As part of BAP! 2025 — the climate-focused edition of the Biennale d’architecture et de paysage d’Île-de-France, curated by Sana Frini and Philippe Rahm — MAS has been invited to participate in the exhibition 4°C entre toi et moi. Included in this year’s international lineup, MAS will present Frame: A Climate-Responsive Architectural Model, a research-driven installation.

The focus of MAS' exhibition centers on semi-open extension structures called “Frame: A Climate-Responsive Architectural Model” as a means to contribute to the passive conditioning of buildings and to maximize the benefits of air flows in response to — and in anticipation of — the known and unknown outcomes of an increasingly warming planet. The project aims to showcase the iterative design process for an architectural interior/exterior climate interface within one of our ongoing architectural projects: the new Izmir University of Economics Campus, situated on the western Aegean coastline of Turkey. The campus project is undertaken as a collaboration between two architectural practices, MAS and MIMLAB, while the research and exhibition produced for BAP is conducted solely by MAS.

In response to climate change, the design approach emphasizes the importance of air in establishing a balanced relationship with the built environment. Often perceived as constant and ever-present, air is in fact dynamic — continuously shifting in movement and composition. To meet human comfort needs, it is typically controlled in specific, regulated ways. In reality, the rapid urbanization of many once-uninhabitable regions has largely been made possible by artificial air-conditioning systems.

As relying on mechanically processed and purified air is no longer sustainable, MAS proposes understanding, anticipating, and guiding airflow as an essential element of design in order to reduce reliance on artificial cooling and fostering more environmentally responsible, climate-responsive buildings.

“Frame” elements are conceived as climate-responsive secondary structures that create intermediate habitats between interior and exterior spaces, fostering environments that support social life both indoors and outdoors in the context of global warming. These structures enhance the usability of adjacent buildings by introducing interstitial zones that adapt to and mediate exterior climatic conditions, thereby expanding the boundaries of human comfort within the built environment.

By broadening and redefining the threshold between indoor and outdoor, this design approach cultivates an experientially rich, layered, and harmonious co-habitation between the living and the inanimate.

The “Revak” is a prevalent architectural element found in traditional educational institutions throughout Seljuk and Ottoman architecture of the Middle Ages, known as madrasas. It functions as a covered, semi-open space that provides shade and promotes natural ventilation in climates ranging from desert to temperate.

Inspired by the madrasas of Mardin in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, our “Frame” typology reinterprets the deepened façade as a means of addressing the needs of contemporary learning environments, offering both performative and experiential benefits.

The installation also incorporates carbon-conscious hemp-board display elements customized for the exhibition by Kastamonu Entegre, aligning with the Biennale’s ecological emphasis.

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Learn more about BAP! 2025: www.bap-idf.com

Official Announcement: ArchDaily