Venice Biennale, Spanish Pavilion

For the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the studio presents "Ornament and Detritus," a site-specific intervention for the Spanish Pavilion that challenges the construction industry’s fractured relationship with materiality. Developed as a profound critique of the civilizational model of constant renewal, the project reimagines construction and demolition waste (CDW) not as a residual burden, but as a valuable "urban mine" awaiting creative reactivation.

The design team advocates for a shift from recycling to "pro-cycling," a philosophy where existing materials are refined and re-dignified in-situ. By analyzing the massive environmental footprint of the building sector—responsible for 37% of global CO2 emissions—the studio proposes that the energy already invested in materials must be recouped. Through a process of urban mining, they transform common rubble, plastics, and offcuts into contemporary architectural elements. This approach rejects the "scatological" view of waste, treating it instead as a pre-processed resource with inherent historical and economic value.

A key pillar of this project is the integration of local craftsmanship and horizontal collaboration. The studio believes that on-site workers possess unique insights into material transformation, allowing for ad hoc solutions that bypass global logistical chains. By prioritizing local labor over the extraction of new resources, the team creates unique, context-situated spaces that honor their previous material heritage.

In "Ornament and Detritus," the studio ultimately argues that ornament—once vilified by modernism—is a viable strategy for preserving materials that would otherwise end up in landfills or incinerators. By transforming detritus into decorative and functional components, the team fosters a culture of reintegration and radical sustainability. This intervention serves as a manifesto for a renewed postmodernism, proving that the most ethical way to build for the future is to utilize, value, and celebrate what already exists.