Sharjah Architecture Triennial to Take Place Across Two Public Buildings
newsdepo.com
The inaugural edition of Sharjah Architecture Triennial will launch in November this year, taking place across two recently decommissioned public buildings — the Al-Qasimiyah School and the old Al Jubail Vegetable Market, as its main exhibition venues as pa
Sharjah Architecture Triennial to Take Place Across Two Public Buildings
The inaugural edition of Sharjah Architecture Triennial will launch in November this year, taking place across two recently decommissioned public buildings — the Al-Qasimiyah School and the old Al Jubail Vegetable Market, as its main exhibition venues as part of the platform’s commitment towards adaptive reuse and preservation of modernist architecture. The architecture show will start on November 9, 2019, and continue through February 8, 2020.Curated by Adrian Lahoud, the triennial — titled “Rights of Future Generations” — rethinks fundamental questions about architecture and its power to create and sustain alternative modes of existence. The official press announcement states that arising from the conviction that architecture can address climate change by emancipating itself from entrenched forms of hegemony and extractivism, “Rights of Future Generations” is an invitation to identify and question unspoken assumptions on which design has been based for so long. “The Triennial posits one way of doing so is to pay attention to existing social struggles, including indigenous ones, against such paradigms. Crucially, such struggles often take place in territories that have found themselves at the frontline of climate change,” states the press release.The venues chosen for the inaugural edition are the leading examples of 1970s and 1980s architecture across Sharjah and the wider United Arab Emirates and will be variously activated by the participants’ projects displayed therein.Architect Mona El Mousfy, Advisor to the Sharjah Architecture Triennial and currently leading the renovation of the Al-Qasimiyah School, says: “We consciously opted to work with the possibilities of existing structures in the city rather than start with a blank slate. Not only is this approach environmentally sustainable, but it also creates a layered architecture in continuous dialogue, building upon the city’s history and memories while responding to contemporary uses and evolving aspirations. We believe that thoughtful adaptive reuse of culturally valuable buildings supports the reevaluation and transformation of architecture.”Founded by Khalid Al Qasimi in 2017, Sharjah Architecture Triennial is the first major platform for architecture and urbanism in the Middle East, North and East Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Participating in international conversations while anchored in the specificity of Sharjah and the United Arab Emirates, the triennial offers new spaces for critical reflection that situates the built environment within its complex social, economic, and cultural contexts. Triennial programming invites dialogue that accommodates Sharjah's rapid urban development amid historical shifts, ongoing cultural encounters, environmental challenges, and aspirations for the future. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more
