Venice Architecture Biennale 2027: the ultimate guide

With less than a year to go, speculation on the Venice Architecture Biennale 2027 is ramping up; who will the newly appointed co-curators choose to participate in their main show? And who is poised to win the biennale's coveted awards?

One question was answered today - that of the theme. At a press conference in Venice today, it was announced by Venice biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and the curators Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu that next year's festival will be centred on: 'Do Architecture: for the possibility of coexistence facing a real reality.'

To expand on this and keep you up to date with news as they come, our biennial, ultimate guide for the world's biggest festival of the built environment is now here, designed to follow rolling coverage, breaking news and, of course, everything you need to know about exhibits, participants and logistics.

At the recent press conference, which revealed the theme for 2027, the two curators emphasised ideas of peace and coexistence in their speech, drawing attention to action and a deep connection with existing environments - both nature and human-made contexts.

They jointly said: 'If somebody asks us what the most beautiful architecture is, we always say the garden, especially the Chinese garden.' This draws on metaphorical uses of the notion of a garden too; they continue to explain, seeing gardens as a symbol of peace. It is about 'an architecture of coexistence. A gentle residence in a violent world. We hope for world peace,' the architects concluded.

Welcome to our Venice Architecture Biennale 2027 ultimate guide

Following architect Carlo Ratti's much-discussed Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 and its theme, 'Intelligens,' and 2024 RIBA Gold Medal winner Lesley Lokko's 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale's influential focus on Africa as 'The Laboratory of the Future', the pressure is on for the next event, which marks the seminal 20th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. Here is what we know.

The Venice Architecture Biennale 2027 co-curators

In November 2025, the biennale announced Chinese architecture duo Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, founders of Hangzhou-based Amateur Architecture Studio, as the joint curators of the upcoming 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale. The pair have led their studio collaboratively since 1997, and also teach and are a respected voice within the architecture community.

They are also no strangers to the biennale, having taken part in the main show in 2006, 2010 (when they received the Special Mention for their project 'Decay of a Dome') and 2016.

The prolific architects are behind works such as the Xiangshan Campus of China Academy of Art, the Tiles Hill in Hangzhou, the renovation of Wencun Village, the Lin’An Historic Museum, and the Xi'an Opera House and Concert Hall. Wang Shu won the Pritzker Prize in 2012 and has served as a judge for the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2013.

‘'Conceptual experiments driven to extremes are often divorced from reality, and over-commercialisation tends to [make for] merely popular and short-lived [projects]. [There is a] breaking away from the connection with the real place. It will lead to the death of architecture. Architecture becomes a kind of delusional expression about the future,’ the architects said at their announcement as curators, hinting perhaps at themes they are keen to explore through their show.

The Venice Architecture Biennale 2027 theme: 'Do Architecture'

Much like every biennale iteration, the curated main show revolves around a key theme – from the very first Venice Architecture Biennale in 1980, centred on Paolo Portoghesi's 'The Presence of the Past', to last year's 'Intelligens' which explored the relations, common points and inspiration to be found in the natural and the artificial.

As a response, perhaps, to last year's imaginative speculations and experiments that brought together futuristic technology and themes of science, Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu turn the spotlight this year to doing, action and practice, focusing on not speculative, but hands-on building, bringing notions of natural materials and tactility into the discussion.

Wang Shu said at the theme announcement's press conference: 'The future is full of uncertainty. Overly conceptual experiments are often detached from reality, and in order to survive, we need rapid change. Among the world's crises, the one between nature and human-made construction is the most profound. This does not only refer to untouched nature but also human environments. We must remain highly alert to the power that the technological progress of our times has given to architects.'

Lu Wengyu added, 'Architecture should remain linked to reality. We should not destroy villages and cities that we have inherited. Architecture should not leave this world behind. It is an architecture that should rely on material, not visual power.' She continued: 'For 2027, we decided to confront reality with a series of questions. How can we avoid the vulgar cloning of new buildings? How can architecture acknowledge and practice differences, the authenticity of lived experience?'

'There are different approaches to climate change, and how can they walk next to each other? How can we resolve the conflict between urban and rural through architecture?' pondered Wang Shu.

The main theme will provide conceptual grounding and a common starting point for both the participants to build their submissions around and the national pavilions to riff off on for their own exhibits.

National Participations

Between Giardini della Biennale, where many of the individual countries' national pavilions are, and various locations across Venice's canal city (for those countries not claiming a pavilion in the Giardini), the world comes to showcase its thoughts on architecture during the Venice Architecture Biennale 2027.

Many of the national participations are still to be announced – it's early days for many countries, which are still conducting their internal competitions before they announce the curatorial teams and themes of their respective pavilions. The United Kingdom was among the first to reveal its plans.

The British Council held a competition to determine a UK-Malaysia team to curate next year's pavilion. The move signals the celebration of 70 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and Malaysia. Unveiled earlier this spring, the curatorial team will consist of Grymsdyke Farm's Dr Guan Lee and Mike Lim, director of IDK, alongside a team including Maria McLintock and Ben Swaby Selig. The participation will also include Penang-based artisans Ng Chi Wang, Lee Shao Chin and Koh Eng Keat.

Places, dates and tickets

Opening to the public on 8 May 2027, the Venice Architecture Biennale 2027 will run, as always, for a little over six months, closing on 21 November of the same year. The public opening is typically preceded by two vernissage days – this year, those are expected to be the 6 and 7 May.

Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu's main themed show will take place in two locations - Venice's famed Arsenale and Giardini, the latter occupying the newly reopened Central Pavilion, which underwent extensive restoration for the past year.

Giardini is also the ground for many of the national participations, with countries from around the world presenting their shows and responses to the theme in their respective, dedicated pavilions. Tickets for the main sites are available at the entrance of both sites. Opening hours are 11 am - 7 pm (last admission 6:45 pm), with the venue closed on Mondays.

Do expect a wealth of further events to be spread across Venice. This includes both independent programmes and official programme collateral events, and national participations that may not be accommodated at the Giardini site. There is never enough space for everyone within the two official biennale sites, but what a great problem to have, navigating one's way to the next display or event in the wonderful backdrop of Venice.

The Venice Architecture Biennale 2027 will run 8 May to 21 November 2027 at Venice's Giardini and Arsenale sites.