Sage HQ
Edit Studios Inc.
Informal Presentation Zone
Photo credit:
Brett Hitchins
Sage HQ
Edit Studios Inc.
Custom Client Art
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Brett Hitchins
Sage HQ
Edit Studios Inc.
Quiet Booths
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Brett Hitchins
Sage HQ
Edit Studios Inc.
Collaboration and white boarding
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Brett Hitchins
Sage HQ
Edit Studios Inc.
Main Boardroom
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Brett Hitchins
Sage HQ
Edit Studios Inc.
Meeting room with custom White Boards
Photo credit:
Brett Hitchins
Sage HQ
Edit Studios Inc.
Custom White Boards
Photo credit:
Brett Hitchins
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
The entrance and main façade of the Polish Pavilion, overlooking the Giardini of La Biennale di Venezia. Built in the 1930s, the Pavilion has hosted Poland’s national exhibitions since 1932 and now presents Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
The modern archetype of protection: a fire extinguisher displayed with reverence, echoing centuries of firefighting evolution and domestic vigilance
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 hand fire extinguisher, part of a long history of firefighting tools—from bucket brigades to chemical cartridges—now reframed as both a safety device and a design element
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
A wiecha—wreath of branches with ribbons and tools—placed atop the building to mark its structural completion, a tradition in Poland since the 15th century
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
The Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Entrance to the exhibition Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture, where visitors are invited into a space shaped by rituals, regulations, and everyday gestures of protection
Photo credit:
Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
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
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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
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
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