Curated by architect Søren Pihlmann, the Danish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale is a hybrid exhibition space and renovation site that offers visitors food for thought on the value of as-found materials
Photography by Hampus Berndtson featuring Build of Site at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Words by Jessica-Christin Hametner
Søren Pihlmann, one of Copenhagen’s most prominent architects, forged a name for himself through a series of projects that rethink conventional architectural perspectives. House 14a and its thoughtful material selection of old and new, which earned his namesake practice pihlmann architects the prestigious Årets Arne award in 2023, is perhaps the best example, but others abound.
The recently completed Thoravej 29 in Copenhagen, for example, sees the practice transforming a former factory from the 1960s into an open community hub. Awarded Building of the Year 2024 in Denmark, the project reused 95% of the existing materials and highlighted both the reuse of components, while also exploring the architectural value of the existing.
It’s the Danish firm’s ability to spotlight the potential of existing materials and resources that made Pihlmann a natural fit as the curator of the Danish Pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. Entitled Build of Site, the exhibition incorporates the renovation of the pavilion as part of its concept and showcases methods to reuse surplus materials.
Photography by Hampus Berndtson featuring Søren Pihlmann
‘We’re architects before we’re curators,’ shares Pihlmann. ‘So, it made sense for us to do architecture rather than to stage a representation of it. I love the Biennale – it is and has always been an incredible source of inspiration – but there’s also a surreal and contradictory aspect to the volume of material that’s shipped in only to be shipped away again.’
‘We wanted to do something that would last longer than this Biennale itself – something that would improve the pavilion and benefit future exhibitions,’ continues Pihlmann of what inspired the practice to take a hybrid approach at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. ‘It was a rational decision, rooted in how we work on all our projects. In that sense, Build of Site is just us practicing what we preach.’
The renovations began in December 2024. With recurring flooding, dated functionality and indoor climate issues, various elements of the site, such as floors, doors and windows, are being upgraded mostly in the Peter Koch extension, which dates back to the late 1950s. With ongoing renovations – due to be completed following the 2025 Biennale – this hybrid approach breaks down creative silos.
Photography by Hampus Berndtson featuring Build of Site at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
But above that, the Danish Pavilion highlights the value of adaptive reuse and preservation, posing questions such as: How do we define completeness in architecture? What role does ambiguity play in the design process? Pihlmann is perfectly placed to answer such questions as many of the practice’s projects blur the boundaries between finished and unfinished.
‘I really like this question because it touches on a fundamental contradiction in our field,’ says Pihlmann. ‘On one hand, architecture is bound to the idea of completion – a client expects a finished product, and when the project is delivered, the work is considered done. But on the other hand, many of us — myself included – are drawn to the idea of the ever-ongoing project.’
Upon entering the exhibition, visitors encounter a construction site. As ‘dismantling becomes the first step of constructing,’ explains Pihlmann, the site showcases archetypal exhibition elements such as podiums, ramps, benches and tables, all of which have been constructed from surplus materials found during the renovation process.
Photography by Hampus Berndtson featuring Build of Site at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
From limestone tiles and concrete slabs to gravel, sand, silt, and clay – some materials were mixed with bio-based binders like gelatine and alginate. In contrast, others were used in their raw state, which respects the integrity of the original structure. Much like Pihlmann’s work often engages with the “as-found”, Build of Site celebrates materials in their existing form.
‘If something can remain as it is, we like to keep it that way,’ explains Pihlmann of his forward-looking approach. ‘But we’re equally interested in understanding its structural potential, not just its aesthetic or cultural value, to see how it can be implemented in unexpected ways. It’s a meaningful opportunity to engage with what already surrounds us – to be inspired by the stories embedded in these materials.’
Interestingly, the materials used throughout the exhibition have been closely studied for the last two years with researchers and students from various European universities, such as the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the University of Copenhagen, the Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation, and ETH Zurich.
Photography by Hampus Berndtson featuring Build of Site at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
The close collaboration between experts, as well as the cross-pollination of disciplines, is evident in the way bio-based, high-tech and recycled elements are integrated alongside the architecture in Build of Site. The result is a thought-provoking exhibit that encourages discussion and invites visitors to touch the rough finishes, from earth patches to raw concrete surfaces.
‘I hope people can see the beauty of a rammed earth floor or the underside of a concrete slab. If we can convince people of their value emotionally – not just logically – we might start to see change,’ observes Pihlmann. ‘Rather than developing systems to produce a desired form, I believe form should be the logical outcome of a construction system based on material properties.’
‘We need to revolutionise them based on the materials already at hand, including those we usually discard or overlook,’ continues Pihlmann. ‘If we can build systems that accommodate both the valuable and the valueless, we’ll move towards a more resilient and responsive practice. It’s not about limitation – it’s about rethinking abundance.’
Photography by Hampus Berndtson featuring Build of Site at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
As part of the exhibition, a poetic film created in collaboration with the Louisiana Channel is on view in the Koch room. Following the project over two years from its early conception to the finished exhibition, the film invites reflection and demonstrates that architecture is, ultimately, here to enhance the human experience.
In the Carl Brummer-designed area of the pavilion, visitors can find prototypes, studies and background information about the renovation work and aims for the project following the culmination of the Biennale. What’s more, Build of Site is also accompanied by the English-language publication Making Matter What Too Often Does Not Matter.
An exploratory dialogue between Pihlmann and the Canadian poet and professor of poetry, Adam Dickinson, through the lens of the pair’s respective practices, the book explores the themes of the exhibition and, by extension, Pihlmann’s other work. The book is published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König and Danish Architectural Press.
Photography by Hampus Berndtson featuring Making Matter What Too Often Does Not Matter by Søren Pihlmann and Adam Dickinson
On until November 2025, Build of Site is a timely exhibition that beautifully elevates the discarded, the leftover and the salvaged. Raising vital questions about preservation and the reuse of existing materials, Pihlmann and his team present the value of architecture non-finito – where a building’s aesthetics are intentionally left incomplete or in a state of unfinishedness.
‘Because there are so many materials already in circulation – and if we learn how to work with them meaningfully, we might discover more freedom rather than less,’ states Pihlmann. ‘At a time when architects are being told to reduce, to minimise, this is a way to flip the narrative and find creative abundance in what already exists.’
‘But it also exposes something problematic: in today’s Western construction industry, processing costs are often higher than production costs,’ adds Pihlmann of what he thinks Build of Site reveals about the industry today. ‘There’s no real financial incentive to reuse – it’s almost always cheaper and faster to buy something new.’
Photography by Hampus Berndtson featuring Søren Pihlmann
‘As architects, we often bear the burden of that extra work, and clients rarely want to pay for it,’ admits Pihlmann. ‘Don’t get me wrong, why should they, if we’re not able to provide a proper alternative? To carefully dismantle a door, restore it, store it and reinstall it is far more expensive than ordering a new one.’
‘Even if we promote an aesthetic that values the existing, we’ll fall short unless regulation and industry practices shift,’ concludes Pihlmann of why he thinks the Danish Pavilion can encourage discussion. ‘That’s why I believe Build of Site is important – it’s an argument, an alternative, in built form. A quite experimental one.’
The 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia runs from May 10 to November 23, 2025. For more information, visit dac.dk or follow @danishpavilion_architecture
Get a curated collection of design and architecture news in your inbox by signing up to our ICON Weekly newsletter
