Meet the AUS research and design team behind the National Pavilion UAE in Venice this year

Tens of thousands of visitors have flooded the National Pavilion UAE at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia this summer to experience Aridly Abundant, an immersive exhibition created by a multinational, multidisciplinary research and design team of faculty, alumni and students from the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) at American University of Sharjah (AUS).

Curated by Faysal Tabbarah, Associate Dean of CAAD, with team comprised of Samar Halloum, CAAD architecture alumna and Graduate Teaching Fellow at Yale School of Architecture, as Design and Research Lead and an all-AUS alumni design and research team including Basil Al-Taher, Dina Hirzallah, Rana Salah and Sara Alchaar. The pavilion exhibition also features photography and video by commissioned artist Reem Falaknaz, along with a book co-edited by Tabbarah and Meitha Almazrooei, with contributions from CAAD Professor of Architecture Kevin Mitchell, and CAAD alumni Samar Halloum and Alia Alsabi.

The team drew on lessons learned from regional texts, including travel journals, historical accounts and official documents dating as far back as the 10th century C.E., and made key observations of land-based practices and techniques used in constructing the built environment of the UAE’s Al-Hajar Mountains in response to environmental conditions characterized by water scarcity. These findings were then taken to the CAAD Labs where the team experimented with new ways to apply these techniques for contemporary architectural applications.

Team members Basil Al-Taher and Rana Salah were tasked to experiment with construction methods and explore the possibilities of integrating fabrication technologies into the land-based practices that were observed during the field research. This resulted in the development of a material system that relied on 3D scanning and integrated locally sourced and unprocessed stones with 3D printing elements. 

“To develop this material system, we took advantage of AUS’ advanced CAAD Labs. This included 3D scanning and digitizing the rocks and wood branches to design, prototype and test the elements we needed to build for the pavilion,” said Al-Taher.

“Taking it a step further to demonstrate the application and relevance for these practices in settings outside of the UAE, we constructed a series of assemblies that integrate discarded stone fragments from quarries within the Veneto region of Italy with 3D printed elements within the exhibition space,” he said.

The most recent graduates on the team were Sara Alchaar and Dina Hirzallah  (Bachelor of Architecture in Spring 2022) who, along with Rana Salah, were also selected as NPUAE Venice interns. As members of the research team, their focus was to translate the team’s observations of the Al Hajar mountains into experiential building tactics and construction attitudes, which drove the design of the exhibition space. Alchaar’s work also included the production of the large-scale illustration that conveyed the landscape and material culture of the UAE’s Al Hajar mountains.

Hirzallah worked from concept design to onsite construction and assembly of the exhibition, which she described as transformative, enriching her knowledge, skills, and outlook as an architect.

“Starting this research in the UAE and applying it to other landscapes in the world has given me a hopeful outlook on building for aridity. This method of building that has been developed through this research gives me inspiration as an architect to build with the resources that the landscape offers, decreasing the need for processed materials and, therefore, developing the tactics that we used to build the research and the pavilion. This will allow me to become an adaptable designer that will forever build with aridity,” said Hirzallah.

CAAD faculty member Trustees Professor Kevin Mitchell contributed an essay and a photo series to In Plain Sight: Scenes from Aridly Abundant Landscapes, the book published in conjunction with the exhibition. His text considered how the 10th-century C.E. treatise Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ defined agriculture as a craft and recognized the immense value of the labor invested in activities necessary for food, clothing and building. The essay also addressed how the passage of time is revealed through geologic formations, the effects of weather on materials, and the renovations and repairs that support the production of food. His photo series focuses on farms along E88, E89 and Khorfakkan Road and frames particular aspects of built work created to support the craft of agriculture.

Mitchell noted that while progress is being made on measures to mitigate the impact of human activities at this critical time, advancements could be hindered by focusing on broadly defined objectives at the expense of small-scale interventions that are thoughtfully conceived, rigorously implemented and continuously refined.

“Aridly Abundant encourages us to look more closely at locally available materials and the practices that limit consumption by reusing and repurposing. CAAD alumni who contributed to the pavilion, and those who are engaged in sustainability-related work, demonstrate that design can provide processes and methods for addressing complex problems,” he said.

Aridly Abundant is open to the public at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice until November 26, 2023. Visitors may take advantage of guided tours hosted by a team of National Pavilion UAE interns, among whom are a number of CAAD students and alumni.

For more information and to learn more about the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia, visit www.nationalpavilionuae.org.

To learn more about the College of Architecture, Art and Design at American University of Sharjah visit w.aus.edu/caad.

Image Courtesy of National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by Ismail Noor of Seeing Things