Saudi Arabia’s architectural legacy on show in Venice
The Kingdom’s third participation at the Venice Architecture Biennale, ‘Irth,’ offers a sensory exploration of the country’s past and present architecture
Amid the pristine lagoon vistas of Venice, burntred clay tiles form several prominent archways that lead the viewer into very different landscapes: desert dunes and the Red Sea coast. This is “Irth,” (meaning “legacy” in Arabic), Saudi Arabia’s third participation at the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venice, which marks its 18th edition this year.
“Irth” presents the work of
Saudi architect Albara Saimaldahar, managing partner of
Dahr Studio, alongside curators Basma and Noura Bouzo — sisters and co-founders of &bouqu, a creative and cultural consultancy firm. The pavilion examines the country’s architectural legacy during a time of momentous change for the Kingdom. Commissioned by the Architecture and Design Commission, the Saudi Pavilion — located at the Arsenale – Sale d’Armi, where it will remain until Nov. 26 —presents an interactive exploration of the Kingdom’s efforts to link its past to the present and future through architecture, beginning with this use of a prominent material used ubiquitously in heritage houses throughout the Kingdom: earth. The result is an installation that evokes the past and its potential to be carried into the present with an architectural cladding material reflective of the earthy tones found throughout Saudi Arabia’s desert landscape, its coasts and the Red Sea. The material offers a sense of grounding and oneness with nature for the visitor.
“The eight gateways are an homage to the city gates that you find in the Kingdom,” Saimaldhar told Arab News. “In Jeddah, particularly, you had four city gates and the silhouettes of the gates (in the pavilion) are reminiscent of Islamic arches. We wanted to examine and challenge the evolution of it in the same manner that we are looking at our craft and our heritage.” The archways are located at both the front and the back of the pavilion and are adjoined by a central section where a meditative, dimly lit space reveals one totem-shaped light installation designed with interlocking patterns so that light gently emanates out into the room. It’s an area for* contemplation and meditation — like a resting point after a long desert journey. Visitors can then exit back among the archways and can select a brick to place it on one of them, so that they themselves are taking part in the exhibition and architectural installation. Moreover, Saimaldahar’s layout for the pavilion, which combines the notions of nostalgia, legacy and evolution, looks strongly to the future through the lens of the past, with a particular nod to traditional patterns and motifs from Al-Balad, the heart of historical Jeddah, which are transformed into fluid, organic, modern forms through the use of technology: the clay tiles have been 3D-printed.
The eight-sided metal structures are clad internally with wooden panels and externally with 3D-printed clay tiles, offering an undulating pattern reminiscent of sand dunes — displaying both their grandeur and their vulnerability. The idea,
Saimaldhar says, is to relate the structure to time and to nature — like the millennia-old sands of the Rub’ al-Khali desert area also known as The Empty Quarter. “The pavilion brings to the forefront the notion of collaborative practice as a foundation of the laboratory of the future,” the curators wrote in a statement.
“It invites visitors to breach their role as spectators and actively engage in the process. The experience itself mirrors the future of architecture and materiality as a work in progress, determined not only by the practitioners but by its occupants.”
The meditative quality of the pavilion is powerful. It offers a reflection on Saudi Arabia’s architectural legacy not just through material, texture, and structure, but also through scent — a seductive concoction of frankincense and lavender has been created especially for the show. This offers another portal into the Kingdom’s past and present social culture. “The destination itself is not the end, but rather a call for reflection and eventual examination of how one’s senses not only take, but generate, imprints within space and time,” said Saimaldhar in a statement. “It is here that architecture brings to the surface the value of the unseen, allowing its occupants to build their own cognitive reconnaissance and placemaking.”
“Irth” grounds the Kingdom’s rapid current changes in its nature and architectural legacy, as if to say that, regardless of the speed of change, the Kingdom’s ancient and recent past — and its inherent identity — will always be intrinsic to its future goals and achievements.