Architecture in the Global South often embodies a rich cultural heritage and craftsmanship, incorporating vibrant colors, intricate patterns, and symbolic elements. It also tackles the challenges faced by developing economies, such as limited resources, rapid urbanization, and social inequality, by promoting inclusive and community-driven design solutions. As installations and pavilions serve as radical templates for interrogating these architectural ideals and seeking innovative solutions, we present the top architectural installations as part of our year-in-review. They encompass curated exhibitions like the Venice Architecture Biennale, as well as permanent pavilion structures in specific contexts that delve into local materials, waste reuse, and the reinterpretation of historical narratives.
Brazil Pavillion “Terra” at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale
The exhibition begins by highlighting the significance of the earth in shaping Brazil's conceptions, imaginaries, and narratives of national formation. It reflects on the country's past, present, and future, with a particular emphasis on the earth as a central theme. This is represented both poetically and tangibly within the exhibition space. By covering the entire pavilion with soil, visitors are able to directly engage with indigenous and quilombola traditions, as well as the religious practices of Candomblé.
WallMakers "3-Minute Corridor" pavilion at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial
The pavilion explores global waste by investigating methods of reusing materials. It proposes repurposing tires in buildings using the "Tire Masonry and Unstabilized Sand" technique. By demonstrating the viability of using mud plaster to cover the tires, this approach aims to highlight the significant amount of waste tires generated and offer an alternative to the current shortage of building resources.
Surfacing by Estudio A0 at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale
The installation highlights the fate of another marginalized community that has a rich tradition of knowledge passed down through oral histories: the peoples of the Amazon River basin. By documenting their highly sophisticated approach to city building over thousands of years, it reframes this traditional knowledge not as exotic urbanism, but as a brilliant and practical demonstration of urban ecology. It offers a potential path towards reconciling the city, its food systems, and its surrounding areas.
"Super Limbo" by Limbo Accra, at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial
This pavilion serves as “an eloquent response to the many incomplete and unfinished building projects in the Global South.” Limbo Accra aims to redefine the perception of these spaces by reversing the stigma attached to them and highlighting their untapped potential. They did this (in collaboration with Rym Beydoun Founder of Super Yaya and architect Annelise Agossa), by introducing curtains made from woven fabric bands.
Udaan Park by Studio Saar
This permanent pavilion in Udaipur is inspired by the mesmerizing phenomenon of starling murmuration. It will feature 60,000 handcrafted life-size birds, forming a canopy supported by "tree-truss" steel structures. The pavilion aims to welcome visitors into the park and provide a shaded space for events and relaxation. It also goes further to reusing waste tyres to create recreational and playground objects.
Dabbagh Architects, “Earth to Earth” at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial
Two curved walls, constructed from mudbrick, form a partially enclosed space, creating a contemplative spatial pavilion that encourages visitors to engage with the structure in various ways. It inspires the creative use of local materials in the global south and encourages pushing the boundaries of construction with these materials.
ACE/AAP pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale
Olalekan Jeyifous imagined a central space by creating a colorful airport terminal lounge tableau as a representation of the 'All-Africa Protoport' project. It is a development that holds significant implications for continent-wide socio-economic and environmental cooperation, as well as diasporic solidarity. This installation offers a glimpse into a potential future built on the constructed histories of indigenous African renewable technologies.
Eta'Dan by Hive Earth
Ghanaian studio Hive Earth has contributed a rammed earth pavilion named Eta'Dan, which translates as mud wall in Fante. The pavilion, which is designed to be sat or climbed on, is constructed from earth found sourced from across the UAE to give it a colored stratification. The use of colored stratification interrogates how the appearance of rammed earth can be designed and challenges users' perceptions of local earth materials in the global south.
Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Power in West Africa
This architectural exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Nana Biamah-Ofosu and Bushra Mohamed from the AA and Dr Christopher Turner from the V&A, provides a critical reflection on the imperial origins of tropical modernism. It does so by analyzing the work of the Department of Tropical Architecture and 14 key projects. Initially serving as a tool to support colonial rule, this architectural style later came to symbolize the potential of a Pan-African future when adopted by newly independent African nations.
“We Rest at the Bird’s Nest” at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial
Designed by Papa Omotayo & Eve Nnaji, this Pavilion is designed to provide a moment of pause. It consists of a series of "nesting" rooms constructed entirely from vegetative waste, combined with scaffolding and recycled cardboard. The Pavilion serves as a nesting place for the local bird ecology and a resting place for migrant workers in the area, who are currently caring for birds in makeshift aviaries.
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Year in Review, presented by Randers Tegl.
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