread in collector circles since the organization’s founding in 1999. A pottery collector in San Antonio was at a garage sale and noticed the green salt glaze drip from underneath dirt that had dried on a gallon jug. “They purchased it for less than $10, went home, cleaned it up, and guess what it was? A stamped H. Wilson.” Finding that stamp is now the equivalent of finding a signed painting by a renowned artist. King Harper once sat at an auction that included several pieces of Wilson pottery from someone’s private estate. “There was a beautiful, pristine five-gallon jug I watched sell for $12,000,” she said. Traditionally, clay artists, who made quotidian jugs and jars rather than purely aesthetic works, have been considered second-tier makers, ranking below sculptors. But over the last few decades, contemporary and historic ceramicists like the Wilsons are receiving new scholarly and art-world attention. Williams, the recent Smithsonian fellow, is researching the Wilsons as part of her doctorate at Columbia University. She notes that most enslaved potters wouldn’t have been able to inscribe their names or initials on a pot. But once the Wilson potters were free, they added a maker’s mark, which made all the difference. Future generations were able to dive into the records and find out more about the remarkable potters. “Because we can tie the makers to these objects, which is so rare, it allows us to see the story about the resilience of the Wilson potters during slavery, and their extreme success and survival,” Williams said. Elmer Joe Brackner Jr. was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Texas when he unearthed buried ceramic shards and located the original kilns at two different H. Wilson & Company sites. DeSean McClinton-Holland Ashley Williams, a recent pre-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, has been researching the Wilson potters as part of her PhD dissertation on crafts made by enslaved and imprisoned artists. DeSean McClinton-Holland The Wilsons’ style may have been influenced by the works coming out of the Edgefield district in South Carolina, a place then known as a kind of pottery Mecca. It was famous for massive, bulbous jars and glazes, features that the early Wilson pots share. Edgefield has its own significant history of highly skilled Black craftsmen, including David Drake, the earliest known enslaved potter to inscribe his work. CollectorsDeSean McClinton-Holland Later, the Wilsons’ pottery took on more distinctive features. The men started out using alkaline glaze, but once they opened their own business they switched to salt glaze, likely for its strength and waterproofing properties. Salt glaze also produces more consistent colors and textures, such as the bumpy orange-peel finish admired by H. Wilson & Company collectors. At the time, the method was uncommon in Texas, according to Michelle Johnson, project manager of the William J. Hill Texas Artisans and Artists Archive at the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, part of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “And it was dangerous,” she said, because salt glaze produces highly toxic chlorine gas from the wet salt thrown into the kiln during firing. (For this reason, contemporary ceramicists avoid the method altogether.) The Wilsons may have learned the technique from Isaac Suttles, an Ohio-born potter known for salt glazing, who is listed in the United States census as living in Seguin at the time.  The Sebastopol House, a Greek Revival home, was built in the 1850s by enslaved laborers who had advanced skills in working with concrete. Today, the building houses the Wilson Pottery Museum.  DeSean McClinton-Holland Lid rims are another notable element of H. Wilson & Company’s jars. At the first pottery-making site, during their enslavement, the men made more tie-down rims—jars without lids that require paper or cloth as a cover, which were easier and faster to make. Later, at their own shop, they crafted rims fitted for lids. Those lid rims allowed for more watertightstorage, but they also required more sophisticated expertise.If you think you may have stumbled on one of these treasures at a garage or estate sale, look for a horseshoe-like handle—the most significant visual identifier of a Wilson pot. It’s still unclear why Hiram, James and Wallace switched to these thicker, rolled handles from their original Edgefield-inspired crescents. It may have been because horseshoe handles are sturdier, offering more surface connection to the pot’s body. It’s another puzzling question that Williams is pursuing and hopes to answer in the future.  It took a long time for the art world to discover the Wilsons’ creations. After Hiram’s death in 1884, James and Wallace Wilson went on to work at another pottery site run by Marion Durham, a potter from South Carolina who had moved to Texas with John Chandler, who was most likely his enslaved servant at the time. By the time the Wilsons joined them, Durham and Chandler were in business together. That site closed in 1903. These pots remained in circulation, but many details of their story were lost.  Modern replicas of the Wilson pottery logo created by Earline Green. DeSean McClinton-Holland Earline Green, an educator and a member of the Wilson Pottery Foundation’s board of directors. Green helps promote the potters’ legacy by demonstrating their innovative 19th-century techniques.  DeSean McClinton-Holland Decades later, an anthropology graduate student named Elmer Joe Brackner Jr. conducted a magnetometry survey to find buried pottery. (Clay contains iron oxides that can become magnetized.) At the original Guadalupe Pottery site he found what’s known as a “groundhog kiln,” a uniquely Southern, semi-subterranean kiln used in the 19th century for firing alkaline-glazed pottery. At the second site, home of the independent H. Wilson & Company, Brackner found ceramic-glazed shards and another groundhog kiln. His research, and that of Georgeanna Greer, the ceramic historian, helped piece together the Wilsons’ unusual story. After many years of advocacy by the Wilson Pottery Foundation, art historians and curators began scouring land deeds, court documents and handwritten capacity marks (numbers that denote the volume of each jug) to present a fuller picture of the Wilsons, sometimes correcting previous theories about their methodology and timeline. Texas ceramic artist Earline Green researches the Wilsons’ past while creating her own pottery to honor their legacy. In 2018, she interviewed Wilson descendants and collectors and visited historical societies in Texas for archival information. Two years later, she curated an exhibition on her campus in Fort Worth; the show also displayed ceramic pieces she created based on the work of the Wilson potters. Deacon Willie Hightower Sr., a descendant of Hiram Wilson and one of the current deacons at Capote Baptist Church. DeSean McClinton-Holland Hiram Wilson’sDeSean McClinton-Holland The narrative continues to evolve, due in no small part to proud descendants of Hiram, James and Wallace. Every three years, hundreds of people gather in Seguin, Texas, for a jubilant three-day Wilson family reunion that is open to the public. In 2023, festivities included the Wilson Pottery Foundation gala and a tenth anniversary celebration at the Wilson Pottery Museum. The last reunion fell on the weekend before Juneteenth, and the reunion committee arranged a kickoff concert Sunday evening followed by Juneteenth events in Seguin’s downtown square. “I was fortunate to grow up in Texas in the 1980s, around the time when our cousin LaVerne Lewis Britt had uncovered the history,” explains DeSean McClinton-Holland, the photographer of this story and a Wilson descendant through his maternal grandmother. “I grew up knowing bits of the story and visiting the church.” He describes the process of documenting Hiram Wilson’s legacy as a healing journey. “To think, he was born into slavery and was able to accomplish so much shortly thereafter,” he says. “It’s inspiring and motivating to think of all the freedoms we have now, and that we really have to push a bit harder.”  Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.

Now open for entries, the Architizer Vision Awards is expanding its mission with the launch of the Visionary 100, a new global spotlight on architecture’s best concept designers, storytellers and visual thinkers. Set for publication later in 2025 and validated by Architizer’s international jury, including renowned architects such as Steven Holl, Winka Dubbeldam and Daniel Libeskind, this vital new platform will shine a light on those defining the visual culture of architecture — today and tomorrow. To apply, simply enter the 2025 Vision Awards in one or more of the 50+ available categories. Every Winner in this year’s program is guaranteed a place in the Visionary 100, an exclusive editorial directory that will be updated each season and republished annually. Firms, individual professionals and students are eligible for inclusion. The Vision Awards Main Entry Period is open for just 4 weeks, so don’t miss out: Start your Vision Awards submission to secure a place in the running for the Visionary 100 and a host of other prizes for your work! Apply for the Visionary 100 Photograph by Kevin Scott, 2023 Vision Awards Special Mention, Architectural Photographer of the Year. Why the Visionary 100 Matters Featured on Architizer.com and shared with our audience of 4.75 million+ architects, clients and collaborators, this is your chance to be recognized for how you think and communicate about design, from the smallest details to the most ambitious concepts for buildings, cities and beyond. Architecture is evolving at breakneck speed, and so too is the way it’s communicated. The Visionary 100 will serve as a critical reference point for editors, curators, clients, and design leaders seeking to understand and celebrate who is shaping the visual culture of architecture today—and who will shape it tomorrow. This widely published feature will be more than a list: It will form a launchpad for architectural discourse and a benchmark for the next generation of creative leaders. Whether you’re an independent visualizer or part of an international design firm, inclusion in the Visionary 100 signals that your work is setting the pace for the profession. Start My Entry Select Winners and Finalists from Architizer One X Challenges and the inaugural Vision Awards. See the complete 2023 Vision Awards Winners’ Gallery here. A Program Built for Creative Thinkers Each winner of the 2025 Vision Awards, across every category, will automatically earn a place in the Visionary 100. The Vision Awards span three key category groups: Architectural Concept – Honoring bold, unbuilt proposals that reimagine the future of housing, cities, sustainability, and more, using up to six visuals to communicate each project. Architectural Vision – Celebrating single images and videos that capture the essence of architecture through renderings, photography, film, drawing, and physical models. Architectural Visionary – Recognizing firms and creators for outstanding portfolios of work across their chosen medium. Explore the categories in full here. Each submission will be judged by a world-class jury of architects, designers, and visual communication experts, with a strong focus on concept, clarity, innovation, and visual impact. See the judging criteria here. Share My Vision Select Winners and Finalists from Architizer One X Challenges and the inaugural Vision Awards. See the complete 2023 Vision Awards Winners’ Gallery here. Join a Global Festival of Ideas Architecture’s future is being written not only in buildings, but in the bold images, ideas, and narratives that shape how we understand our environment. Architizer created the Vision Awards to celebrate this vital part of design culture — the powerful act of envisioning what architecture can be. In addition to their inclusion in this key publication, select visionaries will be invited for exclusive editorial interviews, offering deeper insight into their creative process and the ideas driving their practice. Sound good? We thought so! Submit your work to the 2025 Vision Awards today and earn your place in the Visionary 100 — an essential index of design excellence for the years to come. Start My Entry The post The Visionary 100: Take Your Place Among Architecture’s Top 100 Creative Leaders appeared first on Journal.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" At the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Estonian Ministry of Culture unveiled the installation and exhibition "Let me warm you," which was curated by architects Keiti Lige, Elina Liiva, and Helena Männa and displayed in the Estonian Pavilion.The Pavilion examines if the current insulation-driven renovations are a chance to improve the social and spatial quality of mass housing districts or if they are just a compliance tool to fulfill European energy targets.In order to draw attention to this problem, the Estonian Pavilion will install insulation panels on the front of a Venetian building—a technique that is also employed in Estonia for mass housing. The palazzetto is situated in the Castello area at Riva dei Sette Martiri 1611, which lies on the waterfront between Corso Garibaldi and the Giardini. An exhibition demonstrating how social interactions among many stakeholders impact spatial solutions will be held in a room coated in plastic film on the ground floor of the same structure. "With this project, we question whether insulation is just a bureaucratic checkbox for meeting EU targets or a real chance to tackle social and spatial challenges," said curators Keiti Lige, Elina Liiva, and Helena Männa."It exposes the clash between bold global ambitions and the everyday realities of people navigating collective decisions."One half of the world is utilizing more powerful cooling systems, while the other half is putting in ever-thicker layers of insulation to combat climate change.Estonia has set an ambitious aim to renovate all residential complexes built before 2000 to at least energy efficiency class C as Europe rushes to become climate neutral by 2050. This extensive repair project is a component of a broader European initiative to address the climate catastrophe by modernizing the old housing stock. Insulation, however, should be viewed as a significant improvement in quality of life rather than as a temporary solution or "bandage."Finding a balance between aggressive climate policies and the daily demands of the residents of these spaces is the true difficulty, considering the large expenses and long-term effects of these modifications.The same materials and design components commonly used in Estonian renovations will be used for the installation, which will be installed directly onto the façade of the current structure. It makes a strong visual statement when juxtaposed with Venice's elaborate architecture. Renovating residential buildings from the Soviet era in Estonia sometimes involves little to no architectural involvement, which perpetuates a problematic disrespect for the potential and character of these areas. The installation attempts to provoke a conversation between residents and architects about the cities and spaces we hope to live in by contrasting a façade covered in fiber cement with Venice's rich historic fabric. An exhibition exploring the social factors influencing remodeling choices will be located on the palazzetto's ground floor. Since the majority of apartment buildings in Estonia are privately owned, renovation decisions are frequently influenced by budgetary considerations, leaving limited opportunity for spatial enhancements other than insulation.The actual exhibition space, an existing apartment, will be covered in plastic film, signifying the constant drive for remodeling while highlighting how superficial repairs frequently obscure the more profound relationships and practical demands people have with their houses. Using theatrical dialogues and exaggerated spatial effects, a model of a Soviet-era housing block at its center highlights human interactions and illustrates how various relationships and interactions affect space.The exhibition encourages visitors to consider the conflict between policy-driven energy goals and the lived realities of individuals impacted by them by shedding light on the intricacies of community living and refurbishment decisions.A catalogue that shows the tragicomedy of an apartment complex in six episodes is included with the presentation. It examines topics from community revival to the dread of change, all based on the experiences of actual people.With the theme Intelligens Natural Artificial Collective the Biennale Architettura 2025, organized by architect Carlo Ratti, will focus on the built environment as a major source of atmospheric emissions, making architecture one of the primary culprits in the deterioration of our planet. As the climate situation worsens, architects need to provide practical, non-cosmetic, efficient, and expedient solutions.In this sense, the Estonian exhibition responds to Ratti’s call for pavilions: "This year’s head theme offers good ground to discuss what happens to architecture when the Architect is excluded from the process," explained Johanna Jõekalda, advisor on architecture and design at the Ministry of Culture of Estonia, Commissioner of the Estonian Pavilion."Renovation processes that are planned by residents themselves according to their best knowledge, provide a good example of how collective intelligence, or lack of it, affects our spatial environment." "The Estonian Pavilion gives the message that the architectural quality of the living environment should not be overlooked in renovation processes," Jõekalda explained.Visitors will actively interact with the pavilion and building during the Venice Biennale with "Let me warm you." Rethinking rehabilitation techniques could help Estonia lead Europe in updating old buildings for a more sustainable and livable future, not merely for energy efficiency.Find out all exhibition news on WAC's Venice Architecture Biennale page. Project factsPavilion of Estonia: Let me warm you Location: Riva dei Sette Martiri 1611 (Castello neighborhood), VeniceCommissioner: Johanna JõekaldaCurators Exhibitors: Keiti Lige, Elina Liiva, and Helena MännaOrganiser: Ministry of Culture of EstoniaCo-organiser: Estonian Museum of Architecture Creative team: Märten Rattasepp, Kirill Havanski, Aadam Kaarma, Joosep KivimäeProduction: Mari-Liis VunderCollaborators: Neeme Külm (Valge Kuup Studio), Margus Tammik, Robert Männa, Markus Puidak, Randel Pomber.All images © Joosep Kivimäe.> via Estonian Pavilion 

The International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia,  has returned, with its grand opening held in early May. The exhibition runs until November 23, 2025 The Canada Council for the Arts, Commissioner of Canada’s official participation in the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, administers the selection process and oversees the exhibition at the Canada Pavilion. But in addition to the Canada Pavilion, Canadian architects and designers have a presence in several other exhibitions that are part of this year’s festival. Here’s a round-up of the Canadian work in Venice. Picoplanktonics. Photo credit: Valentina Mori Picoplanktonics led by Living Room Collective Canada’s official entry to the Biennale is Picoplanktonics, a 3D-printed living artwork incorporating cyanobacteria—a global first at the intersection of architecture, biotechnology, and art. The exhibition, developed by the Living Room Collective, showcases the potential for collaboration between humans and nature. Picoplanktonics is an exploration of the potential to co-operate with living systems by co-constructing spaces that “remediate the planet rather than exploit it.” The installation transforms the Canada Pavilion into an aquatic micro-ecosystem, where architectural structures grow, evolve, and naturally degrade alongside their living components. It was designed according to regenerative architecture principles, and is not only a built object, but also a breathing organism interacting with its environment, which prompts reflection on potential futures of the built environment. The creative team is led by bio-designer Andrea Shin Ling, alongside core team members Nicholas Hoban, Vincent Hui and Clayton Lee. Etude Ile Verte by Atelier Pierre Thibault. Photo credit Alex Lesage Les boucaneries de l’île Verte by Atelier Pierre Thibault Atelier Pierre Thibault has been invited to participate in this year’s Venice Biennale as the only team from Québec. His project is inspired by the old fish smokehouses, or boucaneries, of Île Verte. With the support of the fifty permanent residents of Île Verte, Atelier Pierre Thibault has designed a participatory architectural project that aims to reinterpret the boucaneries as creative canvases to imagine new uses to strengthen Île Verte’s autonomy. This includes community greenhouses, artist studios, and gathering places. The exhibition aims to highlight, as Thibault puts it, “the strength of a sensitive and collective gesture in response to the erosion of traditional buildings and the major climate challenges faced by inhabitants living year-round in an isolated island environment.” The construction of the installations, along with the exchanges sparked with the community, was documented through photography and video, and captures both the process and the spirit of collaboration that defined the project. Celebrating the Verdoyants’ collective intelligence and inviting reflection on the future of the boucaneries, this participatory project highlights the exemplary and internationally resonant nature of this approach. The Atelier Pierre Thibault project will be on view at the Corderie dell’Arsenale. The pavilion itself will take the form of a temporary, lightweight structure constructed from reused materials, situated on the grounds of the French Pavilion, which is currently undergoing renovation. The curators have selected 50 projects to be featured across six thematic sections: Living With the Existing, the Immediate, the Broken, Vulnerabilities, Nature, and Combined Intelligences. Image courtesy of WZMH Architects Speedstac by WZMH Architects as part of Living With…Combined Intelligences  As part of the exhibition “Living With… Combined Intelligences,” WZMH Architects presents Speedstac, a prefabricated modular precast solution that aims to reimagine how urban areas devastated by war can be rebuilt. Originally designed to accelerate housing construction in Canada, Speedstac took on urgent new relevance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With more than 170,000 buildings damaged or destroyed and millions displaced, WZMH’s innovation, developed through its R&D lab, sparkbird, aims to offer a scalable solution: self-contained, plug-and-play building modules with integrated electrical and plumbing systems that can be seamlessly inserted into existing structures. The use of modern materials such as high-performance concrete can reduce the weight of the modules, making them easier to lift and move using conventional crane equipment. Using a robust locking mechanism, several modules can be securely fastened and unfastened as needed, to produce an adaptive modular housing solution. The Speedstac system aims to offer a solution to the challenges of traditional construction methods, enabling faster, more flexible, and more sustainable building projects. The Vivre Avec / Living With exhibition is hosted in the French Pavilion. Presentation, Northern Horizons. Photo credit: Blouin Orzes architectes Northern Horizons by Blouin Orzes architectes as part of Time Space Existence  Through a wide selection of projects—ranging from conceptual works, models and photographs to videos, sculptures and site-specific installations—the exhibition Time Space Existence, hosted by the European Cultural Centre, aims to provoke participants to question their relationship with space and time, re-envisioning new ways of living and rethinking architecture through a larger lens. Quebec firm Blouin Orzes’ participation revolves around their first-hand understanding of Inuit territories, where they have been working since 2000. Their contribution is based on their  recent publication, Northern Journeys. Blouin Orzes’ contribution in on display at the Palazzo Mora, and additional contributions to Time Space Existence are on view at the Palazzo Bembo and Marinaressa Gardens. View of Commercial and Residential Towers from Seymour and West Georgia Streets. Image credit: Henriquez Partners Studio BC Glass Sea Sponge Another contribution to Time Space Existence is the work of Henriquez Partners Studio. The transformative mixed-use development which they are presenting merges architectural innovation, social responsibility and urban revitalization, and has recently been submitted to the City of Vancouver. The project is about ambitious city-building, and aims to unlock public benefits on currently underutilized land in a way that supports some of the city’s most urgent needs, while contributing bold architecture to the city skyline. Four towers, designed by Henriquez, draw inspiration from rare and ancient glass sea sponge reefs, whose ecological strength and resilience have shaped both form and structure. These living marine organisms, which are unique to the Pacific Northwest, aim to serve as a metaphor for regeneration and adaptation. This concept is translated through the architectural language of the towers: silhouettes, sculptural forms, and sustainable performance. The tallest tower, a stand-alone hotel, proposed at 1,033 feet, is shaped by a structural diagrid exoskeleton that allows for column-free interiors while maximizing strength and minimizing material use. Developed in collaboration with Arup, the structural system references the skeletal lattice of sea sponges; a concept researched at Harvard for its groundbreaking structural efficiency. Henriquez Partners’  contribution is on display at Palazzo Bembo. Renewal Development Shishalh Project Duplex Renderings – Image credit: Renewal Development Shíshálh Nation: Ten Home Rescue Project as part of theLiving With / Vivre avec exhibition Vancouver-based company Renewal Development has been selected to appear as part of the French Pavilion’s exhibition on housing innovation. In 2024, Renewal Development partnered with developer Wesgroup and the shíshálh Nation to relocate ten high value Port Moody homes set for demolition to the shíshálh Nation on the Sunshine Coast. The Nation has been experiencing an acute housing shortage with 900 Nation members currently on a waitlist for housing. Renewal Development says that this initiative reflects its “deeply held values of sustainability, and reconciliation” and its “work to offer real-world solutions to waste and housing shortages by reimagining what already exists.” The project will be on display in the French Pavilion. The following is a list of other Canadian groups and individuals contributing to this year’s Venice Biennale: On Storage Brendan Cormier is a Canadian writer, curator, and urban designer based in London. He is currently the lead curator of 20th and 21st Century Design for the Shekou Partnership at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Prior to this he served as the managing editor of Volume Magazine. La Biennale di Venezia and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London present for the ninth consecutive year the Applied Arts Pavilion Special Project titled On Storage, curated by Brendan Cormier, in collaboration with Diller, Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). It explores the global architecture of storage in service of the circulation of things, and features a newly commissioned six-channel film directed by DS+R. From Liquid to Stone: A Reconfigurable Concrete Tectonic Against Obsolescence Inge Donovan, based in Boston, achieved her Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Design and Architectural History, Theory and Criticism from the Daniels Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto in 2019 after growing up in Nova Scotia, Canada. The Curse of Dimensionality Adeline Chum is currently a Graduate Research Assistant at the Center for Spatial Research and third-year student in the MArch Program at GSAPP. She has received her Bachelor of Architectural Studies from the University of Waterloo, Canada and has worked in small and medium-sized architecture firms in Toronto, New York, and London. Oceanic Refractions Elise Misao Hunchuck, born in Toronto and currently based Berlin and Milan, is a transdisciplinary researcher, editor, writer, and educator. Her practice brings together architecture, landscape architecture, and media studies to research sites in Canada, Japan, China, and Ukraine, employing text, images, and cartographies to document, explore, and archive the co-constitutive relationships between plants, animals, and minerals—in all of their forms. SpaceSuits.Us: A Case for Ultra Thin Adjustments Charles Kim is a designer currently based in Boston. Stemming from his background in architecture, he is interested in materials, DIY, and the aesthetics of affordability. Since graduating from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2022, he has been working as an architectural designer at Utile. Uncommon Knowledge: Plants as Sensors Sonia Sobrino Ralston is a designer, researcher, and educator, and is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in Landscape Architecture and Art + Design at Northeastern University in the College of Arts, Media, and Design. She is interested in the intersections between landscape, architecture, and the history of technology. Doxiadis’ Informational Modernism Mark Wasiuta is Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Columbia GSAPP and Co-Director of the Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture program. Wasiuta is recipient of recent grants from the Onassis Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, NYSCA, and the Graham Foundation, where he was an inaugural Graham Foundation Fellow. Blue Garden: The Architecture of Emergence Tanvi Khurmi, based in London, UK, is a multidisciplinary designer and artist. Her practice is focused on addressing and combatting issues surrounding the climate crisis. After receiving a Bachelor’s in Architecture with a minor in Environmental Studies from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, she earned a Masters of Architecture in Bio-Integrated Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London. Design as an Astronaut Dr. Cody Paige is the Director of the Space Exploration Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, a team of 50+ students, faculty, and staff building and flying advanced technology for space exploration. The Initiative focuses on helping students take their research into space. The pipeline developed to achieve this works with students from across the Media Lab and the MIT community to prototype space-related research in the lab, fly and test them in microgravity on parabolic and suborbital flights, and finally to take them to the International Space Station or on to the Moon. Cody also has a background in geology, specifically quaternary geochronology, and completed her Master of Applied Science at the University of Toronto in Aerospace Engineering and her Bachelor of Applied Science from Queen’s University in Engineering Physics.   The post Round-up: Canadian-led exhibitions at the 2025 Venice Biennale appeared first on Canadian Architect.