Place Pouchet Social and Cultural Center / MCBAD architecture & urban design

"Living with infrastructure and nature " - The Social and Cultural Center Porte Pouchet coexists with the infrastructure, a micro-building confronting urban mega-scales to trigger new urban developments at the scale of the residents.

"Can We Think of a Building as a Microclimate?": In Conversation With Bas Smets and Dennis Pohl About the Belgian Pavilion in Venice

The Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 presents a prototype that integrates landscape architecture into architectural interiors. Designed by Bas Smets in collaboration with Stefano Mancuso, the exhibition transforms the pavilion into a microclimate modeled after the understory of a subtropical forest, creating an indoor jungle that actively regulates temperature and humidity. The curatorial concept, supported by the Flanders Architecture Institute and its director, Dennis Pohl, promotes landscape thinking as an active design force rather than exterior decoration. In this video interview from Venice, Bas Smets and Dennis Pohl explain to ArchDaily editors how the project positions architecture as a platform for climate resilience and proposes a shift in design paradigms, from static images to evolving, living processes.

AD Classics: Olivetti Showroom / Carlo Scarpa

Tucked discreetly beneath the colonnade of Saint Mark's Square in Venice, Carlo Scarpa's Olivetti Showroom exerts a quiet yet unmistakable presence. Though often overshadowed by the grandeur of nearby landmarks—St. Mark's Basilica, the Clocktower, the Loggetta, and the Procuratie Vecchie—it attracts a particular kind of visitor: those who seek out one of Scarpa's architectural gems hidden in plain sight. Modest in scale but rich in detail, the showroom is meticulously maintained by FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano), the National Trust for Italy.

Odemira Cerebral Palsy Association / Câmara Municipal de Odemira – Divisão Obras Municipais

“Chaos is an Order to be deciphered” – Saramago, 2008. The project for the Cerebral Palsy Association of Odemira (APCO) consists of an occupational activities center located in Quinta da Estrela, Odemira, Portugal. The building is organized in a L-shaped layout that faces a cliff hillside, leading to an outdoor patio easily controllable in terms of access, thus ensuring the safety of its users, as well as their privacy. What was once a “eyesore” inside the Town, a jagged hillside, has now been transformed into a sculpturally aesthetic and central element of the courtyard. The geometrization of the outer space transformed chaos into harmony. Poetics arises from the contrast between order and controlled chaos.

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