The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Presented as part of the building’s architecture, the fire extinguisher draws attention to the emotional dimension of functional safety elements
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
A fire extinguisher set into a niche decorated like a fresco, revealing its symbolic and reassuring presence within the domestic space
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
A blessed beeswax candle (gromnica), traditionally lit during storms and placed in the window to protect the house from lightning—a ritual rooted in Candlemas traditions
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
From fire rituals to radiesthetic rods, from holy corners to certified safety devices—this exhibition invites us to rethink how architecture has always mediated our need for protection
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Foundation offerings (zaktadziny), once buried beneath the home’s corners—eggshells, grain, money, blessed candles—to secure protection and abundance for the new dwelling
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
The holy corner (pokuc), a sacred space in traditional Slavic homes, located opposite the entrance and adorned with icons, linen fabrics, and flowers—a domestic altar of protection and reverence
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Existing emergency infrastructure—such as evacuation signs and fire alarms—is highlighted within the exhibition to reflect how safety regulations shape architectural space
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Hermetically sealed armoured door, a standard element of underground shelters built to withstand shock waves and, in the case of nuclear shelters, to block radiation. Like all objects in the exhibition, it was selected by the curators as part of a dedicated research process—from real, existing pieces sourced and assembled specifically for this project
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Surveillance camera originally installed in the Pavilion, now deliberately revealed and framed as part of the exhibition—shifting its functional gaze into a curatorial presence
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Here, gestures old and new—placing a candle in the window, installing a fire alarm—are presented side by side, revealing the continuous thread between ancestral rituals and modern safety protocols
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
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The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
A bottle sealed into the wall, containing workers’ signatures and a newspaper—part of a long-standing tradition of leaving a trace inside the building for posterity, a practice still observed today
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
The exhibition at the Polish Pavilion reflects on the continuity between ancient rituals and contemporary safety practices—where lighting a blessed beeswax candle and framing a fire extinguisher are gestures driven by the same human need for protection
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Instructional graphics by Maciej Siuda illustrating how to use a fire extinguisher—functional drawings integrated into the installation as part of a reflection on safety and everyday ritual
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Graphics by Maciej Siuda
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
A real fuse from the Pavilion’s electrical system—usually concealed—deliberately exposed and framed within the exhibition, transforming a regulatory safety element into an integral part of the installation
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
The actual bolt used to lock the main entrance to the Polish Pavilion in the Giardini, here framed and displayed at the threshold of the exhibition—a gesture that turns a functional element into a symbol of security
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
A found horseshoe, hung in a ‘U’ shape to keep luck from spilling out—presented here as part of an open-ended dialogue, without judgment, between ritual gestures, living myths, safety regulations, and emotional needs
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
Collective Intelligence at the Heart of Adaptation at the Venice Architecture Biennale: Atelier Pierre Thibault and Residents of Île Verte Reinvent the Boucaneries
Atelier Pierre Thibault
Île Verte seen from a helicopter in December 2024. Home to only around fifty permanent residents, Île Verte experiences stark population fluctuations and exists somewhat apart from the rest of Quebec—like a time capsule where daily needs and available resources are uniquely shaped by isolation. In winter, the river’s ice makes ferry access impossible. While an ice bridge once connected the island to the mainland, climate warming has rendered this option unreliable. Today, for nearly five months each year, residents must rely on helicopter transport to shop, visit family, or participate in social life beyond the island. As generations before them once did, Île Verte’s community must continue to find new ways to adapt.
Photo credit:
Alexis Boivin
Collective Intelligence at the Heart of Adaptation at the Venice Architecture Biennale: Atelier Pierre Thibault and Residents of Île Verte Reinvent the Boucaneries
Atelier Pierre Thibault
The architects from Atelier Pierre Thibault—along with intern students from Université Laval—were invited to immerse themselves in the rhythms and realities of Île Verte across the changing seasons. Situated in the Saint Lawrence River, this fourteen-kilometre-long island is defined by its rugged coastline, where rocky beaches are ceaselessly sculpted by by the Nordet winds, its cliffs that open onto the vast estuarial horizon, and its contrasting landscape of pastoral meadows and dense spruce forests.
Photo credit:
Alexis Boivin
Collective Intelligence at the Heart of Adaptation at the Venice Architecture Biennale: Atelier Pierre Thibault and Residents of Île Verte Reinvent the Boucaneries
Atelier Pierre Thibault
During visits to Île Verte and through conversations with the Verdoyants—as the island’s residents are known—twelve captivating structures were (re)discovered. Known as boucaneries, these vernacular buildings, inspired by traditional smokehouses, were constructed between the 1920s and 1980s to withstand the island’s particularly harsh climatic conditions.
Photo credit:
Alexis Boivin
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