Open call for fourteenth edition

The Institute of Architects of Brazil, São Paulo Department, invites professionals from the broad field of architecture to submit proposals for the exhibition of the 14th São Paulo International Architecture Biennale. Submissions are open until June 1, 2025.

The 14th BIAsp will address the challenges of climate change and extreme weather events through the lenses of architecture, urbanism, design, and landscape architecture. This year, the BIAsp will take place from September 18 to October 19, 2025, at the Oca Pavilion in Ibirapuera Park, an iconic building designed by Oscar Niemeyer.

The curatorial proposal, Extremes: Architectures for an Overheated Planet, highlights the challenge of climate extremes, which demand radical and innovative architectural solutions. The point of no return urges us to rethink how we inhabit the planet, seeking answers not only in scientific advancements and production studies but also in the knowledge of urban peripheries, Indigenous villages, and quilombos (traditional communities of escaped enslaved people). The Biennale will serve as a convergence point for diverse knowledge systems, presenting concrete responses to global warming and strategies for adapting to the extreme events we are already facing.

Inspired by the reports of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), particularly the AR6 report, the curators of the 14th BIAsp have defined five thematic axes that will guide the event’s discussions, projects, and proposals:

–Preserving Forests and Reforesting Cities
–Embracing Water
–Refurbishing More and Building Green
–Moving and Reaching Places Together with Renewable Energies
–Ensuring Climate Justice and Social Housing

This year, the 14th BIAsp features a collective curatorship composed of six architects: Renato Anelli, Karina de Souza, Marcos Cereto, Clevio Rabelo, Marcella Arruda, and Jerá Guarani. They represent distinct regional contexts within Brazil through their professional practice.

The São Paulo International Architecture Biennale is one of the leading forums for discussion and advancement of Brazilian architectural culture. Its history dates back to 1951, when it was held as the International Architecture Exhibition within the São Paulo Art Biennale. Between 1951 and 1971, ten editions took place. The first BIAsp in the format we know today occurred in 1973. Since then, there have been 13 biennales, with a combined audience estimated at over two million people—some editions, like the 12th, surpassed 300,000 visitors.

“Architecture made a tremendous effort to create cities adapted to industrial production a hundred years ago. Today, a similar level of effort is needed to reverse the effects of industrialization based on unlimited greenhouse gas emissions,” says the curator Renato Anelli about this edition’s theme.

Open call
Currently, there are four active open calls for the 14th BIAsp:

–Exhibitions and Activities (submissions extended until June 1)

–International Competition for Architecture and Urbanism Schools (submissions extended until June 1). 

–Involvements, online preparatory meetings with debates that deepen the central ideas of the exhibition with architects, leaders from villages, terreiros, riversides and peripheries (submissions open until June 8)

–Architecture Fair for Climate Adaptation, aimed at showcasing products and services that contribute to the decarbonization of the construction industry and urban development (registrations open until all spaces have been secured)

Participation is open to professionals worldwide. Submissions are free and must be completed online via the Biennale's official website, where detailed submission guidelines are available. Apply now!