The Metabolic Home at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
How a zero-waste housing prototype redefines architecture as metabolism
The Metabolic Home is a zero-waste housing prototype that redefines circular living in dense cities through the cohabitation of humans, more-than-human species and machines. Developed by Areti Markopoulou, Academic Director at IAAC, and Lydia Kallipoliti from Columbia GSAPP, in collaboration with Post-Spectacular Office, the project was presented at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia curated by Carlo Ratti, within the Central Pavilion at the Arsenale
The prototype features ten interconnected domestic spaces—kitchen, toilet, lounge, bedroom, laundry, storage, garage, garden, balcony, and lightwell—each demonstrating how metabolic processes intertwine with everyday domestic life. Waste from one space becomes a resource for another: kitchen greywater and organic waste feed hydroponic gardens, while AI regulates the laundry’s microclimate, directing moist air through the lightwell, which also hosts domestic mycelium cultivation.
Household objects of the Metabolic Home are produced using outputs from human and non-human activity. Kitchen furniture is made from biochar bricks derived from organic waste; a pollinator wall on the balcony is constructed from mycelium blocks harvested from the lightwell; bedroom elements emerge through crystallization and biomineralization processes; and the garage generates biofuel from decomposed food waste.
Developed from the research of Markopoulou and Kallipoliti, and informed by material science, synthetic biology, and chemical engineering, the prototype presents a tangible model for embedding metabolic cycles into architectural design and urban living.
Faculty-led innovation with global visibility
The Metabolic Home reflects the kind of architectural thinking that defines IAAC—experimental, interdisciplinary, and deeply engaged with real-world transformation.
Led by Areti Markopoulou, IAAC’s Academic Director and Director of the Master in Advanced Architecture, the project demonstrates how faculty-led research at IAAC translates into design innovation with international resonance. It is also a clear example of how the Institute’s academic community is shaping the discourse on architecture’s role in building regenerative futures.
Credits
A project by Areti Markopoulou, Lydia Kallipoliti and Post-Spectacular Office.
Team: Andreas Theodoridis, Vasilis Bilis, Youngbin Shin, Theodoros Rantos, Niki Kourti, Andrea Tivadar, Edward J. Bentley and Dave Phillips (Bigoli Studios), Despoina Linardou, Theocharis Michailidis, Vasilis Mouzakas, Fiona Charatsari.
With the support of: Columbia University, GSAPP; IAAC Advanced Architecture Barcelona; VETA SA; Alumil; Epson; IFI Lighting; Interactive Light Designs; Ekies All Senses Resort; Grupo Construcía; Whale Graphics; Kosmaoglou X & S OE.
Photos by Petros Pattakos.