A coffee made with water from the canals of Venice? Yes, thank you.

VeniceWith pasta as an exception, coffee is another icon of Italy's culinary heritage. And Italians, as is often the case everywhere, are very critical when they travel and find their products are treated poorly abroad. Now they don't need to leave home to face a good challenge: would they be able to drink coffee made with water from a canal? Now it's possible, and this Saturday the project Café Channel has received the Golden Lion for best entry at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. After nearly twenty years, architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, along with Natural Systems Utilities, SODAI, Aaron Betsky, and Davide Oldani, have successfully created an "eco-machine" that combines natural and artificial processes to make canal water drinkable.

For the jury, Café Channel It is "a demonstration of how Venice can be a laboratory for speculating on how to live on the water, while also offering a contribution to the city's public space." It also recognizes the importance of "transdisciplinary experimentation" in the trajectory of Diller Scofidio + Renfro and an example of how the Biennale can sustain long-term projects beyond the months it is open. Upon receiving the award, Elizabeth Diller dedicated it to her partner and husband Riccardo Scofidio, who died in March, and emphasized the "team" nature of this experiment and the desire to reflect on the "deep problem" of the lack of water, pollution, the ravages of tourism, and the changing nature of risk.

The overall list of winners, which includes several special mentions, reflects the jury's desire to recognize the diverse facets of contemporary architecture—the most technological and those from different latitudes. The Golden Lion for best national pavilion went to Bahrain, curated by Andrea Faraguna, for offering "a viable proposal for extreme heat conditions." To achieve this, Faraguna used "traditional passive cooling methods typical of the Middle East, reminiscent of wind towers and shaded courtyards."

Two of the pavilions that were most likely to win the Golden Lion have received special mention: the first is the Vatican, entitled Open work, which features the participation of Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, the Barcelona studio Maio, and curators Marina Otero and Giovanna Zabotti. The pavilion consists of the restoration of the former monastery that houses it and the installation of a soup kitchen and spaces for students from the Venice Conservatory to rehearse. "For me, architecture is a primordial form of care, first of all for the body, and then it's a platform for social interaction," Tatiana Bilbao explains to ARA. This project continues the social focus of the Vatican Dicastery of Culture at the Biennale, such as the project they carried out last year in a women's prison. "Architecture and art have been a fundamental part of the Church's work, but now they shouldn't be spectacular works; architecture should serve the community. I never thought our work would coincide with what Pope Francis said," says Marina Otero. For the jury, Open work It means "the creation of a space for exchange, negotiation and restoration", as well as "a space for cultural exchange".

The United Kingdom's desire to heal its relationship with Kenya

The other country that received a special mention is the United Kingdom. Its pavilion stood out because it proposes a relationship with a former colony, Kenya, with a desire for "reparation," as the organizers put it. The tour begins at the building's façade, covered with a new skin made between Kenya and India with pieces of plant remains, clay, and glass, and continues inside with a series of installations. Among them, a life-size rattan reproduction of one of the Shimoni Slave Caves stands out, a system of natural cavities that served as cells to hold slaves before their transport to other locations. "In ancient times, these caves were connected by a hidden corridor that extended several kilometers to the Three Great Sister Caves, where runaway slaves sought refuge. Today, much of the network has been buried by sediment and the trauma of the past. The aim of this installation in the British pavilion is to "reimagine a space," unearthing forgotten stories from beneath the accumulation of silt and sand." According to the jury, the project proposes "a new relationship between architecture and geology."

As for the Silver Lion for the best participation in the central exhibition, the winners are Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler for the Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power Since 1500, about how Digital and social infrastructures have co-evolved over the centuries. The Catalan public does not need to travel to Venice to see it: the architect and curator Olga Subirós has placed it at the beginning of the DHub exhibition Matter mattersAccording to the jury, this diagram is a tool for better understanding our present and building alternative futures."

The jury has awarded two other special mentions in this area: the documentary Alternative urbanism: Lagos' self-managed markets, by Tosin Oshinowo, because they provide insight into the markets for secondhand goods, used clothing, and electronics in Africa. "This award is for the Global South," Oshinowo said upon receiving the prize. According to the jury, "these markets are key elements within a robust ecosystem that deserves to be studied for their circular adaptability," and they also consider them "prototypes of innovation." Finally, the jury recognized the open-air sanctuary Chapel of the Elephants, by the Thai architect Boonserm Premthada, made from elephant dung to celebrate the "harmonious coexistence" of humans and elephants for centuries.