Highlights from the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale

With the exhibition entitled IRTH (legacy), the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia marked its third participation at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition—the Venice Biennale, fitting in neatly with the theme The Laboratory of the Future, by examining the different narratives embedded in materials and contemplating the tangible and intangible elements that define our experience as inhabitants of spaces, places and things. Using earth as a starting point for contemplation, the Pavilion brought together varying architectural perspectives on the future of materiality.

Commissioned by the Architecture and Design Commission, one of eleven cultural commissions established under the Ministry of Culture, the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia was represented by architect AlBara Saimaldahar, Managing Partner of Dahr Studio, alongside curators Basma and Noura Bouzo, the sister Co-founders of &bouqu, a creative and cultural consultancy firm.

The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia has enjoyed enormous success, welcoming more than 25,000 visitors. In seven months, the public was invited to take part in an exploratory journey through the experiments and explorations on display at the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia, which brought together the interdisciplinary perspectives of architects and designers in a project focused on defining a legacy for future generations.

The common thread between the different approaches in play and the philosophies applied to architecture that the Pavilion brought to the forefront is the concept of collaborative practice as the basis of The Laboratory of the Future—a collective effort that finds common ground in a desire to improve the human condition and respond to the challenges that lie ahead.

Through its presentation in three different international locations—Traditional Architecture Gathering (Diriyah, Saudi Arabia), Tanween Creativity Conference on occasion of the Ithra’s Season of Creativity (Dammam, Saudi Arabia), Downtown Design (Dubai, UAE)—between October and November 2023, the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia designed a public programme that provided a deeper insight into what was going on display at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition—the Venice Biennale.

The exhibition catalogue of the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition—the Venice Biennale will be published by the end of the year and distributed internationally. The publication, echoing the material and immaterial potentiality of architecture, will include contributions by the curatorial team and other distinguished Saudi and international voices, thus representing the written legacy of the Pavilion.