CEA was invited alongside MIT to the Biennale Architettura 2025, curated by Carlo Ratti.
Professors John Ochsendorf and Caitlin Mueller from MIT and CEA director Catherine De Wolf applied their groups’ research to an installation in the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. CEA researchers Vanessa Costalonga, Zain Karsan, Clara Blum, and Océane Durand-Maniclas worked on the material upcycling and (digital) fabrication.
The Circular Engineering for Architecture (CEA) lab was invited to Biennale Architettura 2025, curated by Carlo Ratti, alongside the Digital Structures Lab (MIT), the Morningside Academy of Design (MIT), and Anku, to contribute an installation about circular and natural materials in the Corderie of the Biennale’s Arsenale. The exhibition opens on May 10, 2025, and runs until November 23, 2025.
Biennale Architettura 2025 draws on natural, artificial, and collective intelligence to rethink how we design the built environment in an altered world. The collaborative project is entitled “Vegetal, Animal, Mineral, Other” (VAMO). VAMO combines digital fabrication, traditional woodcraft, and experimental biomaterials. The VAMO installation showcases how reclaimed and emerging biodegradable materials can redefine architecture in a circular economy. Materials were developed by MITdesignX and global collaborators.
VAMO collaborators: CEA (Vanessa Costalonga, Zain Karsan, Tim Cousin, Clara Blum, Océane Durand-Maniclas, Roxanne Goldberg, Ipek Mertan, Asena Özel, Dominik Stoll, Ioannis Galetakis, Harish Karthick Vijay, Claudia La Valle, Noah Adriany, Loukas Mettas, Reva Saksena), MIT School of Architecture and Planning (Adam Burke, Adriana Giorgis, Carolina Meirelles R. S. Menezes, Giuliano Picchi, Svafa Grönfeldt, Gilad Rosenzweig, Adelaide Zollinger), Atacama (Jose Tomas Dominguez, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, Paloma Gonzalez-Rojas), COBI (Vincent Jackow, Nikki Rhodes, Jenny Cang, Avigail Gilad, Booker Schelhaas, Ian Erickson), Kokus (Berfin Ataman, Lee Marom), MakingMaterials Lab at Politecnico di Milano (Marco Arioli, Barbara Del Curto, Agar Firenzuola, Romina Santi), PoliLaPP at Politecnico di Milano (MariaPia Pedeferri), Rehub Glass (Marta Donà, Matteo Silverio), Verabuccia (Fabrizio Moiani, Francesca Nori).
The Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture (CEA) develops research on matching reused architectural materials with people and projects through digitalization for a circular built environment. For more information visit our webpage.