Carlo Ratti reflects on his bold Venice Architecture Biennale as it closes this weekend

Carlo Ratti believes that ‘architecture can play a central role in addressing the challenges of a changing planet'. As the curator of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Italian architect and engineer set out to remind audiences that architecture has a crucial role to play in confronting the climate crisis.

Working under the theme ‘Intelligens. Natural. Artificial’, Ratti treated the biennale as an analytical, tech-curious foray that merged technology with the built environment. As the exhibition now approaches its finissage, it’s clear that this vision has matured into one of the biennale’s boldest iterations in recent memory.

Carlo Ratti on the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025

Ratti’s ambition played out in both scale and spirit. The exhibition brought together more than 300 projects from over 750 participants, drawing architects, academics, and an energetic group of open-call contributors into the conversation. Across the Giardini and the Arsenale, each installation stretched the limits of architectural thinking, technological imagination, and cross-disciplinary exchange.

According to Ratti, the public response shows a clear appetite for innovative architecture that seeks to tackle real societal issues. ‘The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,’ he notes. ‘Of course, there were some negative reviews, but that’s a good sign: a strong biennale should challenge expectations and ruffle a few feathers.’ For Ratti, the true measure of success lies not in spectacle but in the longevity of ideas.

Central to this edition was the sense of exchange that unfolded among participants. This was not incidental but foundational. ‘The exhibition became a kind of living system, allowing a network of ideas to evolve through dialogue and collaboration,’ he explains. What pleased him most, however, was the seriousness with which contributors engaged with the theme. ‘I am especially happy that so many participants embraced the theme of adaptation with seriousness and forward-looking enthusiasm.’

Yet beneath the energy and experimentation ran a sober sense of urgency. Ratti often describes this moment for architecture as a crossroads. ‘In recent years, I’ve come to see this moment for architecture as what Buckminster Fuller called a “utopia or oblivion” moment. The biennale, however, convinced me that it can be utopia.’ The projects on view, he believes, demonstrated how design can meaningfully respond to climate change through adaptive systems and innovative thinking.

This belief in a process-driven, collaborative utopia was strengthened over the course of the biennale. But Ratti also acknowledges that realising such an ambitious vision for the Venice Biennale came with challenges. Fundraising was among the most demanding. ‘Without a central pavilion, we had to be especially inventive in finding and mobilising the necessary resources.’

Looking ahead, Ratti hopes to expand the threads opened by the exhibition, particularly those that blur the boundaries between architecture and biology. ‘There’s so much to expand across multiple dimensions,’ he says. ‘We have just unveiled AquaPraça, our project for COP30 in Belém.’ Initially conceived for the Venice Biennale, this is a floating public square designed to adapt to rising sea levels.

‘In this space, people can gather, learn, and debate climate action directly on the water,’ he adds. After COP30, Italy will donate it to Brazil to serve as a community hub for environmental education and social engagement. ‘There’s also another initiative on the horizon. A project in Antarctica that I can’t reveal yet, a kind of ice vault for the planet’s collective memory.’

As the 2025 Biennale reaches its finissage, Ratti remains both clear-eyed and optimistic. The work seeded in Venice, he insists, will not remain confined to the lagoon. It will travel, adapt, and take root elsewhere. ‘I’m confident that these ideas will continue to live on long after the biennale,’ he concludes.

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