{"id":45798,"date":"2023-02-15T22:14:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T18:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magpie.ae\/staging4\/?p=45798"},"modified":"2023-02-15T22:14:28","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T18:14:28","slug":"living-with-aridity-and-what-we-can-learn-from-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magpie.ae\/staging4\/living-with-aridity-and-what-we-can-learn-from-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Living with aridity, and what we can learn from it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The National Pavilion UAE has detailed its participation at the upcoming 18th Venice Biennale of Architecture. Curator Faysal Tabbarah has put together an exhibition with the title Aridly Abundant<\/a>; it suggests that arid environments can be transformed into spaces of \u2018abundance\u2019, specifically by integrating land-based practices in architecture with modern technology.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This looks like a very pertinent response to the Biennale Architettura\u2019s theme, \u2018The Laboratory of the Future\u2019. That was defined by its curator, the Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, educator and best-selling novelist Lesley Lokko. As she put it, \u201carchitects have a unique opportunity to put forward ambitious and creative ideas that help us imagine a more equitable and optimistic future in common\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already nearly a third of the earth\u2019s land surface is defined as arid or semi-arid.Climate change means that water will become increasingly scarce, droughts will become increasingly common, and desertification will spread. But people have been living in arid environments for years, and they frequently do so in buildings that draw from and engage with what to outside eyes might look like an unpromising set of conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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That seems to provide a starting point for Aridly Abundant. The exhibition will transform the pavilion\u2019s space at the Biennale Architettura \u201cwith all the spatial, material, and tactical qualities of arid environments\u201d, and so create the backdrop for architectural elements that are suited to such contexts \u2013 now and in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact Faysal Tabbarah (right) says the overarching question he\u2019s exploring through the exhibition is basically a change of mindset: \u201cwhat architectural possibilities can emerge when we reimagine arid landscapes as spaces of abundance?\u201d So the exhibition aims to challenge the perception of arid environments as spaces of scarcity and sparse possibilities, and it will do so by pointing to ongoing practices in arid lands that question the mainstream use of mainstream materials. In particular, of course, it will explore architectural possibilities from within the UAE\u2019s own arid landscapes \u2013 desert plateaus, coastal plains, and wadis of the Al Hajar mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three main areas of research are \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n