From 3D printed mud homes to portable kitchens, in Venice, we explore new ways to co-exist with our planet

After roaming winding streets and crossing quaint Venetian bridges, Palazzo Diedo stands tall and grand on the canal-side. Following extensive restoration, the building has been returned to the community after years of neglect, and is now a space for artistic expression and cultural production. It is here that two pioneering research initiatives set up shop to present ‘The Next Earth: Computation, Crisis, Cosmology’ during 19th Venice Architecture Biennale.

‘The Next Earth: Computation, Crisis, Cosmology’

The initiatives include Antikythera’s ‘The Noocene: Computation and Cosmology from Antikythera to AI’, and MIT Architecture’s ‘Climate Work: Un/Worlding the Planet’. Opening today (9 May), Palazzo Diedo Berggruen Arts & Culture is the perfect location to host as it creates a bridge between the contemporary and forward thinking movements within the walls of the past, rich in architectural history.

The two concepts raise questions about how architecture can co-exist with the Earth, and how it can respond to environmental crises. MIT Architecture has had a particular focus on climate and sustainability within the last decade. For ‘Climate Work: Un/Worlding the Planet’ they presented thirty works-in-progress by the MIT faculty, each presenting a sample of a world – reimagining material supply chains, energy expenditure, modes of practice, and deep-time perspectives.

Some of these included reimagining timber by simply building within forestry rather than using it for material. Another was a portable kitchen, a somewhat simple concept, yet for many areas worldwide having access to kitchens or having them installed can be extremely difficult. MIT’s solution included a working stove and running water which can be easily movable and transported anywhere. Another example included 3D printing with small scale models made out of mud, with the idea to eventually create residences via this method and materiality.

These presented ideas question how architecture not only is informed by its surrounding context, but should also adapt to it by offering new narratives in how construction is currently understood in order to ‘rebuild’ our world.

Antikythera is a Berggruen research program that reorients planetary computation as a philosophical, technological and geopolitical force. It sounds complex. It means viewing computation not just as a human tool, but as a global-scale infrastructure that shapes our understanding and interaction with the world. What Antikythera presents is a development of global networks, sensors, and software, essentially treating the Earth as a vast, interconnected computational system. Antikythera takes its name from the first known computer, an ancient device designed to calculate and navigate time and space. Their exhibition looks at the evolution of planetary computation from Antikythera to AI.

Along with selected historical artefacts, the exhibition is centred around an architectural scale video monolith which presents Antikythera’s key concepts as well as select short films on AI, astronomy and artificial life.

Collectively, the juxtaposing exhibitions harnesses a conversation to rethink the scale of human action in relation to the planet and its resources, by harnessing imagination.

'The Next Earth' will be open to the public throughout the Biennale Architettura 2025 at Palazzo Diedo