New ticket office and pavilion entrances of La Biennale – Venice

In an area that had been abandoned for years in the Giardini di Sant’Elena in Venice, La Biennale di Venezia identified an ideal location for its new ticket office and staff offices, through the recovery of an almost completely collapsed greenhouse and the redevelopment of the green spaces in front of it.
In addition to this intervention, the La Biennale di Venezia project included the redevelopment of the current entrances and some temporary volumes used as services, adjacent to the historic Carlo scarpa entrance and the gate designed by him. The set of these interventions thus constitutes a true integrated and articulated project of redevelopment of the accessibility and use open to the public for the entrance to la Biennale di Venezia.

The firm H&A associati was selected to design and supervise the works of what was planned by the Special Projects Office of the Biennale. The first fully completed intervention concerns the new ticket office and the redevelopment of the front garden. This will be followed for the next Biennale Arte 2026 by the construction of the new entrances, and the removal of the temporary structures currently present.

The new ticket office

The proposal of the H&A Associati studio involved a functional recovery of the volume of the old greenhouse and a redevelopment of the paths and green spaces, introducing an original design of the roofing and at the same time reviving the memory of the original materials of the greenhouse, such as the brick pillars on the face and the windows and doors divided into squares, all” inglesina.” The welcoming effect of the new garden is emphasized by an entrance pergola that will be completely covered with vegetation. The new large roof of the origina and greenhouse pushes out with large overhangs toward the garden, creating a porticoed space, protected from the weather and sunbeams.
Underneath the portico, visitors to the Biennial can purchase tickets in an environment that dialogues with the completely upgraded green space that has become a small oasis within the gardens.
The dynamics of the different staggered planes of the roofing is accentuated by the materials chosen, which included a roofing in opaque titanium zinc, which fits well with the overall context, is in Alucobon mirrored internally to the portico, so as to create a depth effect through the reflections of this innovative material.
The roof of more than 230 m² becomes a simple urban sign with its own dynamic that dialogues with the green space and the presence of large trees in the ticket office garden. The building used for ticketing and offices of about 130 m² accommodates about 10 stations, a checkroom and technical rooms. The intervention carried out and thus a unicum between green design and the recovery of the greenhouse with the ‘introduction of new functions, returning a part of the gardens of St. Helena to the community and upgrading the function of access to the Biennale exhibition area.