State of Bahrain Mandap honored for national participation
The state of Bahrain has been awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation 19th Venice Architecture Bienle For its pavilion, heatwave. Curateed by Andre Farguna and commissioned for culture and antiques by Shikha Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the exhibition provides a ground and immediate response to one of the most pressurized climate challenges today: Extreme heat. Celebrated for its environmental intelligence and social views, Heatwave was praised by this year’s international jury, including Hans Ulich Obst (Chairman, Switzerland), Paola Antonally (Italy), and MPHO Matsipa (South Africa), which to present viable proposals for extreme heat.
With work by Wafa Al Ghatam, Iman Ali, Alexander Pujrin and Mario Monoti, Heatwave stands out for his thoughtful integration of traditional Bahrain cooling systems, including contemporary content research, including wind towers and shaded courtyards. The pavilion serves as a full -scale, habitable prototype, defined by a raised platform, suspended ceiling, and central auxiliary columns that can simultaneously show how passive cooling techniques can be re -designed to address global warming in real -time conditions. Its spatial structure doubles as a climate tool, which shapes microclimates through materiality and form.
All pictures by Andrea Avezzù
Heatwave addresses excessive heat in the nation
Designed to be modular and scalable, the state of the Bahrain pavilion imagines how such systems can be applied in diverse contexts, especially in public external places where the most exposure to extreme heat. As designers explain, ‘Architecture should solve dual challenges of environmental flexibility and stability. Simple solution can be deployed in public places and places where people should stay out and work out in excessive heat conditions. Uses traditional methods of passive cooling of the pavilion region and reminds of wind towers and shaded courtyards. ,
Heatwaves also keep the living experiences of weak external workers at the center, especially in construction, which work in difficult and often extreme climatic conditions, and re -presents thermal comfort as a question of equity and public welfare. In doing so, the project introduces the concept of ‘thermal commons’ – a common environmental resource – and architectural approaches that are porous, adaptive and communal. The scenarios discovered in the pavilion include school turn, urban intersections and other high-summer environments, a practical proposal and a stimulation as a stimulation to re-create the civil role of architecture in the face of climate emergency.
Bahrain’s kingdom honored Golden Lion for Best National Participation
Venice Architecture Biennaale Additional Appreciation in 2025
The international jury also gave special mention to The Holi C and Great Britain. The Holi C Opera Aperta, cuisted by Marina Otaro Verzier and Giovanna Zaboti, works by Tatiana Bilbao Estdio and Mao Architects, and was recognized for its thoughtful engagement with spatial openness and spiritual reflection. The geology of the British pavilion curates by Britanic repair, Owen Hopkins, Catherine Yusoff, Kabage Karanja, and Stella Mutegi, bring together colleagues such as Kev_bero and Palestine Recrowding Team (Part), and was appreciated as a significant colonial and ecological legae to the British land.
The Heatwave title, the exhibition provides a ground and immediate response to the excessive heat challenge.
Heatwave stands out for integration of traditional Bahrain cooling systems with contemporary content research
Auxiliary column
Heatwaves keep the living experiences of weak outdoor workers at the center
Project Information:
Name: Hatwave
Curator: Andrea Farguuna
Exhibitors: Andrea Farguna, Wafa Al Ghatam, Iman Ali, Alexander Pujrin, Mario Monoti
Commissioner: SHakh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Chairman of Bahrain Authority for culture and antiques
Program: Venice Architecture Binel
Place: Kingdom of Bahrain Mandap, Arsenley, Venice, Italy
