United Arab Emirates has been awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. The pavilion, titled “Wetland,” was curated by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto and demonstrates the potential of natural salt as an alternative to Portland cement.
 
"Prior to the pandemic, we started looking into sabkhas, a sturdy ecosystem of natural salt flats nascent to the United Arab Emirates. This inspired us to explore a renewable resource for construction, one that can replace Portland cement.

The crystallisation of salt in the sabkhas offers a blueprint for an alternative to Portland cement, the production of which accounts for 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Together with a group of scientists in Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah, we have been working on reproducing the crystallisation process of the Sabkha ecosystem. The results of our ongoing quest for a renewable building material is presented at the pavilion."
The curators
The international Jury of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia composed by Kazuyo Sejima (president, Japan), Sandra Barclay (Peru), Lamia Joreige (Lebanon), Lesley Lokko (Ghana-Scotland), Luca Molinari (Italy), has decided to present the following awards:
 
Golden Lion for Best National Participation:
United Arab Emirates
Wetland

Commissioner: Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation Curators: Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto.
Venue: Arsenale.
 
Golden Lion for Best National Participation to United Arab Emirates for a bold experiment which encourages us to think about the relationship between waste and production at both the local and global scales, and opens to new construction possibilities between craft and high technology.

Two Special Mentions has been awarded to the following National Participations:

RUSSIA Open!
Commissioner: Teresa Iarocci Mavica.
Curator: Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli.
Exibitors: KASA (Kovaleva and Sato Architects), Mikhail Maximov, Lion & Unicorn, Ilia Mazo, Yuliya Kozhemyako, Electric Red, Pavel Milyakov aka Buttechno, Vladmir Rannev.
 
Special mention as National Participation to Russia for a sensitive and careful architectural renovation of a historical pavilion at the Giardini that opens it to its immediate surroundings and to the future.

and

PHILIPPINES Structures of Mutual Support
Commissioner: National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Arsenio “Nick” Lizaso, Chairman;
Curators/Exibitors: Framework Collaborative (GK Enchanted Farm Community,
Architects Sudarshan Varsovia Khadka Jr. and Alexander Eriksson Furunes)
 
Special mention as National Participation to Philippines for this exemplary community project that creates a rich archive and experience of collaborative construction practices.

Golden Lion for the best participant in the 17th Exhibition How will we live together? to:
raumlaborberlin
(Berlin, Germany)
Instances of Urban Practice Andrea Hofmann (Germany, 1969), Axel Timm (Germany, 1973), Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius (Germany, 1968), Christof Mayer (Germany, 1967), Florian Stirnemann (Swiss, 1976), Francesco Apuzzo (Italy, 1972), Frauke Gerstenberg (Germany, 1968), Jan Liesegang (Germany, 1968) and Markus Bader (Germany, 1968) .
Venue: Corderie of the Arsenale.

Golden Lion for the best participant in the 17th Exhibition How will we live together? to raumlaborberlin (Berlin, Germany) for an inspiring collaborative approach that argues for participation, regeneration and collective responsibility, resulting in two projects that are a model for imaginative civic revitalization.

Silver Lion for a promising young participant in the 17th Exhibition How will we live together? to:
Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST)
(Amsterdam, The Netherlands; New York, USA)
Watermelons, Sardines, Crabs, Sands, and Sediments: Border Ecologies and the Gaza Strip with contributions by Amir Qudaih (Palestine, 1993) and the Qudaih family (Palestine),
Yael Berda (Israeli, 1976), Sandra Kassenaar (Dutch, 1982),
and Malkit Shoshan (Israeli/ Dutch, 1976).
Venue: Central Pavilion – Giardini
 
Silver Lion for a promising young participant in the 17th Exhibition How will we live together? to Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST) (Amsterdam, The Netherlands; New York, USA) for a daring proposal that invites us to think about divided histories, agricultural practices, rituals of daily life and the realities of settlement and occupation.

The Jury has decided to award One Special Mention to the following Participant:
Cave_bureau
(Nairobi, Kenya)
The Anthropocene Museum: Exhibit 3.0 Obsidian Rain Kabage Karanja (Kenya, 1979) and Stella Mutegi (Kenya, 1979), in collaboration with Densu Moseti (Kenya, 1986).
Venue: Central Pavilion – Giardini
 
Special mention to the participant in the 17th Exhibition How will we live together? to Cave_bureau (Nairobi, Kenya) for an imaginative and creative exploration of one of man’s oldest living environments.
 
Furthermore, Lina Bo Bardi, the Italian architect, designer, scenographer, artist and critic naturalized as a Brazilian citizen, is the recipient of the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in memoriam of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The acknowledgment was recommended by Hashim Sarkis, curator of the Biennale Architettura 2021, and approved by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia.

More information

waiwai is an architectural, landscape, urban, interior, and graphic design studio with offices in Dubai and Tokyo. Led by Wael Al Awar and Kazuma Yamao, the firm has worked on prominent cultural projects including the Jameel Arts Centre, CICOL and Hai d3 in Dubai; Otaru Harbor Café in Japan; Jeddah’s Hayy Jameel; and Wetland at the National Pavilion of the UAE, which was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021.

waiwai takes a highly contextual approach to address social, environmental, and technological questions through design. Dubai and Tokyo foster distinct perspectives on the built and natural environment, on the way we live and work with one another and with the world around us. waiwai adopts a strategy that is rooted in ideas of living in each city but that also relies on the careful, attentive eye of the outsider for a wider view.

waiwai was named among the top 17 architects and top 50 influential designers of the year by Nikkei Magazine in 2019, recognized by Architectural Record's annual Design Vanguard issue as one of the top 10 emerging firms in the world in 2018 and included in Architectural Digest’s top 50 offices in the Middle East in 2017 and 2022. waiwai was a Shortlisted Nominee for the Aga Khan Architecture Award in 2019. The firm’s awards include the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021; the Arab Architect Award in 2019; the New York Design Award 2018, Silver Medal; the Hong Kong Design Award 2018, Gold Medal; the First Prize at the AIA Middle East Design Awards in 2018; the London Design Award 2016, Silver Medal; and the SD Review Award, Tokyo, 2015, Shortlisted Nominee.
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Published on: August 31, 2021
Cite: "Golden Lion for Best National Participation: United Arab Emirates "Wetland"" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/golden-lion-best-national-participation-united-arab-emirates-wetland> ISSN 1139-6415
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