British Council starts search for architectural partner to work on the 2025 Venice Biennale

The British Council has begun the search for an architectural partner to deliver the next British pavilion exhibition at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.

The successful practice will be required by the British Council to help “create debate that both challenges and influences the future of British and global architecture”.

For the 2025 British pavilion exhibition, the British Council’s emphasis is on fostering, celebrating, and displaying connections between the UK and Kenya.

The collaboration with Kenya follows the announcement of the UK-Kenya Strategic Partnership 2020-25 by former prime minister Boris Johnson and former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta in 10 Downing Street in January 2020.

Applicants to lead the project must be based in the UK, and the project team is expected to involve at least one collaborator from Kenya, based either in Kenya or having a British-Kenyan affiliation.

The team responsible for the exhibition’s development can include professionals from various backgrounds such as architects, exhibition designers, curators, educators, researchers, or practitioners associated with the design or built-environment.

Proposals from teams where the UK-based partner operates outside Greater London in England or is situated in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland are particularly encouraged.

The British Council states that the winning proposal should offer a “compelling narrative, present a clear exhibition design concept that can be delivered within the agreed budget and have the flexibility to be experienced both physically and digitally by a global and diverse audience”.

> Also read: The British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale - Dancing Before the Moon

An advisory panel of has been assembled to select the architectural partner for the 2025 event. The panel includes:

• Sevra Davis (chair), Commissioner of the British Pavilion; Director of Architecture Design and Fashion at the British Council
• Grace Choi, Director, Grace Choi Architecture
• Tom Dyckhoff, Architecture critic, historian, broadcaster, and judge on Channel 4’s ‘Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker’
• Professor Aseem Inam, Professor and Chair in Urban Design, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University
• Joy Mboya, Cultural Activist and Founding Executive Director of the GoDown Arts Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
• Professor Washington Ochieng, Professor at Imperial College and Trustee of the Science Museum
• Muyiwa Oki, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
• Dr Huda Tayob, Lecturer in Architectural Studies at Manchester School of Architecture
• Tamsie Thomson, CEO, The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS)

Submissions must be received by Friday 5 January 2024.