The Ukrainian pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia explores the intersection of traditional building methods and improvised construction during wartime crises. Under the title "DAKH (ДАХ): Vernacular Hardcore", the exhibition refers to the concept of the roof ("dakh" in Ukrainian) as a primary shelter in architecture, examining the roofs of an "architecture without architects" both in the country's constructive tradition and in the contemporary reality of aerial vigilance over its national territory. Curated by Bögdana Kosmina, Michał Murawski, and Kateryna Rusetska, the Ukrainian display consists of a six-element exhibition at the Arsenale's Sale d'Armi and an accompanying nomadic program titled Planetary Hardcore.
"Dakh" in Ukrainian means "roof." The roof is one of the most basic forms of architecture and a primary form of shelter. In the context of war, the roof also becomes the first point of impact for hostile projectiles. DAKH: Vernacular Hardcore juxtaposes the "heritage vernacular" of traditional Ukrainian village housing with the "emergency vernacular" of self-organised reconstruction carried out under wartime conditions. "Hardcore" in this context refers to the assorted debris and clinker crushed to form a building foundation.
"We understand 'hardcore' in its original sense as a (vernacular) builder's word, which refers to the assorted bits of debris and clinker that are crunched together to form a building foundation. We appeal for an ethics—and politics—of rebuilding, which is rooted in the fragile, but unyielding, hardcore of the Ukrainian (and planetary) commons; and which makes manifest the structures of care, repair, solidarity—and resistance—that sustain it" explain Bogdana Kosmina, Michał Murawski, Kateryna Rusetska, сurators of the Ukrainian Pavilion.
The core element in the exhibit, DAKH, is a dynamic pre-image of a vernacular Ukrainian roof, conceived by architect, artist, and curator Bögdana Kosmina. Its form, structure, materiality, and spirit emerge from The Atlas of Ukrainian Traditional Architecture, a 50-year research project carried out by three generations of women architects: Tamara, Oksana, and Bögdana Kosmina. The purpose of the element is to assert that long-term reconstruction processes have much to learn from the rooted intelligence of the emergency vernacular, and that the process of repair must begin while devastation and danger still persist.
The exhibit comprises six elements. In addition to DAKH, it features an AI avatar of architect and ethnographer Tamara Kosmina (1936 - 2016), who preserved vernacular architecture through decades of fieldwork across Ukraine. This digital persona, developed using the Iris tool, reimagines independent technologies by linking personalized artificial intelligence with cultural heritage. The exhibit also includes documentation of emergency vernacular landscapes of war and repair in the Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia regions, created by reconstruction collectives Livyj Bereh (Ihor Okuniev, Vladyslav Sharapa, and Kseniia Kalmus) and KHARPP (Ada Wordsworth). Artist and writer Yevgenia Belorusets presents a photographic exploration of war-dehydrated landscapes, highlighting the work of Mykolaiv Water Utility employees. Finally, Drone Canopy, an immersive sound installation curated by Clemens Poole, is inspired by Klyn, a grassroots drone-building initiative led by Kseniia Kalmus.
"Reconstruction makes no sense without security; and security is impossible to obtain without resistance. Over the course of over a decade now, the Ukrainian sky has been continually subjected to the furious wrath of the Russian war machine. Adequate and sustainable air defense systems remain a distant, seemingly out-of-reach horizon. In response, over its thatched, slate, wooden, metal, and concrete roofs, rural and urban, vernacular and prefabricated, Ukrainians are erecting a giant flying and buzzing cocoon—a drone canopy." write curators Bogdana Kosmina, Michał Murawski, Kateryna Rusetska.
The Planetary Hardcore nomadic program launched on May 10, at the Scuola Grande di San Marco in Venice. Its goal is to build connections between Ukraine and international collectives by exploring the following questions: How does the experience of the emergency vernacular differ across places subjected to war? How does wartime "hardcore", the many layers of geological, social, and built fabric, function as a site of commoning? How can emergency collectivity under conditions of war be transformed into a sustainable, equitable, and just social settlement?
The Venice Architecture Biennale is structured around three main pillars: national pavilions, collateral events, and the international exhibition. This edition features 65 national pavilions, 11 collateral events, and over 750 participants in the international exhibition. Other pavilions in the region include the Hungarian pavilion, titled "Nothing to See Here," and the Bulgarian pavilion, which explores the paradoxes in the relationship between artificial intelligence and sustainability.
We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 08, 2025, and updated on July 28, 2025, to include new photographs of the space.
