The Austrian Exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale

Text: Bálint Botzheim

Carlo Ratti is the chief curator of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. His keywords, Intelligence, Natural, Artificial, Collective, are also used also as the title of this year’s biennale. The curators of the Austrian pavilion, Lorenzo Romito, Sabine Pollak and Michael Olbrist, address today’s housing challenges. By presenting the examples of two capital cities, Rome and Vienna, they present the housing challenges of our time, the lessons learned and possible solutions. The title of their exhibition, Agency For Better Living suggests pro-activity, also reflecting their dedication to the topic and their willingness to take action. The curators’ concept is based on in-depth research work, the results of which are presented in a nearly 200-page A4-format study. The Austrian pavilion, built after designs by Josef Hoffmann in 1934, provides a suitable space for the material, with a symmetry lending itself to the presentation of a dual-polar theme. At first glance, the idea of citing the two capitals for the exhibition might appear almost too trivial, but digging deeper into the subject one may reveal that Rome and Vienna’s responses to housing problems are excellent illustrations of the wide range of possible solutions.