At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale (10 May – 23 November), the Estonian Pavilion titled ‘Let me warm you’ offers a compelling investigation into how energy-efficient renovations can transcend functional upgrades and instead become opportunities to enhance spatial and social quality in mass housing. This exhibition is highly relevant to architects, urban designers, interior and product designers, particularly those interested in sustainable building materials, retrofitting practices, and participatory design in the context of housing transformation.

From Insulation to Inspiration
Europe’s push toward climate neutrality by 2050 has ignited a wave of building renovations, driven by ambitious energy targets. Estonia, for example, has pledged that all apartment buildings constructed before 2000 must meet at least energy efficiency class C. This typically involves the installation of thick insulation panels—often executed with minimal architectural input. While technically effective, such interventions frequently overlook the broader spatial and communal potentials of renovation.

To raise critical questions around this practice, curators Keiti Lige, Elina Liiva, and Helena Männa have created an installation that applies conventional Estonian insulation panels to the façade of a Venetian palazzetto. Located in the Castello district of Venice, the installation juxtaposes a fibre cement-clad façade—common in Soviet-era apartment block refurbishments—with the ornate heritage architecture of Venice. This striking contrast urges architects and residents alike to reconsider what is gained—or lost—when energy upgrades are carried out without holistic design vision.

A Material Statement on Collective Living
The pavilion not only critiques the superficiality of many retrofits but also explores the material and social dimensions of renovation. Fibre cement panels, used in the installation, exemplify a widespread, cost-efficient material that supports thermal performance but often strips façades of individuality and cultural context.

Inside the building, a second part of the exhibition occupies a repurposed apartment, entirely wrapped in translucent plastic film. This space symbolises the pressure to conform to technical targets, enclosing the viewer in a sterile, sealed-off environment. At the heart of the exhibit is a model of a Soviet-era housing block, brought to life through theatrical dialogues that explore how interpersonal relationships and decision-making dynamics affect spatial outcomes in shared living environments.

For interior designers, architects, and policymakers, this offers insight into how design processes must account for human narratives, not just thermal efficiency. It encourages design professionals to treat insulation not as a ‘bandage’ solution, but as a catalyst for deeper quality-of-life improvements in residential environments.

Toward a Circular and Inclusive Future
The pavilion aligns closely with the Biennale’s overarching theme, ‘Intelligens. Naturale. Artificiale. Collettiva.’, curated by Carlo Ratti. This year’s focus challenges architects to respond not with cosmetic upgrades, but with meaningful, collective, and quick-to-implement design strategies for climate mitigation. The Estonian contribution emphasizes the importance of retaining architectural quality even when working within constraints of circularity, regulation, and existing structures.

Ultimately, ‘Let me warm you’ invites professionals across disciplines—particularly those working with adaptive reuse, circular design, and socially inclusive development—to reconsider renovation as more than compliance. It’s an opportunity to regenerate not just buildings, but communities.

Source: Ministry of Culture of Estonia / MINT LIST
Images: Keiti Lige, Elina Liiva, Helena Männa, Joosep Kivimäe