Abu Dhabi’s Vertical Studio
The Department of Architecture and Design in Abu Dhabi University proudly participates at the biggest global event for Architecture, in Venice, through the European Cultural Centre’s exhibition “Time-Space-Existence”. It is the fifth edition of the extensive biennial architecture exhibition, running in parallel with Biennale Architettura, from May 22nd, 2021 until November 21th, 2021 at Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora and Giardini della Marinaressa, in Venice, Italy (https://ecc-italy.eu/exhibitions/nowopen).
Abu Dhabi’s Vertical Studio is a curated exhibition showcasing work from the “High-rise” Architecture Studio at the Department of Architecture and Design in Abu Dhabi University from the Academic Year 2019-2020. Led by Nadia Mounajjed and Apostolos Kyriazis, the participating design team also consists of two research assistants (Aya Dibajeh and Ahmed Alawawda) and twenty-one students: Five of them with an extended work display (Diana Enab, Heba Farwati, Rama Al Nuaimi, Farasatulislam Mirza, Hala Al Anbari) and sixteen more with their model and portfolios (Aya Wajih, Athira Thomas, Reem Aljaroudi, Abeer Mutahar, Umer Mughal, Mohamad Naboulsi, Jawdat Ismail, Najah Shaban, Mariam Al Nashef, Dua'a Al-Rifai, Ayah Darweesh, Farah Alshami, Zaina Hamshari, Sara Ghannam, Yousef Al Rawee, Waad El Digair).
Abu Dhabi’s Vertical Studio aims to critically rethink Abu Dhabi’s emerging economic and environmental resilience. The projects on display echo the modernist grids, the post-modernist narratives and the neoliberal sirens of the new Arab cities, in an attempt to combine structural pragmatism with social and environmental sensibilities.
This exhibition acts as a platform to rethink the vertical specters in our cities: It is an architectural inquiry, a critique of the individuality of the tower. A call for cities to reflect upon past failures and mistakes and to open up to future possibilities. The works presented can be seen as both utopian and dystopian, their interpretation is left to the beholder’s imagination.
This project is funded by the Abu Dhabi Award for Research Excellence (AARE) 2019.
