The Türkiye Pavilion has selected Spolia Futures, curated by ba-be commons, as its official exhibition for the 20th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2027. Commissioned by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), the project will be presented in Venice from 8 May to 21 November 2027.
The selection follows an open call and a two stage evaluation process in which 43 proposals were reviewed. A selection committee chose Spolia Futures from a shortlist of three finalists, citing its strong conceptual framework and its potential to bring architectural practices rooted in Türkiye into international discussion.
The project is curated by ba-be commons, a research collective made up of Başak Eren, Asya Ece Uzmay, Beril Sarısakal Erkent, and Ece Yetim. The team will explore the architectural concept of spolia, traditionally understood as the reuse of building materials, while expanding it into a broader method for addressing environmental, cultural, and social challenges.
According to the Selection Committee, “Spolia Futures exhibition stood out for its strong conceptual framework and its potential to bring spolia techniques specific to the geography of Türkiye into global architectural discourse. The project considers spolia – a method of construction that changes and transforms over time and renews its relevance through the incorporation of new elements – under the categories of coexistence, archiving, slowing down, repair and speculation about the future. The Pavilion, to be developed through research and collaborations with artists, focuses on how spolia will shape the architecture of the future.”
The exhibition approaches spolia not simply as a historical practice of reusing materials but as a contemporary architectural method that connects materials, ecology, memory, and society. It presents reuse as a regenerative process that responds to growing environmental pressures while encouraging new ways of thinking about architecture.
Drawing on Türkiye’s traditions of making, repairing, and adapting existing materials, the exhibition proposes a circular and collaborative model of architectural practice. Rather than focusing on extraction and continuous production, it highlights repair, preservation, and transformation as central principles for future design.
Visitors to the Türkiye Pavilion will be invited to engage with installations that examine architectural legacies and the ways buildings, materials, and knowledge evolve over time. Through research, artistic collaboration, and architectural experimentation, the exhibition aims to encourage discussion about more sustainable approaches to the built environment.
The Selection Committee responsible for choosing the winning proposal included Hülya Ertaş, Bilge Kalfa, Cem Sorguç, Melis Varkal, and Prof. Şebnem Yücel. After reviewing 43 submissions, the committee shortlisted three proposals before selecting Spolia Futures for the national pavilion.
The Türkiye Pavilion is commissioned by İKSV with contributions from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye. The pavilion is co-sponsored by Schüco Türkiye and VitrA.
Türkiye has participated in the International Architecture Exhibition since 2014 after securing a permanent exhibition venue at Sale d’Armi in the Arsenale through the initiative of İKSV and the support of 21 sponsors. The pavilion has become a regular platform for presenting contemporary architectural ideas from Türkiye to an international audience.
The members of ba-be commons first met while studying architecture at Istanbul Technical University. They later continued their academic work at leading institutions in the United States, bringing together expertise in architectural history, theory, design, and representation.
Başak Eren is a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, Asya Ece Uzmay is pursuing doctoral studies at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Beril Sarısakal Erkent is a PhD candidate at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and Ece Yetim teaches at the Wentworth Institute of Technology and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Their proposal combines years of collaborative research carried out across multiple institutions into a shared vision that examines how architecture can respond to climate, material scarcity, and changing social conditions through reuse and repair.
The 20th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will take place from 8 May to 21 November 2027, with preview days on 6 and 7 May. Curated by Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, the exhibition carries the theme Do Architecture For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality, bringing together architects, designers, researchers, and national pavilions from around the world to explore the future of the built environment.
Photo shows: Başak Eren, Ece Yetim, Asya Ece Uzmay, Beril Sarısakal Erkent Photo Credit: Manuel Santander
