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Image render courtesy s.ap architects
Lava will shape Iceland’s official entry Lavaforming at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, showcasing how its density and other natural properties can become a viable future building material for designs as far-ranging as small residential structures, cityscapes, and more.
Image render courtesy s.ap architects
Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, founder of the s.ap architects, is responsible for the curation of the pavilion’s story arch, which is set in the year 2150. She says: “Lavaforming is exploring a building material that has never been used before. The theme is both a proposal and a metaphor – architecture is in a paradigm shift, and many of our current methods have been deemed obsolete or harmful in the long term. In our current predicament we need to be bold, think in new ways, look at challenges, and find the right resources.”
Image render courtesy s.ap architects
Iceland Design and Architecture director Halla Helgadóttir says also that this presentation has the potential to “draw attention to Iceland’s uniqueness and the role and importance of architecture in an age of uncertainty and complex challenges in a memorable way.”
Image render courtesy s.ap architects
Curated by Carlo Ratti, the theme of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition is Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective and will take place from May 10th to November 23rd, 2025.