Pakistan

Titled (Fr)Agile Systems, the Pakistani Pavilion is not only a reminder of the stark inequity of a crisis that continues to weigh down hardest on regions that have historically had the least to do with causing it, but also a reiteration of the imperative to rethink climate resilience as an adaptation process attuned to the asymmetries and imbalances of an interconnected world. At the heart of the pavilion is rock salt—a material deeply rooted in Pakistan’s geological and cultural heritage. By constantly dissolving, rehardening, and reshaping itself in the ambient humidity of Venice, it becomes a powerful metaphor, held in place by a suspended structure that through its asymmetry and imbalance recalls the paradoxes, precarities, and inequities of the climate crisis, while urging a more proactive, equitable, and locally-led response.
At once a reflection and a call to action, the Pavilion also envisions a future in which architecture is both deeply rooted in cultural heritage and critically engaged with ecological realities.