This Year's Sharjah Architecture Triennial Will Feature Two Homegrown Design Projects

As a response to the erosion of culture in the face of modernization, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023, curated by Nigerian architect Tosin Oshinowo, focuses on historical legitimacy for marginalized regions. Oshinowo invites over 29 global architects and artists to explore sustainable living, utilitarian design, and social empowerment through architecture that champions traditional knowledge systems and emphasises indigenous wisdom, local materials, and climate resilience. In a world often dominated by global trends, this Triennial emerges as a vital celebration of cultural essence and contextual solutions.

From India, Kochi-based Wallmakers will showcase their '3-Minute Corridor', an architectural marvel that uses used car tires, a significant global waste product. Fashioned into a rising wall with desert sand, this pavilion comprises 1425 tires, which is the number of tires that are discarded globally in the three minutes it takes a visitor to traverse the corridor. This monument to global waste not only highlights our daily discard of 684,931 tires but also serves as a shaded enclosure, addressing waste issues and providing a sustainable, cooler space with thermally insulated masonry.

The 3-Minute Corridor's conceptualization aligns with the Triennial's emphasis on re-use, collaboration, and adaptation. It ingeniously combines art, architecture, and sustainability, utilizing discarded materials to create a thought-provoking space that challenges perceptions of waste and showcases the potential of designing in arid regions using locally available, ordinarily unsuitable materials.

Another standout project is the 'Back to the Future' initiative by the Bhuj-based Hunnarshala Foundation. This multidisciplinary architectural endeavour explores the ingenuity of Indian artisans and craftsmen, highlighting traditional building skills through the lens of the earthquake-resistant 'bhunga houses' native to Kutch in Gujarat. These circular mud structures, showcased within the Al Qasimiyah School, not only survived the 2001 Bhuj earthquake but also symbolize resilience against seismic forces.

'Back to the Future' not only celebrates architectural marvels like the bhungas but also features a film, The Colour of My Home, documenting the survivors of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in India. This film portrays the communal violence survivors' journey in rebuilding homes and lives, underlining the themes of adaptability and resilience, as well as the illustrating the power of architecture to heal and restore.

These homegrown projects exemplify the intersection of art, architecture, and sustainability within the broader context of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023. Both of them ingeniously respond to the Triennial's theme, and contribute to a global conversation on adaptability, resilience, and the transformative power of design to address contemporary challenges.

Follow Wallmakers here & Hunnarshala Foundation here.

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