It's not possible to enable the layout builder without an entity which is supporting view modes. However, it seems like you have such an entity already. So you could add a view mode at *admin/structure/display-modes/view/add/taxonomy_term*. Then visit *admin/structure/taxonomy*, select **Manage Display** of a vocabulary and enable the view mode in **Custom display settings** at the bottom of the page. Save and select the tab of the new view mode at the top. Check *Use Layout Builder* in **Layout options**, save again and click the button "Manage Layout". In the controller render the term with the new view mode: public function taxonomyPage($term) { // load the term or enhance the route to load the term automatically // See www.drupal.org/docs/8/api/routing-system/parameters-in-routes/using-parameters-in-routes return $this->entityTypeManager() ->getViewBuilder('taxonomy_term') ->view($term, 'my_view_mode'); }