Bridging research, collaboration, and real-world engagement, Virginia Tech Honors College and Cloud 9 unveil "unEarthed, Second Nature, PolliNATION" at Time Space Existence 2025, a pavilion designed to restore biodiversity in Venice’s lagoon ecosystem, celebrating the essential role of pollinators.
"unEarthed, Second Nature, PolliNATION" symposium is one of the eleven official collateral events selected by Curator Carlo Ratti to be part of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia.
The project is being carried out by students and faculty at Virginia Tech Honors College and by Cloud 9 Architecture. It is curated by Dr. Enric Ruiz Geli and Dr. Anne-Lise Velez and, with the participation of 142 students and 12 faculty members, will showcase 11 student Honors Projects that bring together the educational power of transdisciplinary educational pedagogy.
The project takes the form of an ephemeral observatory installed in the Giardini della Marinaressa in Venice. It is intended as a place of transformative experiential learning, through the creation of a new garden with 60 plants that attract 7 different pollinators. The installation and its central pavilion will promote awareness about how gardens and their pollinators encourage sustainability and will act as a manifesto about interspecies architecture.
To start the conversation about "unEarthed, Second Nature, PolliNATION", Cloud 9 Architecture has invited Aaron Betsky to be the moderator of a symposium, where the relationship between architecture, nature, and science will lead to speculations on what truly organic architecture might be.
A dozen participants from around the world will bring their own perspective and experience with creating work that intertwines architecture with both human made and natural systems to a series of hour-long discussions.
Speakers:
- Aaron Betsky, Moderator
- Carlo Ratti, Curator, Venice International Architecture Biennale
- Kevin Jones, VT Honors College
- Elizabeth Diller, Diller Scofidio + Renfro
- Vicente Guallart, Urbanitree
- Summer Islam, Material Cultures
- Olalekan Jeyifous, Brooklyn-based Artist/Designer
- Mitchell Joachim, Terreform 1
- Maria Lisogorskaya, Assemble
- Ferdinand Ludwig, OLA/TUM
- Mireia Luzarraga, TAKK
- Qingyun Ma, Mada s.p.a.m.
- Claudia Pasquero, Ecologic Studio
- Enric Ruiz Geli, Cloud 9 Architecture
Register for free here.
Event sponsored by USM Modular Furniture.