Learning through Najdi architecture: The Um Slaim School’s vision at the Venice Biennale

The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia at the Venice Architectural Biennale is part living archive and part statement of intent.

The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection showcases a multidisciplinary approach to documenting historical structures that are at risk in the face of rapid urban development. Specifically, the exhibition highlights the work of the Um Slaim Collective, which was formed in 2021 by Syn Architects with the aim of documenting, preserving and reimagining the Najdi architecture in Riyadh.

“It came from a personal space,” Sara Alissa, who co-founded Syn Architects with Nojoud Alsudairi, says of the collective. “We wanted to find ways and learn in and learn from a space that is grounded in context, criticality and care.”

This ethos found form in the Shamalat Cultural Centre, a project that began before the collective and was instrumental in its establishment. The structure, located in Diriyah, was founded by Saudi artist Maha Malluh and designed in collaboration with Syn Architects. It is a case study in the adaptive reuse of a vernacular mud house, rehabilitating the structure while also introducing a contemporary abutting building, which make use of Riyadh stone. The cultural centre was completed in 2022 and features a gallery, library, residency space and several workshops.

“Maha had this passion and dream of repurposing a mud house,” Alissa says. “A lot of restoration schools around us restore these structures as they were, but she wanted to pause and reuse it in a sense. We gave in a proposal, and she liked it.”

The Shamalat Cultural Centre exemplifies the ethos of the Um Slaim Collective. The group aims to uncover the stories and connections built into these spaces, finding new ways to look at and think about the urban environment while staying rooted in local traditions.

Yet, Alissa says the collective can become so much more than what it is. “We hope to start growing the connection and promote a cross-disciplinary education through an architectural lens.”

This philosophy is precisely what the pavilion’s exhibition is pointing towards – the Um Slaim School.

“This idea of a new pedagogical platform is something that we figured out together,” says curator Beatrice Leanza. “Clearly all of the activities of the Um Slaim Collective were already forms of tooling that gestured towards a different way of understanding what architecture making and thinking is. With all of their past work, they were already moving towards this next step. The idea of founding a collective working with other disciplines and other generations, these were kind of building blocks that were already there.”

One section is dedicated to highlighting works such as the Shamalat Cultural Centre, featuring drawings and maps, well as photographs by Romanian photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu. Tamwenat Addirah by Malluh, meanwhile, brings aspects of the Um Slaim neighbourhood to Venice with collected household and supermarket items that many from the Gulf would recognise.

The other sections highlight different approaches that can be utilised in the process of documenting, from poetry to performance. The centre of the pavilion, meanwhile, features a long gathering table with publications and models of Najdi architecture – a place meant to foster discussions and collaboration.

The sections are thoughtfully segmented with fabric walls, which are embroidered in the centre with various neighbourhoods in Riyadh containing Najdi architecture. Poetry and photographs have also been gracefully stitched into the fabric, bringing an element of craft and tactility.

“Making exhibitions, like making books, like making buildings, is an art,” Leanza says. “You have to respect the tools of the trade. I wanted us to move a little bit away from the idea of spectacularising. It’s like threading out these intimate and personable relationships that Sara and Nojoud have with their practice.”

A sonic element has also been incorporated into the space. Developed by musician and composer Mohammed Alhamdan, also known as 7amdan, sounds of frame drums and long-drawn ambient synths permeate the exhibition, offering a meditative juxtaposition to the general bustle of the biennale.

The exhibition is only one aspect of The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection. A public programme has also been tailored in hopes of bolstering the Um Slaim Collective’s aim of further expanding into a multidisciplinary and cross-generational pedagogical platform that pivots around architecture themes. The programme launched in the Saudi capital in February with the two-day event A Convergence in Riyadh. It continues at the biennale with sessions that touch upon methods of archiving, as well as themes of material heritage and alternative education systems.

“We will work here in the space, and around this table,” Leanza says. “These are topics that are very present in a generation of global practitioners. The idea is that architecture is not only about building but also of congealing different forms of knowledge.”

While those sessions at the pavilion will be closed, a public programme will also be offered. Titled Built/Unbuilt – Conversations Around Territories, Communities, and Rituals of Worldmaking, the sessions will take place at Berggruen Arts & Culture.

“The public programme is being held parallel to this exhibition,” Alissa says. “We have invited different practitioners, but are also opening it up to the public so we can have a collective conversation. While our first book is an accumulation of the work we’ve done in the last five years, we’ll also be releasing a second book that accumulates the works done in the duration of the programme, the duration of the biennale.”