Event
OPEN will be presenting a video installation project titled “Nature Trilogy”, a collaborative work by OPEN and film director Zhang Nan, at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale curated by Carlo Ratti, from May 10 to November 23, 2025, at The Corderie, Arsenale.
Nature Trilogy features three of OPEN’s recent built works: UCCA Dune Art Museum, Chapel of Sound, and Sun Tower. While each responds uniquely to specific contexts, they share common principles: reverence for nature, resilience in harsh environments, and alignment with celestial cycles. They all work to capture the invisible energy (or CHI, in Chinese philosophy) and provide visceral experiences that help people rediscover their innate senses and restore a sense of belonging in a world increasingly fragmented by technology.
Together, the trio forms a call for architecture to reawaken the very faculties that make humans an advanced expression of natural intelligence—our ability to sense, connect, and understand our place in the world, so we can better take care of it.
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On a quiet beach along the coast of northern China’s Bohai Bay, the UCCA Dune Art Museum is carved into the sand, where it gently disappears.
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Resting at the base of a valley famous for holding remnants of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall—a Chapel of Sound.
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Designed by OPEN Architecture, Sun Tower is an oceanfront public cultural facility in Yantai Yeda Development Zone, featuring outdoor theater, digital exhibition spaces, library, café and bar.
