
The Kingdom of Morocco's exhibition at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia highlights Moroccan earth architecture and traditional construction techniques. The exhibition, titled Materiae Palimpsest, was curated by architects Khalil Morad El Ghilali and El Mehdi Belyasmine. In an exploration that blends ancient techniques with digital technologies, the exhibit features textile works by architect and artist Soumyia Jalal, along with holograms of artisans and tactile installations. The narrative presents earth as a renewable resource and sustainable material, and earth construction as a key to both preserving architectural heritage and addressing contemporary ecological and social challenges. Materiae Palimpsest offers an invitation to rethink architecture's current relationship with building materials, opening the way to locally rooted construction methods.
In response to the Biennale's curatorial theme, the Moroccan exhibition addresses the concept of collective intelligence through the act of building, highlighting the resilience and potential of local ancestral construction techniques. The installation is inspired by the country's millennia-old earth architecture and its regional variations, exploring how ancient practices can help address contemporary challenges. In the context of the exhibition, earth construction is presented as a set of building methods that use raw earth as the primary material, including techniques such as rammed earth, adobe, and cob. The highlighted benefits include low environmental impact, effective thermal regulation, and the use of locally sourced resources. The concept is paired with earth architecture, understood as the broader use of natural materials such as mud, clay, and earth in construction.


The pavilion design offers an immersive experience in the art of earth construction. The installation aims to create a dialogue between local artisans, custodians of traditional techniques, and architects and engineers employing new technologies. At the center of the pavilion, holograms depict two artisans demonstrating ancestral gestures and the tools and materials they use. In contrast to the digital installation, the perimeter of the room is occupied by Soumyia Jalal's textile art. The space in between, including the ceiling, is filled with samples of materials and objects that accompany the narrative of the technique and evoke the ambience of the site that inspires it. The different exhibition sections explore the transmission of knowledge essential to heritage preservation, as well as the principles of the technique that support a circular economy.
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Between Algorithms and Ancestral Knowledge: Expanding the Concept of Architectural IntelligenceThe pavilion foregrounds earth architecture as an expression of Moroccan identity, emphasizing its durability, flexibility, and intrinsic beauty. It highlights how using earth as a local and renewable material embodies the principles of a closed-loop system, minimizing waste and maximizing resource efficiency across various scales. While pointing to its constructive advantages, the exhibition underscores the shared wisdom embedded in earth construction techniques, passed down through generations, and proposes how this palimpsest of knowledge can give rise to new architectural forms. The project presents Morocco's deep-rooted traditions while envisioning possibilities for their preservation and evolution into contemporary methods that offer adaptable and sustainable construction solutions for the future.


Materiae Palimpsest is the result of a collaboration between the Moroccan Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication and the Ministry of National Planning, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Policy. The 19th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale takes place between May and November 2025. Other pavilions at the Biennale addressing material challenges and proposals include Denmark's exhibition, Build of Site, which explores sustainable architectural practices through the lens of reuse and resourcefulness; Canada's pavilion, titled Picoplanktonics, featuring 3D-printed architectural structures embedded with living cyanobacteria capable of carbon sequestration; and Serbia's pavilion, Unraveling: New Spaces, an ephemeral installation made of wool that follows the principles of circular design, effectively producing no waste.
We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.