Our curatorial statement in full
What if nature comes first? This simple, yet complex question is guiding our curation of the 2026 Triennale.
The main venue for 2026: Sofienberg Church, a gothic brick structure from 1877 transformed into a cultural arena by "Sofienbergprojektet". Photo: Jan Kühr / Abracadabra Studio.
The challenge is well known, and has everything to do with how we live, consume – and build. Our consumption has reached unprecedented levels, with grave environmental consequences: the depletion of nature happens faster than the planet’s biocapacity can regenerate. The yearly Earth Overshoot Day states it clearly, announcing the date of when our consumption has exceeded the ecological resources that the Earth can regenerate in a year. In 2026 this limit was reached 30 July.
The construction industry accounts for one third of all waste globally and is amongst the greatest contributors to the global emissions. The combined weight of buildings and artificial mass has surpassed the dry weight of all life on Earth. Today, commercial buildings have a lifespan of only 50–60 years, after which they are demolished and replaced. In Norway buildings constitute the single largest source of waste.
Our linear consumption pattern makes financial surplus for stakeholders the dominating incentive. Prices reflect what the market is willing to pay – not the need or the actual cost.
It’s time we start talking about value, rather than price.
In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development’s impactful report, Our Common Future, provided what is still the standard definition of sustainable development: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Four decades later, we are still far from reaching the climate targets we have committed to through treaties like The Paris Agreement.
Through the question “What if Nature Comes First?”, the 2026 Oslo Architecture Triennale reimagines the future of our built environment within planetary boundaries, exploring what potential the discipline of architecture has to lead us out of the current crises. This year’s main venue, the Sofienberg Church, is in transition from hosting religious services to becoming a local culture hub. The historic brick building in transformation embodies this year’s Triennale narrative, as a living example of giving an existing structure a new life rather than tearing it down.
Over two weeks, through seminars, debates, workshops, parties, walks, exhibitions, competitions and publications, this year’s festival invites for dialogues around sustainability and architecture. Gathering architects, planners, researchers, real estate developers, artists, students, politicians, neighbours – everyone interested in our built environment – to a collective conversation, we hope to learn from the solutions that already exist and discuss the opportunities for our common future.
This time, on nature's terms.
"Upcycling Wool Ecologies", keratin-based biocomposite. Grinham Research Group, Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
The question of “What if Nature Comes First?” will be explored through four scales – materials, structures, territories, systems – a division that also organises our programme and exhibition.
Materials: choosing the right materials in the right place
For generations, sustainable building practices around the world have been shaped by proximity to materials and knowledge of their properties under different conditions over time.
Today, price and availability in a global market are deciding factors when selecting materials. The consequences for nature and people – the externalities –are given low importance and are rarely included in the price, although the extraction, transportation and discarding of materials have global consequences.
Still, different materials have different properties. The specific context where we build should decide what materials we use. Whether bio-based (timber, plants), geological (earth, stone), mineral (cement, glass, char) or technologically processed (steel, aluminium, polymers), materials perform differently in different circumstances. Choosing the right material increases the viability of buildings and lowers the environmental costs.
We should optimise use and source materials as close to their origin as possible. Materials are heavy and should stay local; knowledge is light and can be spread globally.
Søren Pihlman Architects. The transformation of Thoravej 29 in Copenhagen allows the building to recycle itself.
Structures: using and reusing the existing
In nature, there is no waste. The remains of one organism become the regenerative resource for the next. For generations, this same logic was applied to our relationship with the built environment. Materials from the demolition of one building were reclaimed and used in the construction of the next. The value of a building was considered the highest when already invested materials and labour were retained in their current form and not wasted.
Today’s linear system does not consider these investments in existing structures as a value, but rather as a risk with a high cost, resulting in demolition as the cheapest alternative. But what if the materials, design, engineering and construction work already invested into a building would be calculated as values lost if the building was demolished? If the cost for nature was also included?
Following the principle of “preserve or explain”, we must explore opportunities for transformation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings before even considering demolition. With the World Economic Forum estimating that 80 percent of today’s buildings will exist in 2050, there is no doubt that the retrofitting of existing structures will have to become the new standard going forward.
"Internalities". Architectures for Territorial Equilibrium. Pavilion of Spain at the Biennale Architettura 2025.
Territories: planning in line with nature
Albeit humanity has always strived to control nature, we have still treated it with respect and reverence, planning and building in line with the natural and climatical conditions in a place.
In a globalized and technocratic market limitations are few, and the consequences of scaled-up global extraction processes, extensive transportation and generalised building systems are invisible to those responsible for them. The Paris Agreement’s target to limit the global warming to exceed pre-industrial levels by 1.5 degrees already seems unattainable.
The construction industry searches for solutions that fit into the systems that have created the current crises. However, the solutions might be right in front of us: Under unpredictable climate conditions, robustness and resilience become increasingly important features of architecture and planning. We have to work together with nature. Projects that work with soil quality, stormwater, and biodiversity, planning with nature in the driver's seat, have proven to limit destruction and facilitate more resilient territories.
Hull sections are disassembled and transformed into steel plates that can be reused in the construction industry. Nordic Circles.
Systems: challenging hierarchies of value
“Everything has an intrinsic value independent of their utility to humans”, the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss argued. Nevertheless, we have gradually devalued nature and removed it from the foundation of our decision-making, reducing it to externalities and unpriced consequences.
In the Western world, we have distanced ourselves from the negative repercussions of our overconsumption, hiding behind a bureaucratic system where responsibilities are dispersed into specialised areas where few have full responsibility.
Yet, a variety of exemplary initiatives are being realised at ground level in the systems under which we operate. If we are to have any hope of changing attitudes and reversing the negative effects of climate change, there is no doubt that a shift at the system level is needed.
Actions in ethics, law, economy and politics are crucial to put nature first in our decision-making. We must challenge and transform our broader systems and hierarchies of value that currently reinforce the status quo. It is a matter of values, and of behaviour. If the system is broken – fix it.
