Build of Site: Denmark’s Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 pavilion on on-site reuse

Reframing Material Value

The Build of Site exhibition challenged traditional perceptions of material value by showing how existing components from past construction projects can be given new life. The exhibition aimed to inspire the world to adopt an approach driven by resource awareness and respect for the inherent qualities and potential of a site.

Visitors to the Danish pavilion were invited to experience a snapshot of an experimental process, where they could observe how the building’s own resources were repurposed for new uses. Here, technical and architectural processes were showcased, giving visitors access to a creative knowledge process normally hidden from view. The exhibition thus demonstrated the economic, environmental, and aesthetic potential of reusing familiar resources in new and original ways.

An Open-Source Vision for the Future of Construction

The exhibition was developed in collaboration with leading academic institutions, craftsmen, and material specialists. This interdisciplinary collaboration united technological innovation with local resource use.

Build of Site provided insight into an innovative approach to sustainable construction and highlighted its potential as a model that can be applied to buildings worldwide. By expanding the definition of architectural value, the Danish pavilion invited visitors to experience and rethink how architecture can contribute to a sustainable future.

Curatorial team

Søren Pihlmann, architect MAA, is the founder of the architecture studio pihlmann architects. Søren Pihlmann is well-renowned for his focus on the sensuous and honest architectural experience, be it within the repurposing old industrial buildings, temporary pavilions or single-family homes. Søren Pihlmann explores the potential of repurposed materials and how we can create an aesthetic based on the new sustainability requirements.

The exhibition was created in collaboration with a carefully selected curatorial team from e.g. Danish architecture schools, construction industry research centers, builders, manufacturers and material specialists. The experts contributed specific knowledge within their field, which ensured that the exhibition’s spatial approach was based on a solid foundation of expert knowledge.

What was Build of Site?

Build of Site was Denmark’s contribution to the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 in the Danish Pavilion, focusing on reusing existing buildings and resources.

When did Build of Site take place?

The exhibition ran from 10 May to 23 Nov 2025.

Who was behind the exhibition, and what was the Biennale’s overarching theme?

The exhibition was curated by architect Søren Pihlmann and was framed by the Biennale theme “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.”

What was the exhibition’s concrete approach in the Danish Pavilion?

The exhibition focused on maintaining the Pavilion itself by using resources already present in the building, demonstrating hyper-local reuse methods.

How is the exhibition format described?

Build of Site was presented as a technical and aesthetic communication of an ongoing process—a work in progress—where the Pavilion’s own resources were recirculated and used in new forms.

What should I know if I only read one thing?

Build of Site (10 May–23 Nov 2025) presented on-site reuse as an architectural practice, maintaining and rethinking the Danish Pavilion by working with the building’s own materials in an open, experimental work-in-progress.