As the Venice Architecture Biennale continues, we spotlight five country pavilions that reframe soil as a material of the future.
In line with this year’s theme, Intelligens Natural Artifical Collective, several pavilions at the 2025 edition looked to innovative construction approaches capable of addressing modern challenges, with soil-based construction championed for its versatility.
Among this slew of soil-focused pavilions is the Morocco Pavilion, which sought to combine traditional earthen architecture and modern engineering, and the Mexico Pavilion, which explores the use of ancient agricultural systems in modern cities.
Read on for a closer look at five earth-based pavilions on show at the event:
Photo by Fatih Yilmaz
Turkiye Pavilion, Arsenale
The exhibition at this year’s Türkiye Pavilion made soil its focus, tagging the material as “an ecosystem that embodies natural intelligence” and exploring its role in sustainable architectural development.
Curated by Ceren Erdem and Bilge Kalfa, the Grounded exhibition is centred around soil-based construction and features artworks chosen to allow visitors to feel, smell and engage with the material.
Among the works completed by teams and individual participants were 3D-printed rammed earth and clay structures by design studios Solidified and Mono Earth.
Photo by Peter Bennetts
Soil, sand and plaster sourced from Venice were used to build a circular rammed-earth structure that forms the centrepiece of the Australian pavilion.
Based on the theme of home, the exhibition was designed by the pavilion’s first all-Indigenous curatorial team to be an inclusive space where visitors could “find their own sense of place”.
To achieve this, the team lined the rammed-earth structure with a circular gathering area, while a display of “living objects” chosen to reflect home was placed on a shelf that wraps around the space.
Photo by Samuele Cherubini
Soil-based construction also formed the central theme of the exhibition held at this year’s Morocco Pavilion, which praised the material for its durability and flexibility.
The exhibition, named Materiae Palimpsest, sought to showcase how combining ancient earthen architecture and modern engineering could address today’s social and ecological challenges.
To do this, curators and Moroccan architects Khalil Morad El Ghilali and El Mehdi Belyasmine filled the space with 72 pillars showcasing various forms of soil construction, along with holograms of the pavilion’s artisans and a display of tools.
Photo by Ricardo de la Concha
Mexico Pavilion, Arsenale
Large cubic volumes of soil, known as chinampas, populated this year’s Mexico Pavilion, which pays tribute to the age-old Mesoamerican agricultural system.
Named Chinampa Veneta, the exhibition was curated by the Chinampa Veneta Collective to spotlight the chinampa system of Xochimilco as “a model of integrated design” in cities.
Planted with greenery, the organic structures were typically placed in shallow lakes and arranged in rows to form channels. In the waterless Venice exhibition, these channels double as circulation routes for visitors.
Philippines Pavilion, Arsenale
Soil-focused research, collaborations and workshops informed the exhibition curated by Renan Laru-an at this year’s Philippines Pavilion.
Held within the Arsenale, the Soil-beings exhibition explores the relationship between materiality and landscape, featuring work by artist Christian Tenefrancia Illi.
The space was designed to reframe soil as a living force that plays an active role in shaping culture, memory and the built environment.
The Venice Architecture Biennale takes place from 10 May to 23 November 2025. See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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