For the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Icelandic Pavillion presents Lavaforming, a project that reimagines one of the island’s most feared natural forces, lava, as a scalable, renewable building material.
Led by architect Arnhildur Pálmadóttir and her practice s.ap architects, the exhibition proposes a speculative and scientific framework for how molten rock might one day reshape the built environment.
Iceland sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where tectonic plates pull apart and volcanic eruptions are a regular part of life. While these events have often been framed as destructive and unpredictable, Lavaforming suggests they could become productive tools for sustainable development. The project explores how controlled lava flows and remelted basalt can generate structural materials, eliminating the need for harmful mining and non-renewable energy sources.
The idea is rooted in Iceland’s history of working with volatile geology. Just as the country successfully harnessed geothermal energy in the 20th century, Lavaforming imagines how the same logic could be extended to lava. But this isn’t purely speculative. The team behind the project has already conducted extensive material research, melting volcanic rock and casting it into forms to produce jet-black bricks and columns with a smooth, glass-like finish. These elements hint at the potential for lava-based mono-material architecture—durable, regionally sourced, and free from extractive processes.
The pavilion, commissioned by Iceland Design and Architecture, includes these material experiments as well as a short speculative film. Produced in collaboration with writer Andri Snær Magnason and designer-technologist Jack Armitage, the animated narrative is set in 2150. Six characters reflect on their lives in a lava-formed city, offering glimpses into a world where infrastructure has evolved in concert with, rather than in opposition to, geological processes. The film serves as both provocation and proof-of-concept, illustrating how a volcanic material palette could support entire urban systems.
Central to the exhibition is a critical stance on the architectural status quo. Arnar Skarphéðinsson, architect and co-creator of the project, argues that architecture has become subordinate to financial systems, limiting its potential to address pressing social and environmental issues. Lavaforming, by contrast, posits a new architectural economy based on shared resources and natural abundance. “We believe that the architecture profession today serves financial interest above all,” he explains. “People cannot afford a home and are simultaneously uninspired by their urban surroundings… Lavaforming immerses visitors in our future vision where a local threat is transformed into a resource that addresses a global emergency.”
The project aligns with the overarching theme of this year’s Biennale, Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., curated by Italian architect and engineer Carlo Ratti. Lavaforming positions itself within this context by presenting a design methodology that is deeply informed by natural intelligence.
While the idea of building cities from lava may seem like science fiction, the proposal insists on its viability through both practical research and critical speculation. By fusing material experimentation with narrative design, Lavaforming asks visitors to consider a broader question: What would it mean to construct our future cities not in spite of nature, but with it?
Where: Icelandic Pavilion, 2125 Ramo de la Tana, Venice (near the main entrance to the Arsenale)
When: May 10 – November 23, 2025
Curator: Arnhildur Pálmadóttir
Commissioner: Iceland Design and Architecture, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Business Affairs of Iceland
