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Faisal Tabbarah on the planning of the UAE Pavilion
Drought, abundance and sustainability rooted in history, anthropological memory and identity are key themes outlined in the UAE National Strategy pavilion for the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. “Drought Abundance” will include a series of “Environment and Space” showcases the different spatial, material and tactical qualities of the UAE’s Al Hajar mountains – from desert plateaus and river valleys to coastal plains – while examining their relationship to architecture.
Uncovering historical land-based practices and combining innovative technological tools with a nuanced understanding of these conditions, the installation reimagines these areas as thriving conservation and productivity spaces.By showcasing various methodologies and attitudes that can be applied to other endangered regions, the project creates an architecturally provocative backdrop for the 18th edition of the prestigious design festival’s future global droughtday edit.
To learn more about the underlying research and impact of the UAE National Pavilion, designboom interviewed Its curator, Faisal Tabbarah, Gain insight into how the proposal questions architectural possibilities in the arid region of the UAE, and how they challenge conventional notions of space and culture to create more sustainable buildings in the future. In response to the Biennale’s 2023 theme: future lab, The architect considered how the region’s centuries-old historic building practices could provide important lessons for various communities dealing with the threats of desertification and drought. working at the intersection of land practice in architecture and contemporary technology, “The exhibition will explore how these practices can be shared with other countries facing similar climate change impacts,” Tabbarah told designboom.
Image courtesy of UAE National Pavilion Venice Biennale | © Rem Faraknaz
Built in and with the UAE’s arid landscape
Introducing the overarching theme of ‘Drought Abundance’, Faysal Tabbarah starts with key questions: “What architectural conditions are possible when we reimagine arid landscapes as rich spaces?” basic research, architect told designboom to try to solve this problem in three basic ways: “How do we build buildings in, for, and in dry landscapes? Architecture exist Arid landscapes inherently acknowledge that droughts are unstable. Constructing these landscapes in modern societies reveals complex scenarios involving “Exploring how the intersection between contemporary technology and land-based practices can inspire resilient, context-specific built environments that adapt and respond to the challenges posed by surrounding arid conditions.”
Consider how we build and Drought, on the other hand, means rethinking practices for extracting materials. By exploring earthy materials found in arid landscapes, Tabbarah suggests we can begin to build environmentally sustainable and culturally rooted built environments.Finally, the building for Dry Landscapes begins with acknowledging the threat of drought as the future global condition.In exploring resources, conditions and knowledge in arid landscapes, we can not only restore local spaces, but begin to provide important lessons for regions facing drought accelerated by the climate crisis.
Image courtesy of the UAE National Pavilion – Venice Biennale | © Reem Falaknaz
Overlay historical processes and technical tools
Uncovering the various methods of construction in the Hajar Mountains through a range of archival, documentary and community-based research methods, Faysal Tabbarah recommends: ‘[The pavilion’s key attempt] is to learn from these historical practices and combine them with technology-driven workflows to present architectural provocations. If you combine land-based practices with technology, you can explore environmentally-friendly approaches rooted in materials and historical, cultural histories.
This naturally leads to designing a more sustainable building typology for the future: taking historic building practices that are no longer mainstream – such as traditional stone construction methods – and restoring and “tuning” them with modern tools to nurture our vanishing natural environment. Tabbarah makes this point by looking closely at history, “We can find solutions that are born from these landscapes, rather than completely imported”. On top of this knowledge, he continued, we can superimpose a range of technological tools available to us today to “May inspire a more sustainable future”. To do this, historical knowledge and technical acumen must go hand in hand—the solution lies somewhere in between.
Image courtesy of the UAE National Pavilion – Venice Biennale | © Reem Falaknaz
‘Drought Abundance’ – Restoring Land-Based Practices
Bringing these key concepts to life, the UAE National Pavilion will be a transportable, immersive installation—’An environment with a series of components that integrate land-based practices with technology to inspire architectural possibilities for future landscapes‘, as tabara saidThe final exhibition format follows the team’s ongoing ‘Other Environmentalism’ research project, infusing specific technical expertise such as 3D scanning and 3D printing into historical environmental, cultural and architectural studies.
In combining these practices with modern technology, the team behind “Aridly Abundant” studied the many microclimates of the Al Hajar Mountains, “Look for potential waste materials that may not be used in mainstream construction.’ The team collected a wealth of earth elements from a variety of contexts, such as local stone, 3D scanned these materials, and fed them into a streamlined digital workflow that became key information guiding the new building typology .
Image courtesy of the UAE National Pavilion – Venice Biennale | © Samar Halloum
Building a more sustainable future
Representing the UAE at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, ‘Aridly Abundant’ echoes that year’s theme laboratory of the future By rethinking “scarce space” as “abundant space” for future architectural practice, while also setting a global precedent. Closing our talk, Faysal Tabbarah reflected on the growing phenomenon of global arid landscapes in previously unaffected communities such as Italy and California, calling for the need to adapt the way we live to achieve a sustainable future.
While the UAE has dealt with drought for centuries, Tabbarah noted that these newly affected environments are not equipped to deal with these conditions and can learn from the deep knowledge of the UAE’s history of building for drought while adapting today’s innovative technological know-how .
Image courtesy of the UAE National Pavilion – Venice Biennale | © Reem Falaknaz
Image courtesy of the UAE National Pavilion – Venice Biennale | © Reem Falaknaz
Mismatched component prototype incorporating stones, fallen wood elements and 3D printed connections
Image courtesy of the UAE National Pavilion – Venice Biennale | © Faysal Tabbarah
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