Running from November 11, 2023 until March 10, 2024, The Sharjah Architecture Triennial celebrates innovations in the built environment, particularly in the global south. The main goal of the display is to draw attention to sustainable, accessible, and equitable futures while highlighting the value of alternative responses to resource constraints. As the event draws to a close, ArchDaily explores 10 architectural installations that respond to the overarching theme through various mediums.
Curated by Tosin Oshinowo under the theme “The beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability,” the triennial has contributions from 29 architects and studios across 25 countries. From 51-1 Arquitectos transforming an unapproachable place into a dynamic play space featuring popular board games from various regions to Al Borde redefining a space with a custom-designed shading structure made with natural materials, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial presents a diverse array of architectural interventions. WaiWai's showcase spotlights three instances of modern architecture in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, highlighting their significant evolution. DAAR's "Concrete Tent" combines elements of a mobile tent and concrete house, exploring the concept of "permanent temporariness.” These installations offer innovative perspectives on adaptability, sustainability, and cultural significance within the architectural landscape.
Read on to discover architectural installations at the Sharjah Triennial 2023/4, along with descriptions from the architects.
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51-1 Arquitectos
“Play You Are in Sharjah” consists of turning an unapproachable plot into a place for play. The majority of Sharjah's population has origins in regions that invented the most popular board games — which adorn the tables on the site: Backgammon (Mesopotamia), Pachisi (South Asia), Chess (South Asia), Mancala (Egypt, Ethiopia), Go (China), Checkers (Middle East), Carrom (South Asia), Snakes and Ladders (South Asia). Play tables, chairs, and shades are evenly distributed throughout the area in the beginning of the day. They are, however, continuously reconfigured in response to the movement of the sun and people's preferences. Every day, the square will be different — a form of ordered disorder.
2/ Tashkent: Appropriating Modernism
WaiWai
The showcase spotlights three essential instances of modern architecture in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Crafted by Wael Al Awar, founder and principal architect of waiwai, the initiative presents the three case studies and their significant evolution.
3/ Raw Threshold
Al Borde
Al Qasimiyah School has evolved from a building defined by its perimeter walls to become a public venue with outreach to its immediate vicinity and the wider city. “Raw Threshold” defines this space — forming a shade that creates favorable conditions for inhabitation. Wood for the structure is sourced from the Sharjah Electricity, Water, and Gas Authority (SEWA), which has begun the replacement of wooden utility poles with metallic ones. The shade is composed of palm tree mats, widely available regionally and used in various ways. This approach results in a raw and tactile intervention crafted with natural materials that allow for intimate discourse with the direct context. “Raw Threshold” will endure as long as needed, providing the flexibility to be assembled and disassembled in other locations.
4/ Concrete Tent
DAAR
At the center of the abandoned 1970s “Al Madam,” in the eastern desert of Sharjah, the “Concrete Tent”, created by DAAR, an experimental Palestinian and Swedish Studio, combines elements of a mobile tent and a concrete house. Overall, the tent explores the notion of “permanent temporariness.”
5/ Unveiling the Power of the Invisibles
Yara Sharif and Nasser Golzari
Inspired by our work in Gaza, this exhibition aims to reconstruct the reality of a besieged and absurd landscape. We bring to the surface the world of Gazans; -- the ‘Invisibles’ -- with their resilient practices. A world built out of urgency and scarcity that seeks to challenge colonial powers and the geography of exclusion by re-appropriating discarded resources.
6/ Super Limbo
Limbo Accra
Limbo Accra is a collaborative spatial design practice founded in 2018 by Dominique Petit-Frère and Emil Grip, to work on architectural and urban design projects and public art installations. Much of their work emerges from research, interdisciplinary engagement, and experimentation with the aesthetics and cultural significance of unfinished, decaying concrete structures in West African cities.
7/ 3-Minute Pavilion
Wallmakers
the “3-Minute Corridor” pavilion by WallMakers explores our waste on a global scale, exploring methodologies of material reuse. The "3-Minute Pavilion" by WallMakers suggests that these tires be repurposed in buildings using the "Tire Masonry and Unstabilized Sand" technique. By showcasing it as a robust and dependable building material when covered in mud plaster, this approach seeks to provide an alternative to the current scarcity of building resources. (NEEDS REWRITING)
8/ ETA’DAN
Hive Earth Studio
Eta’ Dan ( means mud wall in fante) is a sustainable and eco-friendly architectural innovation aimed at pushing the boundaries of how earth can be used whilst challenging the misconception that the use of earth as a material has limits. The wall presents a unique and innovative approach to building design that combines the principles of ancient rammed earth building techniques & design with modern technology and design.
9/ CAMBIO
Formafantasma
Cambio, from the medieval Latin cambium, ‘change, exchange’, is an ongoing investigation conducted by Formafantasma into the governance of the timber industry. The evolution of this form of commerce over time, and its tentacular expansion across the globe, has made it challenging to regulate. It grew out of the bioprospecting that took place throughout colonial territories during the nineteenth century, becoming one of the largest industries in the world both in terms of the revenue it generates and the impact it has on the planet’s biosphere.
10/ Earth to Earth
Sumaya Dabbagh
By mirroring the spirit of the site itself, the intervention “Earth to Earth” explores the profound relationship between place and culture through the use of materials. The display is made up entirely of mud brick and compressed palm fronds that were found around the site’s area.Made out of mud brick, “Earth to Earth” explores materiality and memory. The material’s ability to inherently dissolve and reform symbolizes a cyclical process, echoing the generational memory embedded within it. Similarly, the incorporation of palm fronds is symbolic of livelihood and prosperity. The design features curved walls, creating semi-enclosed spaces that invite visitors to engage with the dualities represented within the structure. Furthermore, the intervention aims to spark reflection on the space between memory and imagination and connection to the Earth.
