Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Bahrain win Golden Lions at the Venice Architecture Biennale

US studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Bahrain have been awarded Golden Lions at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale for the best project on show and pavilion respectively.

They were presented with the prizes at the official award ceremony of the Venice Architecture Biennale, held today at the event's headquarters Ca' Giustinian.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's project, named Canal Cafe, won the Golden Lion for the best participation in the international exhibition, which is titled Intelligens Natural Artificial Collective.

Designed to be part espresso bar, part laboratory, it purifies water from the Arsenal lagoon to create coffee for the biennale's visitors.

Canal Cafe was selected as the winner for its "demonstration of how the city of Venice can be a laboratory to speculate how to live on the water, while offering a contribution to the public space of Venice," according to the jury.

The Bahrain Pavilion, curated by architect Andrea Faraguna, was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation.

Named Heatwave, it features a low ceiling with a ventilation system that cools the seating area below, designed to be a solution for construction sites and public spaces in areas of extreme heat.

The British Pavilion, which was collaboratively created by curators from the UK and Kenya, was given a special mention.

Titled GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair, the jury said of the exhibition: "The pavilion reveals architecture as architecture that is defined by extraction that produces inequality and environmental degradation".

A special mention was also awarded to the Holy See Pavilion, where architects from around the world were invited to make repair interventions to a deconsecrated church.

Projects in the international exhibition that received special mentions were Elephant Chapel by architect Boonserm Premthada, which features a series of bio-brick arches made from elephant dung, and a film exhibition by Nigerian architect Tosin Oshinowo titled Alternative Urbanism: The Self-Organized Markets of Lagos.

The Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant went to researchers Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler for their project, Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power Since 1500.

Displayed on two black walls in the international exhibition, it aims to show how digital and social infrastructures have evolved to become intertwined over the centuries.

The winners were selected by a jury made up of Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, MoMA architecture and design senior curator Paola Antonelli and South African architect Mpho Matsipa.

American philosopher Donna Haraway was presented with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of her influence on science, technology and feminist theory.

The Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Memoriam was given to the late Italian architect Italo Rota, who passed away last year aged 70.

Haraway and Rota were selected for the awards last month by this year's biennale curator, Italian architect Carlo Ratti.

Dezeen rounded up 10 must-see national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which included a sports bar inside the Dutch Pavilion and a mass-timber canopy outside the US Pavilion.

The photography is by Iwan Baan unless stated.

The Venice Architecture Biennale takes place from 10 May to 23 November 2025. See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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