A pioneering Mexican project developed by Tecnológico de Monterrey (Monterrey Tech) is part of the main exhibition at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the world’s most prestigious forums for architectural innovation.
Titled “Tech-Community Driven Living Labs: Fostering Care Ecologies,” the project was one of approximately 300 selected and is the only university-led initiative from Latin America featured in this year’s main exhibition.
The Venice Architecture Biennale — held every two years in grand locations such as the historic shipyard Arsenale and the pavilion park Giardini — has brought together more than 760 individuals and teams who are exploring the future of the built environment.
The 2025 edition, curated by the Italian-born architect, engineer and MIT professor Carlo Ratti, revolves around the theme “Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective.”
The event, which opened on Saturday, serves as a “dynamic laboratory,” organizers said, uniting experts from diverse fields to address pressing global challenges such as climate change and social resilience.
Organizers are especially excited that this year’s event includes not only the standard lineup of architects and engineers, but also “mathematicians and climate scientists, philosophers and artists, chefs and coders, writers and woodcarvers, farmers and fashion designers.”
Monterrey Tech’s project stands out for its applied research and community-driven approach.
The initiative established “living laboratories” in three Mexican regions: Julimes, Chihuahua; La Primavera Forest in Jalisco; and the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Querétaro.
In Julimes, a rural municipality of about 5,000 on the Conchos River, arsenic and fluoride water filters and solar-powered greenhouses with drone monitoring were co-developed with local residents to address health risks.
In Jalisco, a portion of the Las Tortugas River was invigorated by using small, nature-based interventions that combine sanitation strategies, environmental education and regenerative ecotourism, such as creating public spaces that allow communities to reconnect with the river and its ecosystems.
In Querétaro, the focus was on responsible tourism and forest management models in the biosphere reserve.
“Our labs integrate collective, natural and artificial intelligence to generate replicable solutions,” said Emanuele Giorgi, a project lead.
“Our participation is aimed at showing how architecture, from a university perspective, can be a critical tool for exploring new ways of living in the face of climate and social challenges,” said Alfredo Hidalgo, national dean of Monterrey Tech’s School of Architecture, Art, and Design.
Monterrey Tech’s project involved some 280 students and collaborators, though only five are listed on the official entry: Giorgi, Hidalgo, Carlos Cobreros, Maria Elena de la Torre Escoto and Maximillian Nowotka.
The biennale’s top honor, the Golden Lion, this year went to Bahrain for its innovative “Heatwave” installation, which offers climate-responsive cooling for public spaces. In all, there are 65 national pavilions being showcased at three locations in Venice.
The exhibition will continue highlighting architecture’s vital role in addressing global environmental and social issues through Nov. 23.
With reports from Bloomberg, EuroNews and TecScience
