In partnership with The Saudi Architecture and Design Commission, Art Jameel has brought Accommodations to Hayy Jameel (Jeddah). It is a research-based exhibition touring from the Saudi Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale. The show’s curators are Uzma Z. Rizvi (an archaeologist and associate professor of Anthropology and Urban Studies) and Murtaza Vali (a critic, curator, and art historian).
The Accommodations exhibition features architects Hussam Dakkak, Basmah Kaki, and Hessa AlBader. In 2015, they founded Studio Bound, a research-driven design agency based between London and the Gulf which has been researching Mecca’s social, economic, and urban growth. Among the organisations the agency has worked with are Art Jameel, the Saudi Ministry of Culture, and Harvard Graduate School of Design, to name a few.
The exhibition delves into histories, protocols, and gestures of quarantine and how this is intertwined with hosting and housing in Saudi Arabia. The items on view (rare found images, archival materials, urban plans, architectural models, renders, sketches, etc.) trace the history of shelters. Composed of three sections exploring a hotel, an island, and a home, Accommodations invites one to analyse how enclosures change over time as they respond to external contexts, derive new meanings from new situations, and redefine the relationship between the individual, the community, and the other.
About the architects
Basmah Kaki obtained her Diploma in Architecture from The Architectural Association (AA) in London (UK) and was granted the RIBA Bronze President’s Medal and the SOM Foundation UK Award. While working at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (a British architectural firm) and for Sir Peter Cook, a renowned architect, Kaki participated in some high-profile projects in Europe and the Middle East.
Based in Jeddah, Kaki is leading heritage work in UNESCO sites in Al Balad. She is also working on a series of developments along the Red Sea and the Red Sea Highway. Kaki is a director and tutor of the AA Visiting School: Makkah vs Makkah program, which focuses on an in-depth urban study of this city.
Hessa AlBader, who lives and works between England and Kuwait, received her architectural degree from the AA (London). It is worth mentioning that her final thesis was awarded an honourable mention in the Dennis Sharp Prize.
AlBader is a co-director and tutor of the AA Visiting School: Makkah vs Makkah program. She also served as a guest critic at the AA and Kuwait University. In addition, the architect is a Senior Project Manager at Wafra Real Estate (Kuwait), where she curates and manages international design competitions and construction projects.
Hussam Dakkak, who resides in London, holds an MA in Architecture from the AA (London) and is an ARB-registered architect. Dakkak completed his professional training at Squire & Partners (London), where he worked on several remarkable projects with British Land, Lodha; Emaar Properties (Dubai); and Wafra Real Estate (Kuwait).
The architect has been a program director of the AA Jeddah Visiting School since 2015. Now he is a Design and Development Manager for the Rassmal private equity firm. Dakkak also works as a consultant on some cultural and architectural projects with the Public Investment Fund and the Royal Commission of Makkah.
The Accommodations exhibition will run through the 16th of October, 2023. To get more information about it, please visit the event’s official web page.
You might also be interested in learning about the Another Empty House project featured in the latest edition of Library Circles by the Jameel Library.
