The 500-Year Building
Regenerative Futures

Venice, Italy

Imagining Architecture for the Next 500 Years

Unveiled at the Time Space Existence exhibition at Palazzo Mora during the Venice Biennale, Gensler’s installation offers a vision of regenerative design — inviting visitors to explore architecture built to adapt, renew, and endure.

Featured in the Time Space Existence exhibition located at Palazzo Mora, Venice
Exhibited during Venice Biennale, May 10 – November 23, 2025
Expected to welcome 600,000+ visitors over seven months
Creates immersive journey with multisensory soundscapes and digital graphics
Presents series of original short films unveiling regenerative designs 500 years into the future
Invites visitor interaction through personalized AI-generated “Posts From the Future”

View the Short Films

A group of people looking at a painting.

In a time of accelerating change and short-term thinking, architecture must respond with long-term vision. What if we designed for centuries rather than decades? As climate change, technology, and culture evolve, global discourse is shifting toward resilience, circular systems, and participatory design. Gensler’s 500-Year Building exhibit at the Venice Biennale highlights regenerative approaches to design that merge innovation, storytelling, and ecological responsibility.

The 500-Year Building is both installation and experience, guiding visitors through conceptual “windows” into various imagined futures shaped by changing relationships between people, planet, and place. A series of films and layered narratives challenge perceptions of permanence in architecture. At its core is Posts from the Future, an AI-powered storytelling platform that creates personalized postcards from regenerative design themes — turning the exhibit into a dynamic archive of collective vision.

Debuting at Palazzo Mora during the Time Space Existence exhibition, The 500-Year Building rethinks architectural timelines. Expected to reach over 800,000 visitors over a seven-month run, it fosters global conversation on the emotional and ecological roles of design. By inviting participation, the exhibit positions architecture as a living cultural narrative that adapts over time with the communities it serves.

A man and woman looking at a large painting on a wall.

A group of people looking at a large painting on a wall.

“

In a world that too often plans in five-year increments, we’re challenging ourselves — and others — to imagine architecture that lasts hundreds. This installation is about embracing possibility, dreaming boldly, and designing with empathy across generations.

—Jordan Goldstein, Co-CEO of Gensler

A couple of women looking at a skateboarder.

A person walking through Gensler's The 500-Year Building immersive installation — Photos by Juan Camilo Roa, PLANE–SITE. Video by PLANE–SITE.

European Cultural Centre
Palazzo Mora
Strada Nuova #3659
30121 Venezia, Italy

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