The Mexico Pavilion has brought a replica of the ancient Mesoamerican agricultural system into the Venice Architecture Biennale. 

The Chinampa Veneta Collective curated the exhibition, which focuses on a centuries-old knowledge that combines technology, infrastructure, and landscape. 

It is rebuilt inside the framework of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, bringing life to a city that is symbolic.

This year's Mexico Pavilion honors the ancient Mesoamerican agricultural system with large cubic amounts of soil called Chinampa Veneta.

Image © Ricardo de la Concha

The project chosen by the Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature for the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – Venice Architecture Biennale – encourages contemplation on how we live, develop, and create the world we share in light of the global ecological crisis. 

Image © Ricardo de la Concha

The Mesoamerican Chinampas agricultural system, which is still in use in Xochimilco, a historic lake habitat south of Mexico City, is the starting point of Chinampa Veneta, as the Chinampa Veneta Collective reflected.

With a history spanning over 4,000 years, Chinampas are an old agricultural system. They create rectangular blocks with sediment, mud, and vegetation layers and are found in shallow lakes. 

It is used to cultivate vegetables, flowers, and other foods. In addition to generating channels, their exquisite geometric designs enlarge the lake's shores and provide ecological niches for shelter, breeding, and feeding, which trigger an explosion of species. 

Image © Ricardo de la Concha

The Chinampa system's components are all equally vital and create symbiotic interactions that support life, absorb carbon, clean water, and provide food and oxygen. Chinampas offer inhabitants a way forward in a world on the verge of ecological disaster.

In contrast to modernity, which desperately attempts to control them, the Chinampas were born out of an archaic philosophy that saw humans as an active participant in the natural cycles of existence. 

Image © Ricardo de la Concha

"We have seen firsthand how quickly productive ecosystems may be consumed by urban expansion in both Xochimilco and Venice, both of which were designated World Heritage Sites in 1987," as the team explained.

A number of enactments make up Chinampa Veneta. One of them, which represents a system of chinampas, is situated inside the Arsenale. 

Every chinampa depicts a distinct stage of their development. A chinampa is regenerated from a chapin, a tiny cube of nutrient-rich mud that contains a seed, to start the enactment. 

Image © Ricardo de la Concha

The main character is a living chinampa, which is distinct from its Mexican ancestors. It is planted with the traditional Mesoamerican polyculture system, the milpa, and an agroforestry system used in the Veneto, la vite maritata, in which the vine grows entwined with the trees.

Similar to Aldo Rossi's Teatro del Mondo, which he designed as a fulcrum between architecture and the imagined that may create bridges between worlds, another enactment floats metaphorically in the Venetian Lagoon. 

Image © Ricardo de la Concha

By presenting itself in a proudly ancestral, organic, and natural manner in front of Venice's built environment, the theater on this occasion becomes the Chinampa del Mondo, forging a new connection between two lake cities whose water histories reflect a political struggle for territory and drinking water.

Image © Matteo Losurdo

"We recognize the chinampa system as an ancestral form of intelligence that has endured to this day. We are grateful to and deeply admire all those who, through their work and perseverance, have kept it alive," said the Chinampa Veneta Collective. 

"Thank you to the hands that care for it and resist the overwhelming urban expansion of Mexico City and the pressures of the market. We are especially thankful to everyone who, through their texts and conversations, has guided us throughout this journey," the team added.

Image © Matteo Losurdo

Arriving in Venice, Chinampa Veneta reminds visitors that the health of our soil has a direct impact on our collective well-being and challenges us to envision design processes that reintegrate life cycles, thereby removing the built environment's resistance to nature.

Chinampas urge people to pause and consider the past in a world that is constantly expanding and changing. As an inventive idea that broadens the concept of architectural design towards a symbiotic process that co-designs with the ecosystem, with the natural environment, and in a collective manner, Chinampa Veneta was chosen by the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.

Image © Matteo Losurdo

Image © Matteo Losurdo

Image © Matteo Losurdo

Image © Matteo Losurdo

Image © Matteo Losurdo

Plan of the pavilion. Image courtesy of Chinampa Veneta Collective

The Pavilion of Mexico can be visited from May 10 to November 23, 2025, and is housed at the Arsenale, a historic naval base. 

During the opening in early May, farmers from Xochimilco and Venice discussed their experiences with their respective regions, farming methods, and regenerative agriculture strategies.

The 19th International Architecture Exhibition takes place from 10 May to 23 November 2025 at the Giardini, the Arsenale and various venues in Venice, Italy. Find out all exhibition news on WAC's Venice Architecture Biennale page. 

Project facts

Project name: Chinampa Veneta

Comissioner: José María Bilbao Rodríguez

Colectivo Chinampa Veneta: Estudio Ignacio Urquiza y Ana Paula de Alba, Estudio María Marín de Buen, ILWT, Locus, Lucio Usobiaga Hegewisch & Nathalia Muguet, Pedro&Juana.

Chinampa Veneta team: Aldo Urban, Ana Paula de Alba, Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo, Andrea Mejía, Diego Manzano, Emilio M. Frausto, Federico de Antuñano, Ignacio Urquiza Seoane, Isabel Brocado, Jachen Schleich, Javiera Elicer, Lucio Usobiaga Hegewisch, Lucero Chaires, María Marín de Buen, Martina Duque, Mecky Reuss, Michela Lostia di Santa Sofia, Miguel Ángel Vega Ruiz, Nathalia Muguet, Paulina García Ortíz, Rodrigo Huesca, Sana Frini, Santiago Sitten, Shantal Gabriela Haddad Gómez, Xavier Delgado González, Yavanna Latapí.

Image editing and digital processing: Arturo Arrieta

The top image in the article © Ricardo de la Concha.

All images © Yvonne Venegas, Uta Gleiser, Matteo Losurdo, Ricardo de la Concha.

> via Mexico Pavilion 

agricultural system installation Mexico Pavilion pavilion Venice Architecture Biennale