Assembly – Irish Pavilion opens at the Venice Architecture Biennale
“To assemble is to gather together as a group of people with a common interest. To assemble is to construct a whole from constituent parts. As both congregation and construction, assembly is at the heart of the architectural process.”
- Cotter & Naessens Architects
On 8 May, the Irish pavilion 'Assembly' by Cotter & Naessens and their collaborators was officially opened at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Assembly responds in a creative and multifaceted manner to a call by Biennale Curator Carlo Ratti to adapt and develop design solutions to the built environment challenges of our time under the theme Intelligens: Towards a New Architecture of Adaptation. Architect Yvonne Farrell FRIAI of Grafton Architects formally opened the Irish Pavillion in Venice, accompanied by Director of Culture Ireland Sharon Barry and Head of Architecture at the Arts Council Fionnuala Sweeney.
Cork architectural practice Cotter & Naessens has taken inspiration from the innovative political model of the Citizens’ Assembly for Ireland’s national pavilion – Assembly. In giving physical expression to this political concept, Cotter & Naessens has collaborated with sound artist David Stalling; Architect and poet Michelle Delea; curator Luke Naessens; and woodworker Alan Meredith. The result is a thoughtful, multi-sensory pavilion, ‘assembled’ from a hand-crafted wooden structure with an immersive soundscape.
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Installation view of Assembly. Photo by Samuele Cherubini.
The 2025 International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, runs from 10 May to 23 November. The Irish pavilion is commissioned by Culture Ireland in partnership with the Arts Council of Ireland and with support from the RIAI and other funding partners.
Assembly’s working process was informed by principles of collectivity, deliberation, and knowledge exchange. The project is a collaboration between architects, craftspeople, musicians, and writers, with each collaborator reflecting on the theme from the perspective of their own experience. Assembly builds on the strong presence Ireland has had at the Biennale Architettura in recent years with the exhibitions In Search of Hy-Brasil (2023), Entanglement (2021) and Free Market (2018).
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Pictured: Louise Cotter MRIAI and David Naessens MRIAI of Cotter Naessens Archtects. Photo by Ste Murray.
After Venice, the exhibition will tour nationally through 2026. A film documenting the making of Assembly, which has been directed by Michelle Delea, shot by Felix Castaldo, with sound by David Stalling, will form an important part of the national tour.
Funding Partners
Culture Ireland; The Arts Council of Ireland; Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media; Dublin City Council; RIAI; Dublin City Council; Cork City Council; Cork County Council; Laois County Council; Creative Ireland; Jacobs; Cork Centre for Architectural Education; United Hardware; Henry J Lyons; Embassy of Ireland (Italy). Technical support from Ceadogán Rugs, Punch Consulting Engineers, iGuzzini, Innosonix.
