Newsletters
Türkiye will present “Spolia Futures,” a project exploring how reused materials, inherited structures and repair traditions can shape future architecture, at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2027.
The project, curated by the Ba-Be Commons Research Collective, was selected from 43 applications submitted through a two-stage open call coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, or IKSV.
The Türkiye Pavilion will welcome visitors from May 8 to Nov. 21, 2027, at the Sale d’Armi building in Venice’s Arsenale. Preview days will take place on May 6 and 7.
“Spolia” refers to architectural elements or construction materials taken from older buildings and reused in new structures. While the practice is usually examined as a historical building method, “Spolia Futures” sets out to bring it into present-day discussions around ecology, memory, social relations and resource use.
The project will examine spolia through the themes of coexistence, archiving, slowing down, repair and speculation about the future.
The selection committee said the proposal stood out because of its strong conceptual framework and its potential to carry reuse practices associated with the geography of Türkiye into global architectural debate.
“‘Spolia Futures’ exhibition stood out for its strong conceptual framework and its potential to bring spolia techniques specific to the geography of Türkiye into global architectural discourse,” the committee said.
Developed through research and collaborations with artists, the pavilion will focus on how changing, repairing and adding to existing materials could help shape future architectural practices.
Drawing on Türkiye’s cultures of making and repairing, the exhibition will put forward a local, circular and collective approach to architecture as an alternative to production models that rely on the intensive extraction of natural resources.
Rather than treating inherited materials as passive remains, the project will look at how they can take on new functions and build connections between architectural memory, ecological systems and social life.
The exhibition space will reflect this approach directly, inviting visitors to explore and question the architectural legacies that societies pass on to future generations.
The curatorial team consists of architects and researchers Basak Eren, Asya Ece Uzmay, Beril Sarisakal Erkent and Ece Yetim, whose collaboration began at Istanbul Technical University’s Faculty of Architecture.
They later reunited through shared interests in architectural history, theory, representation and design research while continuing their academic work at universities in the United States.
Eren is a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania's Weitzman School of Design, while Uzmay is pursuing her doctorate at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning.
Sarisakal Erkent is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Yetim teaches at the Wentworth Institute of Technology and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Their pavilion proposal brings together research developed across different countries, institutions and areas of architectural study.
The 2027 Architecture Biennale will be curated by architects Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu under the title “Do Architecture—For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality.”
The exhibition will spread across the Giardini, Arsenale and other venues in Venice.
Türkiye has taken part in the International Architecture Exhibition since 2014, following the acquisition of a permanent pavilion venue at the Sale d’Armi in the Arsenale.
The Türkiye Pavilion is commissioned by IKSV, with contributions from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Schuco Türkiye and VitrA are serving as co-sponsors.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
