Claire Dominics Buro Finds Inspiration at the Venice Biennale

The Dubai-based design studio reflects on the Venice Architecture Biennale, exploring how architecture, culture and collective intelligence can reshape the way we experience the built environment.

For Claire Dominics Buro, returning to Venice is more than an opportunity to encounter new architecture. It is a chance to step beyond familiar ways of thinking and immerse in different cultures, perspectives and ideas.

The 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., brought together architecture, science, technology, art and environmental thinking to examine how the built environment can respond to a rapidly changing world.

Moving between the Giardini, the Arsenale and installations across Venice, the experience became as much about the city as the exhibition itself. Architecture moved beyond buildings and objects, becoming something immersive, interactive and deeply connected to place.

“The most memorable spaces were the ones you could touch, enter, listen to and experience — where architecture became something to feel rather than simply observe.”

Architecture Beyond the Expected

Throughout the Biennale, installations challenged conventional ideas of what architecture can be.

Some were monumental, others restrained. Some relied on technology and experimentation, while others looked towards nature, traditional knowledge and collective ways of making.

For Claire Dominics Buro, the most compelling projects were those that invited participation. Spaces where visitors became part of the composition offered a different understanding of design — one shaped by movement, sound, material, atmosphere and human interaction.

These encounters reinforced an idea central to the studio’s own approach: meaningful interiors are not created through appearance alone. They emerge from the relationship between people, place, material and experience.

Where Culture Meets Design

One of the Biennale’s most powerful qualities is its ability to bring remarkably different cultural perspectives into conversation.

Moving between national pavilions revealed distinct approaches to architecture, identity and place — from expressive narratives and experimental installations to quieter explorations of materiality, memory and landscape.

At the same time, Venice became an extension of the exhibition. Travelling between venues revealed courtyards, passages, historic buildings and unexpected corners of the city, blurring the boundary between experiencing architecture and experiencing Venice itself.

For a multidisciplinary studio such as Claire Dominics Buro, these contrasts become a source of creative reflection — a reminder that design is inseparable from the histories, communities and cultures that surround it.

Designing for a Changing World

Beyond visual experimentation, the Biennale raised larger questions around climate, technology, inequality, resources and the future of cities.

The dialogue between natural, artificial and collective intelligence encouraged designers to consider architecture not as an isolated discipline, but as part of a wider network of people, environments and knowledge.

For Claire Dominics Buro, the experience offered new perspectives on how spaces can respond more thoughtfully to their context while remaining emotionally resonant.

The Venice Architecture Biennale ultimately becomes more than an exhibition. It is a place for observation, exchange and discovery — an opportunity to reconsider how architecture can connect people, cultures and ideas, and how those connections can inspire the spaces of tomorrow.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Claire Dominics

FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Claire leads the creative vision behind every project, bringing a refined sensibility and a deep understanding of how spaces shape the way people live.

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