The Singapore Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale explores the theme of superdiversity through food, culture and design

Pull up a chair at the world's most diverse table at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, where the Singapore Pavilion transforms the act of dining into a celebration of citymaking through food, culture and collective design.

- Chantal Sajan

To mark Singapore's 60th year of independence (SG60), the pavilion invites the world to experience its Table of Superdiversity, defined by the island's distinctive identity, shaped by centuries of movement, exchange and reinvention.

In urban planning, superdiversity refers to the multifaceted nature of diversity in societies, particularly in urban areas, as a result of complex migration patterns.

It goes beyond ethnic diversity and considers factors such as legal status, socio-economic conditions and individual identities.

The Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 was launched on May 9 and will be open to the public till Nov 23.

Called Rasa-Tabula-Singapura, this year's theme combines ancient languages as a play on the architectural term "tabula rasa", meaning "blank slate" in Latin.

Using local desserts or "kueh" as a leitmotif, some of Singapore's most distinctive landmarks have been converted into sumptuous desserts, designed as food for thought.

Walk around the installation and one will find Housing Board blocks that look like kueh salat ("glutinous rice and custard" in Malay), Golden Mile Complex converted into kek lapis ("layer cake" in Malay) and the Art Science Museum as huat kueh ("lucky cake" in Hokkien).

The Venice Architecture Biennale is the world's leading exhibition on architectural ideas and innovation, held every two years in Venice, Italy. The 2025 edition, the exhibition's 19th, features a record 66 national pavilions.

The biennale transforms Venice into a living laboratory with exhibitions and installations across the historic Giardini della Biennale, the vast Arsenale and other sites from palaces to public squares.