Qatar's ‘Beyti Beytak' exhibition in Venice explores architecture's roots in hospitality

Arab News

5 days ago

DUBAI: Qatar's first participation in the Venice Biennale of Architecture is a major exhibition spanning two sites in the Italian city — the ACP-Palazzo Franchetti, and the site of what will be the permanent Qatar Pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale. (That pavilion will be the first permanent addition to the historic gardens in more than 30 years.)
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The exhibition, 'Beyti Beytak. My Home is Your Home. La Mia Casa è la Tua Casa,' is presented by Qatar Museums and curated by the Art Mill Museum — Qatar's yet-to-be-built museum of modern and contemporary art — and, according to a press release 'explores meanings of hospitality within the architecture, urbanism and landscape designs of the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa region.' It features examples from 30 architects, dating from the mid-20th century to the present day.
Aurélien Lemonier, architect and curator at the Art Mill Museum, and the exhibition's co-curator, tells Arab News: 'The exhibition reflects on the essence of hospitality, not just as tradition but as a spatial and social practice. It explores how architecture from the MENASA region fosters belonging, dignity, and collective life.'
On the permanent pavilion's future site stands a newly commissioned structure by Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan's first female architect and a pioneer of humanitarian design. Her bamboo-and-palm-frond 'Community Center,' created using zero-carbon, low-cost techniques, was developed through the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, which Lari co-founded. The structure exemplifies what she calls Barefoot Social Architecture — a methodology that mobilizes local resources, community labor, and heritage crafts to produce flood- and earthquake-resistant structures, addressing, she has said, 'climate and social justice.'
'When I spoke with Yasmeen,' recalls Lemonier, 'I realized her work is a direct legacy of (Egyptian architect) Hassan Fathy. Like him, she empowers the poor to build their own futures.'
The exhibition draws a clear line of continuity from Fathy's radical use of earthen materials and community-led design to Lari's 'barefoot architecture' in Pakistan. 'Fathy taught communities to build with mud brick and vernacular layouts; not only to survive but to thrive,' he says. 'Lari continues that legacy by using architecture as a tool of empowerment.'
Lemonier's co-curator Sean Anderson, an associate professor at New York's Cornell University, says: 'For centuries, cities in the MENASA region have been shaped not by individual buildings, but by how people gather, interact, and live together. Today, that wisdom is more relevant than ever, as we witness the planet's transformations, mirrored by technology's drive toward a more collective, yet divided, future.'
This spirit is echoed in the main exhibition at Palazzo Franchetti where 'Beyti Beytak' becomes an immersive and archival deep dive into MENASA's architectural richness. Some of the architects featured are being exhibiting in Venice for the first time. The curators' ambition is to capture the continuity across generations — from pioneers such as India's Raj Rewal, Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil of Egypt, Pakistan's Nayyar Ali Dada, and Sri Lanka's Minnette de Silva to contemporary leaders including Palestinian-Jordanian architect Abeer Seikaly, Bangladesh's Marina Tabassum, Sumaya Dabbagh of Saudi Arabia, and Palestine's Dima Srouji.
''Beyti Beytak' is a testament to the architectural heritage and creativity of the Arab world and the Global South,' says Lemonier. 'The future Art Mill Museum was conceived as a multidisciplinary institution, one that will embrace this richness not as a regional footnote but as a core narrative.'
The curators have woven together an architectural narrative grounded in civic humanism, tracing three generations of architectural expression through thematic sections that include oases, mosques, museums, housing, and gardens, with a special focus on community centers and urbanism in Doha.
'The selected architects' work forms a chorus of alternative futures; ones where architecture is not a luxury, but a deeply human practice of care, resilience, and place making,' says Anderson. In fact, one of the pavilion's central propositions is that, architecturally, traditional knowledge may offer more-resilient solutions to climate change than high-tech design.
'It's a paradox,' Lemonier admits. 'You'd think triple-glazed facades and cutting-edge systems are more advanced — but mud, lime, and bamboo buildings often perform better in extreme climates. What we see with Yasmeen Lari is a reappropriation of vernacular materiality as climate adaptation.'
Throughout the exhibition, the curators draw a sharp line between architectural conceptualism and communal responsibility.
'Architecture is not sculpture,' Lemonier says emphatically. 'It is a social and collective act. The architect must think of themselves not as an artist, but as a participant in a living society.'
This ethos is also reflected in the Doha-based segment of the exhibition, where the urbanism of Qatar is framed as humanist and collective. 'Doha offers public parks, civic space, and an architecture of sociability,' Lemonier notes. 'It's not only about the buildings, it's also about the empty spaces that allow a community to gather. It's not about big gestures. It's about how architecture allows a community to live, build with care, with humility, and with others in mind. For me, that's the measure of success in design.'
Anderson adds: 'As architects, we hold a responsibility not just to build, but to shape how we gather, connect, and see one another. Architecture isn't static. It's one of the most dynamic ways we experience humanity. This exhibition explores how space can be a vessel for empathy — especially in a time when technology often divides us. Yasmeen Lari's work may be rooted in (Pakistan's province of) Sindh, but its message transcends borders: it asks us to reflect on what it truly means to design for people.'
By placing Lari's work in direct dialogue with the legacy of Hassan Fathy and by elevating regional voices too often overlooked, 'Beyti Beytak' challenges dominant norms in global architecture. And it offers a compelling argument: Your home is not just yours — it belongs to the community, the climate, and the culture it serves.
For the Arab world and the broader MENASA region, 'Beyti Beytak' positions architects as custodians of culture and agents of justice.
'This exhibition is not just about buildings,' says Lemonier. 'It is about how we live together, how we welcome one another and how we shape a shared future through design.'
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