Syn Architects: The Um Slaim School—An Architecture of Connection

For its fourth participation in the Venice Architecture Biennale, Saudi Arabia will be represented by Riyadh-based architectural practice Syn Architects (Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi) with The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection. Curated by Beatrice Leanza, assisted by Sara Almutlaq, the exhibition stages a living archive and interactive site to launch The Um Slaim School, an alternative pedagogical platform that builds on the work of Syn Architects and the Um Slaim Collective.

Established in 2021, the Um Slaim Collective is a collaborative initiative from Syn Architects to study the displacement of Najdi architecture in central Riyadh. The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection draws together oral, visual, and experimental documentation probing the layered stories and relationships embedded in the fabric of the city to articulate novel modes of reading and imagining the built environment that are continuous with the spatial learnings of the past. In so doing, it aims to nurture a new ecosystem for architectural education in Saudi Arabia and foster transnational dialogue with generational experiences that are similarly engaging practice-led pedagogies and research-centered methodologies to address challenges related to climate change, resource management, and the social dimension of the city.

A generative program of laboratorial and public sessions led by curator Beatrice Leanza and supported by Maryam AlNoaimi will contribute to and enhance spatial and urban thinking in the region while opening up transnational collaboration to inform the future school. A publication will be produced in tandem with the program to collate the outcomes for application post–Venice Architecture Biennale 2025.

Dr. Sumayah Al-Solaiman, Chief Executive Officer of the Architecture and Design Commission, Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia, said: “The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection illustrates our commitment to contemporary approaches in architecture that honor our heritage while addressing global challenges. By spotlighting an emerging generation of designers on a prominent international stage, we aim to inspire solutions for sustainable urban development locally and worldwide.”

Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi, Syn Architects’ partners, said: “The Um Slaim School is a foundation for an alternative approach to architectural re-imagining through spatial narratives and materiality. This pavilion will invite a collective retelling of our effect on the environments we inhabit and our urban histories. Our interest lies in that symbiosis, how our values and ideas shape our world, and how the parameters of our landscapes influence that shaping.”

The Architecture and Design Commission, one of eleven commissions under the Ministry of Culture, is the commissioner of the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia for the Venice Architecture Biennale. The Commission supports architects and designers from Saudi Arabia through educational programs and initiatives to support talent and creative thinking that reflects the Kingdom’s diverse culture.

About Syn Architects
In 2019, Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi co-founded Syn Architects, an interdisciplinary Riyadh-based practice with a focus on ecologically sensitive architectural design projects. In 2021, they established the Um Slaim Collective, a critical investigation of the displacement of vernacular Najdi architecture. They are also the co-founders of SaudiArchitecture.org, an independent organization that aims to research and archive modernist and postmodernist buildings in Saudi Arabia. 

About Beatrice Leanza
Beatrice Leanza is a cultural strategist, museum director, and critic. She earned an MA in Asian Studies from Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, specializing in contemporary Chinese art, and spent seventeen years in Beijing shaping the Chinese creative scene.

Leanza has served as executive director of MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (Lisbon), director of mudac – Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (Lausanne), and creative director of Beijing Design Week. She also co-founded The Global School, China’s first independent institute for design and creative practice.

Her international projects include Across Chinese Cities at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2014, 2016, 2018) and Visual Natures at MAAT (2020–2022). A European Young Leader since 2018, she serves on the advisory board of Design Trust (Hong Kong). Her book The New Design Museum (Park Books, 2025) explores emerging institutional practices in design and architecture addressing twenty-first-century challenges.