Pop up exhibition project: Ty Unnos

Ty Unnos is a Welsh tradition of resistance, building a house in one night on common land in order to acquire the right to keep the land. This was a temporary solution, where the community would come together to collect local materials then build a house which in result would be a strange shape of mishap materials. If fire burnt by morning the land could be kept, and a permanent house could later be built on the sight.

Private View: 3rd June 2025

Venue: Calle de le Botteghe 2971, San Marco, Venice

For the 19th International Architecture Biennale, participants have responded to the theme of Intelligence: collective, natural, artificial, often exploring how we adapt and how we survive in the face of contemporary challenges. ‘Maybe Venice is a city that can save the world’ as it faces the challenge of climate change, mass tourism, housing and travel. When Venice is discussed, we think of the picturesque city of great architecture or the great challenge of the rising sea levels. Between the architecture facades and the architectural innovations of the biennale, the locals are living daily lives, facing ground level difficulties and adapting through hard, unique and collective ways to everyday challenges.

Whilst Ty Unnos is a practice rooted in Wales, it shares similarities with other beliefs across Europe that if one builds a house in a single night, they acquire the right to stay in it, a tool for experimenting with new forms of living and community, grounded in processes based on relationships, shared resources, and local knowledge.