Australian studio reimagines asbestos as a renewed building material at Lisbon Architecture Triennale

19 Nov 2025 By architectureau

Architectural studio Besley and Spresser was one of twenty international teams to exhibit in the Independent Projects program at the 2025 Lisbon Architecture Triennale.

The triennale, running until 8 December 2025, was curated by Ann-Sofi Rönnskog and John Palmesino, founders of Territorial Agency and is centred around the theme, "How Heavy is a City?" The theme prompts exhibitors to investigate the planetary impacts of urbanisation across environmental, social and political dimensions.

Besley and Spresser was chosen from a pool of 76 applicants to exhibit in the Independent Projects program.

Their installation, titled 09.ED.15 Redux, explores the environmental legacy of asbestos across urban and suburban areas, and the potential for it to be transformed into a safe, functional material instead of adding millions of tonnes to landfill worldwide. The exhibit showcases treated asbestos waste that has been converted into carbon-negative building materials, such as bricks and a glazed column.

Working with material scientists Asbeter from Rotterdam and ceramicist Benedetta Pompilli in Amsterdam, the exhibition reimagines the building industry's infamously hazardous substance as a source of renewal and repair. Architect Peter Besley said the project began with a simple question: "What if one of the building industry's most hazardous materials could become one of its most promising?"

"Asbestos embodies the contradictions of a lot of industrial material culture: convenience vs damage. By transforming it, we're trying to contribute to the rethinking of the material culture of city-making," said Besley.

Architect Jessica Spresser echoed those sentiments, commenting, "We wanted to take something historically feared and reveal its potential for renewal through innovation, research and design."

"The installation makes visible the idea that repair can be both a technical and a poetic act," she said.

The triennale installation builds on the practice's previous investigations into asbestos transformation. An earlier proposal from the firm called Redux was shortlisted for the Australia Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. The proposed pavilion featured raked panels of former-asbestos mineral render, free-standing columns made of blue former-asbestos mineral glaze and detailed maps of asbestos dump sites and building stock.