DS+R's La Libreria at the Giardini

Books are an important part of each Biennale, from the catalogs produced by La Biennale di Venezia to the publications accompanying most if not all of the national pavilions. An expression of this importance can be found at the Bookshop Pavilion in the Giardini designed by James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates in 1991, a linear space wrapped by a bold copper awning. Over time, the Bookshop Pavilion became an exhibition space, with books sold in a shop located within the adjacent Central Pavilion. In 2025, with the Central Pavilion closed for renovation and the Bookshop Pavilion once again used for an exhibition, the books have moved to La Libreria, a lightweight, transparent structure designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) from a concept by Diane von Fürstenberg.

The project description in the catalog for 19th International Architecture Exhibition – Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. describes La Libreria as “a contemporary caravanserai,” referring to the roadside inns from centuries ago that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and caravans, most notably along the Silk Road. In turn, La Libreria was “designed as a nomadic cultural repository for the Exhibition that embodies Venice's democratic and intellectual outreach.” Furthermore, per DS+R's website, La Libreria was “designed for transportability and to support literacy and a love of reading.” This portable architecture is enabled by the lightness of the fiber-reinforced transparent skin and the fact the whole building is not anchored to the ground—the weight of the books and bookshelves keeps it in place.

Even before stepping foot inside the bookshop, the structure of La Libreria garners attention: an elongated tensegrity beam projects beyond both ends of the 24-meter-long space. Inspired by Robert le Ricolais's sculptural tensegrity experiments from the mid-twentieth century that aspired to “zero weight and infinite span,” DS+R worked with schlaich bergermann partner to develop the structural system that boldly caps the interior and supports the stretched fiber-reinforced skin. Made from STFE (Structural Transparent Fluorinated Envelope), this skin is reminiscent of the lightweight ETFE foil cushions of DS+R's The Shed near their studio in New York City. During the day, La Libreria captures the feeling of browsing books beneath a canopy of trees, while at night the space glows like a lantern, attracting bibliophiles to it as they depart the Biennale.