SAUDI ARABIA PAVILION – FINISSAGE

The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection, Saudi Arabia’s project for the 2025 Architecture Biennale, has over these six months served as the framework for a pedagogical initiative that has unfolded throughout the year in Venice and will be launched in the future in Riyadh. The exhibition, commissioned by the Architecture and Design Commission, concludes on 23 November with the final event of the Pavilion’s public program (BUILT/UNBUILT, curated by Beatrice Leanza and Maryam AlNoaimi) and with the release of the new publication Connections as Method: Relational Pedagogies and Participatory Spatial Practice (Mousse Publishing and Kaph Books, 2025), which traces the first year of the Um Slaim School through contributions by architects, designers, artists, educators, urban planners, and writers.

In addition to the launch of the new publication, this final session of the BUILT/UNBUILT program will bring into conversation several key protagonists of the Pavilion and the regional cultural landscape, including Syn Architects, architect Noura Al-Sayeh Holtrop, and writer and curator Shumon Basar.

Featured image: Courtesy of the Architecture and Design Commission