Curated by Beatrice Leanza and co-led by Maryam AlNoaimi.
February–November 2025
A cohort of over 60 international practitioners from the Gulf and MENA regions collectively prototype a new pedagogical initiative to be established in Riyadh post-Biennale.
An integral component of the project for the Saudi Arabia Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 (The Um Slaim School – An Architecture of Connection), BUILT/UNBUILT –Relational Pedagogies And Participatory Spatial Practice (or how to build collective spatial knowledge) is a durational program activating an investigative process to collectively prototype the eponymous pedagogical initiative to be established in Riyadh post-Biennale. It aims to reevaluate the operational dynamics of architecture and its educational landscape, bringing renewed urgency to the civic and impact-driven remit of the practice globally, by championing situated knowledge while tackling challenges and sharing methodologies intrinsic to regenerative spatial programs of a participatory nature. Ultimately, it tasks itself with identifying shared agendas and future horizons of research and co-creation to inform actionable plans and tooling exercises for the establishment of the School.
Launched with A Convergence in Riyadh, a two-day ideation event in February 2025, the program’s generative and collaborative nature is tasked with building transnational networks and alliances to enable conversations around the critical role places of knowledge and learning play in shaping parameters for participatory and socially engaged practices that are crucial in today’s world.
During the Biennale, public and laboratorial sessions were built around four core thematic investigations, engaging over 60 international practitioners—architects, designers, urban planners, writers, artists, educators—from the Gulf and the MENA regions.
Each took different formats of encounter and articulation with closed-door convening held in the Saudi Pavilion and public sessions held at Palazzo Diedo, the exhibition space of Berggruen Arts & Culture. These included lectures, performances, screenings, readings, and walks, to produce concrete ideas as well as theoretical contributions piloting methodologies of knowledge exchange to establish south-south networks of coproduction across disciplinary boundaries.
At Palazzo Diedo, a modular display system played out as both an exhibition of materials from international contributors and a congregational environment, each time reconfigured according to the investigated theme, so inviting audiences to inhabit a space of dialogue and research as a fluid environment, where spatial hierarchies dissipate in favor of an open-ended and horizontal mode of encountering people and ideas.
Three relevant laboratories were developed in collaboration with the Institute for Postnatural Studies (Gabriel Alonso, Yuri Tuma, Daniel H. Rey), Studio Ossidiana (Alessandra Covini, Giovanni Bellotti) and Bricklab (Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz).
Thematic Strands
:: Archiving Otherwise – Cocreating Public Archives and Collective Knowledge / June 27–29
:: Material Ecologies – Material Heritage and Rituals of Mitigation, Repair, and Reuse / September 27–29
:: Pedagogies of Proximity and Relation – Prototyping Alternative Education / October 10–12
:: Building Participatory Infrastructures – Hyperlocal Practices and Connective Organization / November 22–23
A relevant book Connections as Method – Relational Pedagogies and Participatory Spatial Practice (Mousse Publishing / Kaph Books, 2025) collates research, reflections, experimental curricula and conversations from over 60 practitioners, as an unprecedented reference tool for anyone interested in studying the dynamics of a transforming region and what role architecture and spatial practices can play in establishing new eco-social frameworks of coexistence.
For information on the program check https://saudipavilion.org/built-unbuilt/ and @saudipavilion on Instagram.
Program Contributors:
Abdulla Buhijji and Mahmood Sharif / Act of Oneness • Ahmad Makia • Archive of Modern Architecture in Syria / Ahmad Salah and Mirma Alwareh • Aseel AlYaqoub • Bricklab / Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz • bytwo / Abdullah Kenani and Mohammed Alruways • Caline Matar / Earshot • Civil Architecture / Ali Ismail Karimi • Collective for Architecture Lebanon / Edouard Souhaid and Shereen Doummar • Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski / Loudreaders • Dominique Petit-Frère / Limbo Accra • Eva Franch i Gilabert • Faysal Tabbarah / Architecture and Other Things • George Arbid • Ghada Alsadoun • Haifa AlRassi • Hayfa Algwaiz • Institute for Postnatural Studies / Daniel H. Rey, Gabriel Alonso, and Yuri Tuma • James O’Leary • Jia Yi Gu • Kawther Alsaffar / Studio Saffar • Lahbib El Moumni / Modernist Architects of Morocco Memorial Association • Lama Binshalhoub • Latifa Alkhayat • Laurian Ghinițoiu • Layan Alsuhaibani • Layla Algwaiz • Maghras / Lulu Almana and Sara Al Omran • Maha Malluh • Maryam Aljomairi • Mashael Alsaie • Matylda Krzykowski / CIVIC • Mo’min Swaitat / Majazz Project – Palestinian Sound Archive • Mohammad Alfaraj • Möbius Design Studio • Muhammad AlOmair • Noura Al-Sayeh Holtrop • Nujud AlHussain • Nzinga Biegueng Mboup • Ola Saad Znad • Olorunfemi Adewuyi / OMI Collective – Nigerian Modernism Memory Drive • Pelin Tan • Rana Beiruti • Rosario Talevi • Sara Almutlaq • Sarah A. Almutlaq • Setareh Noorani / Nieuwe Instituut • Shirley Surya / M+ • Sophie Mayuko Arni • Studio Eidola / Denizay Apusoglu and Jonas Kissling • Studio Ossidiana / Alessandra Covini and Giovanni Bellotti • Studio Raw Material / Dushyant Bansal and Priyanka Sharma • Shumon Bazar • Sumayya Vally / Counterspace • SUSA / Suzan and Sara Ibrahim • Tarfa Fahad Al Saud • Uns Kattan / Art Jameel • Wesam Al Asali • Zawraq Collective / Noor Al-Mahruqi and Zaima Al-Adawi