Build of Site, Denmark Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale – Photos by Hampus Berndtson.

Architecture. Construction sites require the production and movement of a large quantity of materials. How can we build upon the world without building anew? At the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, Søren Pihlmann presented Build of Site, an exhibition and, at the same time, a conscious renovation of the Danish Pavilion, which engaged different professionals to study, analyse and devise solutions to repurpose the existing materials and ingredients of the late 1950s building designed by Danish architect Peter Koch. 

• RELATED STORIES: Read more about the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale on Archipanic.

The pavilion required renovation due to recurring flooding, dated functionality, and indoor climate issues, calling for upgrades to elements such as floors, doors, and windows. Due to the Art and Architecture Biennale exhibitions, there were fewer than six months to complete a proper renovation. From here, instead of using new resources to create a temporary installation, Søren Pihlmann, founder of Pihlmann Architects, created an exhibition narrating the sustainable upgrade to the pavilion.

Stepping into Build of Site, visitors are transported to a construction site temporarily suspended in time. Archetypal elements such as podiums, ramps, benches, and tables have been constructed from surplus materials unearthed during the renovation process.

“Nothing left the pavilion. We evaluated soil, wood, limestone, concrete floor, stone, sand, silt, and clay –everything we found in the pavilion.” Søren Pihlmann told Archipanic. “The pavilion itself became a material bank.”

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For example, each limestone tile has been studied to understand how it was cut from the Istria quarry, the risk of breaking during removal, and its potential for reuse in floor renovations. On top of that, a by-product of the fishing industry in the Adriatic Sea has been mixed in the right ratio with sand excavated from the soil under the pavilion and moulded into a tabletop. 

“We invited several researchers, from material specialists to architecture students,  who studied and proposed solutions to reuse the elements of the building for the renovation. Bio-based, high-tech and recycled elements were integrated in the architecture.”

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The collaborative findings and the work done became the exhibition “As architects, we should work more in a curatorial way, so we can become a mediator between the will of the material and the built project. On a global level, there is a materials scarcity issue. But what if this scarcity could become an opportunity to devise new sustainable solutions and unlock new potential to repurpose without wasting?”

‘Build of Site’ tunes with the Biennale’s theme, IntelliGens, which explores natural, collective and artificial solutions to address climate change.

RELATED STORIES: Discover more architecture and design from Denmark on Archipanic.

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All photos are by Hampus Berndtson, courtesy of the Denmark Pavilion in Venice.