19 TH
INTERNATIONAL VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2025
CHINA PAVILION CURATED BY MAD FOUNDER MA YANSONG & NECTO EXHIBITION BY
FLORIAN IDENBURG & JING LIU - MARIANA POPESCU
CHINA PAVILION CURATED BY MAD FOUNDER MA YANSONG
CHINA PAVILION OPENS IN
VENICE WITH ‘CO-EXIST’ EXHIBITION
May 10, 2025 - November 23, 2025
With curation by MAD founder Ma Yansong, the China Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale opens
with a quiet invitation to step into a layered dialogue. Here in the Arsenale,
the architect has gathered ten works by twelve teams, mostly from China’s emerging generation of architects.
Their contributions form a dense landscape of research and imagination,
offering a portrait of China’s past and future together in conversation.
The China Pavilion in
Venice does not frame nature as scenery or resource. It unfolds as a landscape
where human emotion and the natural world blur into one another, a notion that
Ma refers to as ‘tian ren he yi,’ the unity of nature and humanity. He reflects
on this value often overlooked in the modern city. ‘We have better technology
now, but so what? Historic buildings are still great,’ he tells designboom
during an interview at the pavilion’s opening
in Venice. ‘In China we build so many high-rises. But people want to live
in gardens. So after all this development, why aren’t we building something
that’s more ideal?‘
MA YANSONG PROPOSES AN
ARCHITECTURE OF FEELING
At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the China Pavilion expands MAD founder Ma Yansong’s reflections toward the architecture of tomorrow. Models and installations throughout the exhibition suggest ways to transform unloved urban environments into places of community and life. designboom spoke with the architect in front of a sprawling city model built from discarded architectural fragments. He explained how this imagined city begins as a landscape of waste, only to be reshaped through interventions designed to restore livability. ‘A second layer of ‘plug-in architecture’ is added,’ he explains. ‘So theoretically, the team can transform a city that is not so ideal, into something liveable.’ One screen even streams Chinese social media users describing their ideal city, turning personal reflections into design feedback.
The pavilion reveals MAD’s commitment to keeping architecture rooted in the emotional lives of people. Ma describes a shift from the mechanical ambitions of past urbanization toward something more human and perceptive. ‘In the intelligent future, the feeling you get when you enter a space will matter most,’ he says. Across the pavilion, works explore how recycled materials, shared memory, and collective participation might reshape the future city. Through these experiments, the exhibit proposes that architecture is not defined by its height or complexity, but by its ability to gather people together, and to move them. Read designboom’s full interview with Ma Yansong below!
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DIALOGUE WITH MA YANSONG
designboom
(DB): Can you explain your theme and curation?
Ma
Yansong (MY): The
theme is CO-EXIST, talking about the how to combine all different ideas
together. When we talk about China, of course we talk about the past, because
we have a lot of tradition. But we also talk about the future. We talk about
technology, but we also talk about human emotion. We talk about a lot of cities
in China, but also nature. These dualities are rich discussions among all these
works.
The show exhibits ten
projects, each one addressing different issues. Through these works, you will
see the real China. Combining all of them together, we want to show that China
is a huge and diverse place. You can see many things at the same time, and they
have to coexist. When these themes are displayed together here in Venice, you
can see the difference between Eastern culture and Western culture, and the
possibility for dialogue and coexistence between these different values.
DB:
Can you describe ‘tian ren he yi,’ the Chinese idea about the harmony between
nature and humans?
MY: When I see all
these works, a lot of them talk about nature. I found this phrase in our
traditional culture that in architecture, also in other art forms, people
consider nature not just a resource, but a spiritual extension of human beings.
When you see a tree or rock, it becomes part of your emotion. Everything around
us in nature becomes part of the human. It becomes narrative and imagination.
That is totally lacking in the modern world.
We often talk about
nature to the extent that a city needs a park or a tree, but it’s something more.
We’re discussing the possibility to bring this tradition to the future. When we
talk about intelligence, it’s not just about technology, nor is it about our
behavior. It’s about emotions. A lot of people are inspired by history, where
nature is a central value.
‘Tian ren he yi’
literally means ‘sky and human become one thing combined.’ If you visit a
building, you feel something. Everyone can feel something. They love it, or
they feel moved. Light tells story. It’s hard to describe. In the intelligent world
of the future, the human reception, how people feel, is so important.
Artificial intelligence be used to further this human reception. But in the
past, urbanization focused too much on technology — the material, the
tectonics, the height, the structure. It’s too far from what you feel. I think
that emotional aspect will be central to architecture in the future.
DB:
How has your practice evolved when it comes to exploring the future, and
reconciling futuristic visions with local identity and culture?
MY: We are thinking
about new technology. This includes artificial intelligence, obviously, but
beyond that, we are responding to what’s emotional. How architecture and the
built environment can link to humans’ emotion. That’s also intelligence. It doesn’t
really link to the latest technology. You can find that through historical
buildings, that’s the reason we keep them, and why we’re inspired from them. We
have better technology now, but so what? They’re still great. In China we build
so many high-rises. But people want to live in gardens. So after all this
development, why aren’t we building something that’s more ideal?
Architecture is about
emotion and narratives. It’s about community. People won’t like something that
has nothing to do with people. That doesn’t mean it can’t be new — it can be
something really new, but it should tell a story about some core values. If you
look at older, traditional architecture, it’s all about how people live and
love, their family and friends, how they gather, and how they understand other
people. New architecture should do the same. Maybe in different ways, but it
should bring people together and build community.
DB:
Can you describe how a few of the specific works capture these ideas that
you’re calling for?
MY: The pavilion’s
curation began with a light installation. We have three sections. The first one
is inspired from the historical work. The light installation is inspired by the
desert caves of Dunhuang, a UNESCO site. That was on the Silk Road. People drew
the a map of the stars on the wall of a cave. Over time, different
civilizations would go there and draw a different star map. But the stars there
are the same. People didn’t use the art to express different understandings, or
tell different stories.
Another example shows
that the story of nature means different things to different cultures, and
these cultures can coexist together. A project in the center of the pavilion
questions how we look at cities of the future. The team proposes a way to
recycle and reassemble concrete. We build so many concrete buildings. What we
do with them? They can be disassembled and resembled to become a new structure.
MY
(continued): At the
far end of the pavilion is a large model of small buildings. That city is a
random city. They collected wasted models and put them together to become a
city that is not so livable. And then they attach another layer as an insert
that they call a ‘plug-in architecture,’ to make it livable. So theoretically,
they can transform a city that is not so ideal, into something liveable.
The exhibit is
backdropped by a screen. It’s actually from a large social media in China. It
shows people talking about their own city and their ideal life. Then their
feedback will go back to the designers, who will then design something from the
bottom up. It shows how social media can change the way cities can form. So the
designers took the ideas and presented them in their model.
Knowledge quoted from
Designboom Web Page.
MA YANSONG
Ma Yansong is the founder
of MAD and a leading voice in redefining the possibilities of contemporary
architecture. He is recognized as the first Chinese architect to win an
overseas landmark commission and to design a cultural landmark abroad. His
vision moves beyond the conventions of modernism and commercial development to
offer a more emotional, spiritual, and human-centered approach, imagining
architecture as a space where people, cities, and the natural world co-exist.
Under his creative
leadership, MAD has become internationally recognized for a new kind of
architectural language—one that is fluid, bold, and deeply connected to nature
and human experience. His influence extends across disciplines, including
exhibitions, publications, product design, and the arts, reflecting a
multidisciplinary vision that continues to shape global discourse.
In 2025, Ma was named to
the TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people. That same year, he
served as curator of the China Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale,
further cementing his role as a cultural voice on the international stage.
Ma holds a master’s
degree from Yale University and has taught at USC, Tsinghua University, and
Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. His curatorial and
exhibition work, including Landscapes in Motion and the China Pavilion at the
Venice Biennale, continues to expand the boundaries of architectural thinking
today.
MAD ARCHITECTURE
MAD is a global architecture studioworking across architecture, urbanism,interiors, product design, and art tocreate immersive environments where the built form connects deply with
emotion and experience.
MAD was founded in 2004
by Principal Partner Ma Yansong. The firm is led by Ma together with Partners
Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano. With offices in Beijing, Los Angeles, and Rome, MAD
is known for its forward-thinking, fluid, and technologically advanced designs
that seek to reconnect architecture with nature as well as the emotional and
spiritual needs of the people who inhabit it.
MAD approaches
architecture as a way to shape emotion and experience, embodying atmosphere,
memory, and human connection. Each project is designed to deepen our
relationship with the environment, community, and ourselves. MAD’s work
responds to the subtle rhythms of urban life, the natural world, and human
presence, creating spaces that are innovative, thoughtful, and alive with
meaning.
For over two decades, MAD
has pursued a design philosophy that brings together bold and beautiful forms
with depth and spatial richness. Each project is designed to evoke feeling,
inviting reflection, movement, and connection. Their designs connect the
individual and the collective, the built and the natural, creating places where
architecture becomes a living part of daily life. Notable works include Harbin
Opera House, The Tunnel of Light, Courtyard Kindergarten, Quzhou Sports Campus,
Jaixing Train Station, the Fenix in Rotterdam, the Lucas Museum of Narrative
Art in Los Angeles, and the Shenzhen Bay Culture Park.
MAD’s design philosophy
is shaped by a view in which humanity, the city, and the environment exist in
balance with each other. Natural elements and the rhythms of daily life inform
a spatial approach that aligns urban life with its surroundings. This way of
thinking gives rise to architecture that supports reflection, well-being, and
collective imagination.
Exhibitions such as Ma
Yansong: Landscapes in Motion (MoCAUP, Shenzhen and HKDI Gallery, Hong Kong)
and Ma Yansong: Architecture and Emotion (Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam) reveal
MAD’s ongoing commitment to innovation not only in form but in feeling. These
exhibitions highlight the studio’s desire to use architecture as a medium for
public discourse, spiritual resonance, and the evolving story of urban life.
MAD’s work expands the
definition of architecture by engaging with art, product design, fashion,
culture, history, and philosophy. The studio’s practice moves between
disciplines and ideas, using architecture as a way to explore broader questions
about human experience, urban life, and the future of our cities. Through built
projects, exhibitions, writing, and cross-cultural dialogue, MAD continues to
shape a design language that speaks to both the physical and spiritual
dimensions of contemporary life.
https://www.i-mad.com/about-us-details
NECTO, A 3D KNITTED MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BY SOLID OBJECTIVES:
FLORIAN IDENBURG & JING LIU - MARIANA POPESCU
May 10, 2025 - November 23, 2025
SOLID OBJECTIVES: FLORIAN
IDENBURG & JING LIU - MARIANA POPESCU EXHIBIT NECTO, A 3D KNITTED MEDIA
ARCHITECTURE PRESENTED AT THE BIENNALE ARCHITETTURA 2025
May 10, 2025 - November
23, 2025
Necto, a 3D-knitted media
architecture that spans between and beyond the columns of the Arsenale
Corderie, is a designated special project by the curator’s team and is located
in Room 3 of the Natural Intelligence section. The installation seeks to
explore the theme of Intelligens through an immersive, innovative, and both
computationally derived yet intuitively driven membrane structure.
Project Description The
architect and engineer have traditionally operated within a realm of absolute
rationality grounded in the impersonal truths of physics. Yet, in today’s
fragmented reality, objectivity dissolves into ambiguity. Necto responds to
this dissonance, capturing the tension between opposing forces in a single
gesture. Oscillating between orientability and non-orientability, it stands at
the edge of instability, embracing paradox while finding equilibrium.
Hoisted into place,
shaped by tension, and selectively stiffened, Necto enacts a form-finding
exercise speculating on the future of temporary structures—flexible, efficient,
and reconfigurable. Its flowing anticlastic surface adapts fluidly, suspended
from a ceiling beam, braced against the Arsenale’s columns, or delicately
anchored to the ground. A series of rings define points of contact,
simultaneously shaping the surface and acting as antipoles. Within its
undulating geometry emerge three distinct architectural moments: an enveloping
cone, a disorienting column, and a hanging mass. A translucent bio-based
coating locally stiffens these moments, allowing the textile to shift between
stretched fluidity and structured solidity.
Knitted from natural
fibers, Necto is computationally optimized and produced in modular strips.
Functional grading aligns with principal force flows, embedding intelligence
and traceability through its DNA-encoded coating. Luminous threads integrated
within the textile follow selected stress pathways, forming a constellation of
light and sound—an expression of the tensions between craft and algorithm,
nature and technology, emergent process and design intent. Lightweight and
portable, the 3D-knitted strips arrive on-site in compact luggage, are easily
assembled, and tensioned into equilibrium. At the exhibition’s end, Necto
dissolves, leaving no trace—its surface flattened and packed, ready to embark
on its next iteration. Fact Sheet - - - - - - - -
95% biodegradable
100m2 textile surface
12 pieces of knit
- 40 hours to knit
- 38.5 kg total weight
- 23 programmed LED
strands
- 9 immersive scenes of
spatialized sound and generative light animation
- Yarn - 100% Linen from
Villa d'Almè, Italy; Inlays - 100% flax fibre bound with Cotton from
Saint-Pierre-le-Viger, France
KEY POINTS
Necto was designed
collaboratively and globally, built locally, reusable, lightweight and
biodegradable. The project explores the theme of Intelligens through an
immersive, innovative, and both computationally derived yet intuitively driven
membrane structure that speculates on the future of temporary
structures—lightweight, flexible and efficient, and embedded with latent
intelligence.
EXPRESSION
Necto’s flowing
anticlastic surface adapts fluidly, suspended from above, braced against the
Arsenale’s columns, or anchored to the ground. Within its undulating geometry
emerge three distinct architectural moments: an enveloping cone, a disorienting
column, and a hanging mass.
LIGHT FOOTPRINT
The majority of materials
are lightweight and portable, transported to the Arsenale as luggage via
vehicle, commercial passenger flight, and vaporetto without crates or excess
waste. The stone footings were sourced from second-choice slabs and delivered
by vehicle from nearby Vicenza.
PERFOMATIVE AND
FABRICATION AWARE DESIGN
The geometry is
form-found accounting for internal stress distribution, fabrication
constraints, and material properties, with the aim of enhancing the spatial
experience. It is developed through computational structural design and
optimization techniques, and fabricated using CNC knitting machines with
natural fibers.
EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Luminous threads
seamlessly integrated within the textile follow selected stress pathways,
forming a constellation of light and spatialized sound. Immersive animations
dance across the membrane, transforming the structure temporarily into
different environments, only to disappear entirely in the next moment again.
The generative light and sound animations embrace lightness, exploring the
expressive possibilities of a very minimal visual and sonic palette. Each
atmosphere playfully speculates on the tensions between craft and algorithm,
nature and technology, emergent process and design intent.
MATERIAL INTELLIGENCE
& CIRCULITY
95% of materials such as
linen, flax and PVA are locally sourced and biodegradable. The textile’s
water-soluble bio-based coating contains digital information encoded on
synthetic DNA, borrowing from the expertise of 4 billion years of evolution.
The data includes a material passport for all components used and machine
instructions to produce the textile. Due to the nature of the DNA, this
information will stay intact and part of the structure for its entire
lifecycle, ensuring future traceability and accountability. Once the exhibition
ends, its coating can be completely dissolved, and the textile can be easily
and compactly packed in hand luggage and transported to its next destination.
FURNITURE
Two Pressure benches and one stool, designed and fabricated by Tim Teven Studio in Eindhoven from 2-mm-thick aluminum sheets, are positioned at the textile’s lower spans, allowing for moments of contemplation.
SOLID OBJECTIVES: FLORIAN
IDENBURG & JING LIU
Solid Objectives Idenburg
Liu is an architecture studio with offices in New York and Amsterdam. Founded
in 2008 by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu, who first met in Tokyo in 2001, the
practice has developed a diverse body of work recognized through international
awards, exhibitions, and publications. Our projects encompass a diverse range
of buildings, including cultural, civic, residential, commercial, and
educational facilities, across both new construction and adaptive reuse,
spanning temporary installations to long-term urban strategies.
At the core of our work
is an ambition to shape a stronger civic realm. We approach each commission as
an opportunity to rethink conventions and to design spaces that support more
open, collective, and sustainable ways of living. A dedication to craft,
detail-oriented construction, and intellectual rigor underpins this approach,
ensuring that each project is tailored to its specific location while
contributing to the broader discourse of architecture. Our engagement with the
arts—through collaborations with artists, curators, and cultural
institutions—further broadens our perspective, enriching the material and
experiential qualities of our architecture.
The scale of the studio
enables us to undertake complex projects while keeping Florian and Jing closely
engaged throughout. Both principals are actively involved in teaching and
research, fostering a dynamic exchange between practice and academia that keeps
the work curious, critical, and forward-looking. This combination of hands-on
craft, conceptual clarity, and civic purpose defines our architecture and
sustains our commitment to building environments that resonate with people and
communities.
https://solidobjectives.com/about/
FLORIAN IDENBURG
Principal, AIA-IA
Florian Idenburg is an
internationally renowned Dutch architect with over two decades of professional
experience. After learning the ropes in Amsterdam and Tokyo, he
founded SO–IL in 2008 together with Jing Liu. His years of working in
cross-cultural settings make Florian a thoughtful and collaborative partner.
With a joyous demeanor, he pursues innovation through working together. He has
a particularly strong background in institutional spaces, leading the office on
projects as Kukje Gallery and the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis as
well as Amant in Brooklyn. His strength lies in generating imaginative ideas
and transforming those into real-world spaces and objects.
Idenburg has a strong
intuition for the orchestration of form, material, and light, and enjoys
developing projects to a level where those elements become places for people to
experience and use. He combines a hands-on approach with a theoretical drive,
sharing this creative spirit with clients, collaborators, and students. A
frequent speaker at institutions around the world, he has taught at Harvard,
MIT, Columbia, and Princeton University and is currently a Professor of
Practice at Cornell University. In 2010, Idenburg received the Charlotte Köhler
Prize from the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund. He is a registered architect in
the Netherlands and an International Associate of the American Institute of
Architects.
https://solidobjectives.com/about/
JING LIU
Principal, AIA
Jing Liu has been
practicing for more than 15 years working on a wide range of projects both in
the US and abroad. Through building practice and interdisciplinary research
projects, Liu has led SO–IL in the engagement with the
socio-political issues of contemporary cities — in projects like the Artists
Loft North Omaha and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Cleveland. Her
projects range from artistic collaborations with contemporary choreographers
and visual artists to master plan and major public realm design in cities like
Melbourne and Indianapolis.
Liu brings an
intellectually open, globally aware, and locally sensitive perspective to
architecture. Her curiosity and artistic imagination allow her to bring a
nuanced cultural perspective to the table. Her keen skills in combining digital
technology with traditional craft and firm belief in design’s ability to
re-engage people with the physical world around them allow the buildings she
designs to become places of exchange that welcome interpretation and
transformation.
Liu leads all of her
projects from concept to realization and considers carefully all aspects of
design and construction — from the building’s presence in a community, down to
the fasteners in a window. She believes strongly that design should and can be
accessible to all, and that architecture offers us an open platform to nurture
new forms of interaction. To that end, Liu sees community engagement and
collaboration across disciplines as central to her role as the design lead.
https://solidobjectives.com/about/
Mariana is a
computational architect and structural designer with a strong interest in
innovative ways of approaching the fabrication process and use of materials in
construction. Her area of expertise is computational and parametric
design with a focus on digital fabrication and sustainable design. Her
extensive involvement in projects related to promoting sustainability has led
to a multilateral development of skills, which combine the fields of
architecture, engineering, computational design and digital fabrication.
In 2019, she successfully defended my Ph.D., which was nominated for the ETH
Medal for outstanding dissertation, and was named a “Pioneer” on the MIT
Technology review global list of “35 innovators under 35”.
Sep 2021 –
Assistant
Professor (TT) of Parametric Structural Design and Digital Fabrication –
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences – Department of Materials,
Mechanics, Management and Design – TU Delft, The Netherlands
2019 – 2021
PostDoc researcher –
Block Research Group & NCCR Digital Fabrication – ETH Zurich,
Switzerland
2015 – 2019
PhD researcher –
Block Research Group & NCCR Digital Fabrication – ETH Zurich,
Switzerland
2013 – 2015
Parametric Design
Specialist at Zwarts & Jansma Architecten, The Netherlands
2010 – 2012
Master of Science (Cum
Laude) – Faculty of Architecture, Hyperbody – TU Delft, The
Netherlands
2005 – 2008
Bachelor of
Science – Faculty of Architecture – TU Delft, The
Netherlands
https://maadpope.com/about-me/
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