In collaboration with to.org, Counterspace, led by Sumayya Vally, has revealed its latest project, “Regenerate Kakuma,” aimed at promoting holistic well-being in one of the world’s largest refugee settlements in Kakuma, Kenya. This regenerative wellness and fitness hub blends fitness, agriculture, and cultural spaces for over 285,000 refugees. The settlement, known as one of the largest globally, primarily hosts individuals from 19 countries, including South Sudan and Somalia.
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The project is inspired by the unique cultural tapestry of Kakuma’s diverse inhabitants. The settlement, whose name comes from the Swahili word for “nowhere,” has long been a symbol of resilience and survival amidst harsh conditions. Refugee populations are often at high risk for developing mental health conditions, with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affecting up to 47% of those displaced by conflict. Regenerate Kakuma aims to mitigate these effects by providing a space that nurtures creativity, movement, and emotional healing, helping residents cope with their traumatic experiences.
Kampala Kasubi Tombs. Image Courtesy of Creative Commons
At the heart of the design is a focus on combining cultural heritage with natural materials, ensuring the project respects the community’s identity while creating functional spaces for growth and interaction. Vally’s design draws on sacred and vernacular architecture from the regions where Kakuma’s people originated, including the rock-cut churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia and the Neolithic rock paintings of Laas Geel in Somaliland. These references are woven into the structure, creating a space that feels connected to the cultural roots of its inhabitants.
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The architectural concept integrates natural elements and local materials, with the building being constructed primarily from Turkana stone, known for its thermal properties that help regulate indoor temperatures. The building’s form is a stepped stone structure, featuring thick walls that rise in a gradient, allowing for natural light, ventilation, and movement throughout the space. The design emphasizes harmony with the surrounding landscape, ensuring the center is both visually striking and practical for the environment.
Courtyards and openings punctuate the building, providing areas for reflection and interaction, while a stepped roofline creates distinct functional zones, from meditation spaces to outdoor fitness areas. These design elements are intended to foster both individual well-being and social cohesion, offering spaces for calm reflection as well as physical activity.
The Regenerate Kakuma facility will house a gym and outdoor fitness spaces, vital for supporting the athletic talent emerging from the settlement. Kakuma has produced several international athletes, including middle-distance runner Perina Nakang and Dominic Lobalu, who competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The fitness center will offer a fully equipped gym and outdoor sports areas, including a basketball court, to nurture future talent and promote physical health.
Courtesy of Counterspace
In addition to fitness facilities, the project emphasizes mental well-being through a meditation hall and outdoor reflection spaces. These areas are designed to promote mindfulness and emotional recovery, key to addressing the trauma many refugees experience. Open courtyards allow for community gatherings, adding a social element to the peaceful environment.
A key component of the project is sustainability. In response to environmental degradation caused by climate change, the facility will include agroforestry and market gardens. These green spaces not only provide fresh produce but also serve as a form of education, teaching residents sustainable agriculture practices that help combat flooding, soil erosion, and pest issues.
Facade of Bet Abba Libanos Rock-Hewn Church. Image Courtesy of Creative Commons
Architects and urban planners have long played a crucial role in addressing humanitarian disasters, designing spaces that not only provide immediate relief but also foster long-term resilience and community rebuilding. In other similar news, Shigeru Ban Architects, in collaboration with Voluntary Architects’ Network, recently developed an improved version of the temporary housing developed to help those affected by the recent Turkey-Syria earthquake. Similarly, following the extreme floods that affected Pakistan in 2022, architect Yasmeen Lari the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan pledged to help build one million resilient houses in the country. Finally, The Türkiye Design Council (TDC) has gathered 13 design practices, including Foster + Partners and Bjarke Ingels Group, to contribute to the revitalization of the historic province of Hatay, an area severely damaged by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in February this year.
In his book “Curation: The Power of Selection in a World of Excess,” Michael Bhaskar defines curation as “using acts of selection and arrangement (but also refining, reducing, displaying, simplifying, presenting, and explaining) to add value.” Originating from the Latin word curare, meaning to take care of, the curator’s role in dissecting our understanding of the world around us cannot be overlooked. Over time, as the definition morphs into different bodies, the practice of curation continues to evolve, filling the roles of caretakers of our built environment and thinkers of different forms for the overall bettering of society.
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In the early 1800s, Baron Dominique Vivant Denon was the first director of the world-renowned Louvre Museum. He inherited a significant excess of art under Napoleon’s rule, an amount that could not fill the vast salons of the museum. Denon’s first job was to organize the collection, and through the themes of both chronology and national schools, he was able to find a logic for the artwork and its place in the museum. Shaping the institution into a world-class museum, Denon is the earliest curator as we understand the word today.
Interestingly, during the Roman Empire, the term curatores referred to officials holding positions of responsibility and authority. Civil servants, or curatores, were held accountable for the empire’s roads, river traffic, public games, festivals, and public goods. In fact, the role of this “caretaker” was highly intertwined with that of the built environment during the Roman Empire, interacting with the city on different scales to ensure its viability for all.
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The curatorial practice today extends far beyond traditional art exhibitions, including forms of cultural events and platforms. In fact, the practice of architecture has extended outwards, morphing at times into curation and vice versa. This new age multidisciplinary outlook refers to an architect’s involvement across different fields, from urban planning, landscape, writing, curating, and roles that go far beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture.
Today, curation can be seen as a form of constructing narratives. Building on Baskhar’s understanding of the world of excess, curation can be understood as a channel for telling meaningful stories to the masses. Through thoughtful curation, the role can shape how human beings contextualize stories. Moreover, the practice can give value to otherwise overlooked stories or shed light on parts of cultures that have not been carefully told. In an age of excess and endless forms of storytelling, curators can begin to make sense of histories lost, materials overlooked, and connections between territories, providing people with critical thinking tools necessary for our near and far futures.
In an onsite interview with ArchDaily, Lesley Lokko defines curation as a form of storytelling. As a fictional writer, she believes that “culture is the sum of stories about ourselves we tell ourselves.” Lokko is the curator of this year’s La Biennale di Venezia, one of the oldest and most prestigious art and architecture international exhibitions worldwide. This year, the theme of the Biennale, set by Lokko, is “The Laboratory of the Future.” The theme considers the African continent as the protagonist of the future, “the one place where all these questions of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and coalesce.”
Featuring 63 National Pavilions, 89 Participants, and 9 collateral events in the city, the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale represents a crucial international event for the field of architecture. The curated theme, setting Africa as the “Laboratory of the Future,” stems from Lokko’s design to rethink authenticity and empathy in the future. Moreover, through this defined curation, thinkers, architects, builders, philosophers, ethnographers, urbanists, and teachers can begin the process of piecing together parts of the globe’s overlooked histories and look collaboratively toward the forthcoming construction of built environments.
I think all cultural output is a form of narrative. Somebody once said that culture is the sum total of stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. So, there’s a very deep need to say something, to impart something. In these questions of colony, identity, territory, and history, there is a sense amongst many black practitioners that we’ve never had the space to tell our own stories, and part of the act of recuperating what has been lost is the desire to speak. In some senses, the Biennale has been a healing experience, a kind of closing over of a wound, of a void. — Lesley Lokko
In conclusion, Lokko’s role as a curator is looking toward the future, curating a way to think about a problem in the current structure of the built environment, and extending an open-ended invitation for participants to collaborate in the thinking process. Moreover, the curation in this exercise simply sets the narrative through which the built environment can be viewed.
Søren Pihlmann is the founder and lead architect of Pihlmann Architects, a young Copenhagen-based architectural practice. In an interview with Louisiana Channel, Pihlmann clearly states that his practice has transformed from being a traditional architect into becoming a “type of curator, selecting very few things with great sensitivity.”
In fact, in the interview, the architect describes his architectural practice with the idea of “absolute care.” He emphasizes the significance of thoroughly examining the surrounding context before embarking on a project. Furthermore, Pihlmann expresses that his approach now involves dedicating more time to this initial phase of research, immersing himself in data, and comprehending the existing conditions. Claiming that through this process of curation, the architectural narrative emerges organically.
Interestingly, Pihlmann also points out the new multidisciplinary approach to the architecture practice, relating it to different scales of interactions and different modes of curation. The comparison he draws between the curation of social interactions in developing a city and the curation of different materials when the architect arrives at a site encapsulates a holistic view of the architectural practice today.
We demolish and build anew more than we use what we already have, and we do it in a way that damages not only our basis of existence but the basis of existence of future generations especially. Has this harsh reality truly not dawned on us? — Søren Pihlmann.
This year saw the first-ever Islamic Arts Biennale, directed by architect Sumayya Vally, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The event was curated partially by Vally, set in the Western Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In an interview with ArchDaily, Vally expresses that “there is an inherited definition of Islamic art that comes from 17th century France, and Islamic Arts have continuously been defined and redefined…but they have never really been defined from within by us, from our perspectives.”
Vally is the founder, architect, and director of the Johannesburg-based collaborative architectural studio Counterspace. The practice of the studio centers around simultaneously defining and reimagining histories and futures. Chosen to design the 20th Serpentine Pavilion, Vally works between research, interdisciplinary art-based projects, architectural projects, exhibitions, urban research, and design.
I believe that biennales, pavilions, and platforms for experimental art and architecture are essential because they provide a space for imagining the future. –Sumayya Vally
In conclusion, the practices of curation and multi-disciplinary architecture intersect in powerful ways. Human beings can shape their understanding of themselves and the world through the choices made in curating the built environment, reinterpreting historical narratives, and taking cautious stands in the present. The practice sheds light on our narratives, picking things apart that have been often overlooked or encouraging new methods of thinking about our stories and cultural output at large. The curator can work at many different scales, but what is common is a thoughtful selection of displaying and explaining concepts in a world of excess with absolute care and concern.
At the small scale, architects like Søren Pihlmann demonstrate curation by deciding what is visible or concealed, what is foregrounded or backgrounded within a building through contextualizing materiality. This form of curation shapes our experience of space, affecting our perceptions and interactions within it. Another curation scale involves revisiting past narratives, as exemplified by Sumayya Vally. Through careful curation, stories can be retold, reshaped, and explained under new lights to modify and transform the present understanding of them. By engaging with the past in this way, human beings can gain new insights, challenge preconceptions, and foster a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of history. Finally, Lesley Lokko showcases the curatorial power of taking a stand in the present. Through what is presented, considered, and explained, we engage in a form of curation that shapes our collective narrative. By actively pursuing this curated narrative, collaboration and meaningful work toward a better future can be fostered.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on July 17, 2023, as part of theArchDaily Topics: Design Process, presented by Codesign and updated on October 2, 2024.
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Sumayya Vally, architect, curator, and founder of Counterspace architecture office, joins the jury for the 2024 Obel Award. This international architectural prize, organized by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation, honors projects that significantly impact people and the planet. The 2024 theme, “Architecture WITH,” invites a re-examination of the architectural profession, emphasizing collaborative and co-creative processes that integrate diverse bodies of knowledge into the core of design. Vally’s perspective on redefining architectural roles aligns with the theme’s focus on non-hierarchical, co-creative approaches.
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Sumayya Vally. Image Courtesy of Counterspace
South African architect Sumayya Vally has become internationally renowned for her innovative re-imaginings of cultural spaces. As the founder and director of Counterspace, a Johannesburg-based architecture studio, she became the youngest architect to design the Serpentine Pavilion in 2020/2021. In 2021, Vally was included in Time’s list of 100 emerging leaders shaping the future, being the only architect featured that year. Recently, she was appointed as the artistic director of the first Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, where she helped transform the Western Hajj Terminal into a space for redefining Islamic Arts.
In this interview, Sumayya Vally engages in a discussion with ArchDaily’s Editor in Chief, Christele Harrouk, about the theme of the Obel Award, “Architecture WITH.” The conversation builds on their previous dialogue about the intentions and impact of the First Islamic Arts Biennale, where Vally served as artistic director, emphasizing the connections between architecture and cultural expression.
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ArchDaily (Christele Harrouk): How can “Architecture work with” as opposed to for? In other terms, how can architecture be done with people, not just for them?
Sumayya Vally: I am a strong advocate for the power and the value of listening in architecture. To Listen to the land, the context, its history, and its people; in order to birth architectures that are made uniquely with place and in collaboration with its climate, conditions, skills, knowledge, and people from that place as key actors in the development of a project rather than passive participants; and rather than designing something and then figuring out how to build it retroactively.
AD: In your opinion, what are some famous examples of architecture that use the “Architectures WITH” idea?
SV: The Great Mosque of Djenné in Mali is the largest mud-brick structure in the world. It was originally built in 1907, on the site of a 13th-century mosque. Every 12 months, in April, its surface is re-mudded, to reinforce the structure in preparation for the rainy season – an event called the Crépissage. There is a collaboration with the weather, as the mudding takes place on the eve of the first rains. Through that process, its fabric shifts over time. In a sense, it can be seen as evolving into an entirely different building year on year. Its building is centered on the knowledge of the mud masons, who pass this skill down across generations.
When I worked with Yasmeen Lari in Pakistan, she described the ways she worked with women to create thousands of chulah stoves in rural Pakistan. She mentioned that the building techniques she used in working with them are akin to working in a kitchen with ingredients, quantities, and the suppleness of mud akin to dough. These other literacies have architectures waiting to happen.
AD: How can architects include knowledge from other fields to design more inclusive spaces? What other fields can and should be included in the creative process?
SV: It is important to honor bodies of knowledge that, at some point, were stopped — they weren’t allowed to continue because of colonization, apartheid, and other forces. I think that being able to learn from them, so they can evolve, is important. Because even when we look at so-called vernacular architecture, much of it appears to be frozen in time without having had opportunities to evolve. But there is so much to learn from the vernacular: Villages that may be overlooked in architectural canon often prove that they incorporate incredibly sophisticated forms of community, respond to climate and weather, and work integrally with the planet. We need new models for what African architecture is or for what new architecture is. Contemporary architecture should absorb more diverse bodies of knowledge and be more hybrid.
I hope that I am a part of the generation of architects that is thinking about who we are, how architecture can bring us together, and how it can respond to all the challenges we are facing. The architects now coming of age want to build differently, and I hope to see a multitude of ways to express different experiences and attitudes to bring new and unique imaginations into the world.
AD: How does today’s political and economic situation impact the chances for participatory architecture?
SV: Sometimes it feels dire, but in spite of that, we must remain optimistic. There is the opinion that the most sustainable thing we can do is sometimes not to build. But that understanding is because our understanding of the world is so tied to this current colonial capitalist model, that we can’t understand that an entirely different way of being is possible that listens to the seasons. That isn’t only about being zero carbon or net energy but can be generative in its making if we can create systems that are not just about negating the problems we have, but about looking at the question completely differently. So many societies past have had this attention to the earth and there are interconnections between so many indigenous bodies of knowledge all over the world.
Politically and economically, we are also in a time where the centers of architecture have shifted from the Western world to the Eastern and Southern worlds.
I hope that, instead of repeating failed models from elsewhere, these new world centers will look within, embrace ways of thinking and making that are from their unique cultures, climates, and conditions; and evolve these into entirely new worlds of architecture. This means that everything is possible – more kinds of collaboration across fields, with diverse bodies of knowledge; and in ways that honor and evolve cultural heritages that have so much to offer the world.
Islamic Arts Biennale. Image Courtesy of L.E.FT Architects
The fourth edition of the Bruges Triennial: Spaces of Possibility, curated by Shendy Gardin and Sevie Tsampalla, will be held from Saturday 13 April to Sunday 1 September 2024. This event promises to transform the streets and historic center of Bruges, Belgium, into a showcase of contemporary art and architectural interventions. With a focus on exploring the latent potential of this UNESCO World Heritage Site, the festival raises questions about how concepts like change and sustainability can interact with preservation.
The 12 selected artists and architects have been prompted to challenge the existing spaces within Bruges. Among the invited names are Boonserm Premthada’s Bangkok Project Studio, Mona Hatoum, Studio Ossidiana, and Sumayya Vally, founder of Counterspace and curator of the first Islamic Arts Biennale, among others. Until September 1st, they are presenting temporary interventions and large-scale installations that seek to reveal the hidden potential of the city, echoing the festival’s theme. Against the backdrop of Bruges’ rich history, this edition of the Bruges Triennial underscores the importance of adaptable urban spaces in today’s ever-evolving world.
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Read on to discover the installations of the Bruges Triennale 2024, along with their official descriptions.
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“The Tower of balance” by Boonserm Premthada of Thailand’s Bangkok Project Studio is inspired by his visit to Bruges’ 13th-century Belfry. His 18-metre-high contemporary bell tower, with three wooden viewing platforms, both marks and gives meaning to a little-known stretch of greenery.
“Grains of Paradise” by Sumayya Vally is inspired by Bruges’ rich commercial history. The installation comprises a series of blackened pirogues, laden with herbs and spices, arranged side by side on the Minnewater Bridge.
Firesong for the Bees, a Tree of Clay / Mariana Castillo Deball
Mariana Castillo Deball has created an architectural, sculptural installation entitled “Firesong for the Bees, a Tree of Clay”. It combines a colony of bees with the history of beehives.
Full Swing by Mona Hatoum invites you to swing in a narrow underground passage that has been excavated from the garden of the Onzelievevrouw Psychiatric Hospital.
Conceived for the beach of Zeebrugge, “Star of the Sea” attracts attention from afar with its voluminous form and peculiar chimneys. This weird monumental structure explores entanglements between art, industry, nature, and ecology.
SO–IL has created “Common Thread” for the garden of the former Capuchin Monastery. Together with Dr. Mariana Popescu (TU Delft) and Summum Engineering, the architects have developed a fabric that spans two neighborhoods and creates a new urban connection.
Earthsea Pavilion is a living organism, a contemporary chimera made of minerals, plants, animals, organic matter, fungi and bacteria, collectively composing a new soil. It is both a garden and a building, a place of encounter and exchange between people and other forms of life. We find shelter within it as it grows, breathes, and changes over time, reacting to the weather as well as to the actions of its human and non-human inhabitants. We wander across it while its layers settle, while strata of organic matter become fertile soil, while water is filtered through its earthly walls, birds and bumble bees nest and build their hives, and fungi develop their web of relations.
Norell/Rodhe’s “Raamland”, situated between Oostmeers and Westmeers, takes the form of a new community garden. The Swedish architecture firm has redeveloped the square in Sint-Obrechtsstraat and transformed it into an exciting and inspirational meeting place.
empty drop / Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects
Inspired by the density of Bruges’ street plan, Shingo Masuda and Katsuhisa Ostubo have constructed a new, open ‘place’ for the city in St John’s Hospital Park. Their geometric, brick-built sculpture subtracts ground from the historical orchard while also lending it structure. Here, the architects play with the concept of ‘free’ or undefined space and its absence in the city’s geography, where every corner is well-defined.
With “The Joyful Apocalypse”, the Brussels architecture firm Traumnovelle is redefining the 13th-century courtyard of the Stadshallen [City Halls]. The 9-metre-high structure elevates the square into a temporary stage and turns the casual passer-by into a dynamic extra.
A pair of bronze boots stands on Speelmansrei. They seem to be resting or walking leisurely on the surface of the water. As if they belong to a larger sculpture: has it been dismantled or is it still under construction?
The Bruges Triennial 2024 has announced its theme, “Space of Possibility,” along with a list of participating artists and architects and the locations of the 12 installations. Running from Saturday 13 April to Sunday 1 September 2024, the event will take over the streets and historic center of Bruges. Belgium, showcasing contemporary art and architectural interventions. The curators of this edition, Shendy Gardin and Sevie Tsampalla, have selected a list of 12 artists and architects who will challenge the existing locations within the city’s quarters in response to the theme which asks them to seek to reveal the hidden potential of the city.
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The list of invited artists includes Belgian names, along with international invitees. Among them, Boonserm Premthada’s Thailand office Bangkok Project Studio, chiefly known in Belgium for the Kantana Institute in Nakhon Pathom, Mona Hatoum, who was awarded the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize in 2022, and Sumayya Vally, who founded the studio Counterspace, curated the first Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and recently also exhibited at the Venice Biennale, are just some of the prominent names invited to participate with temporary artistic interventions and large-scale installations.
The theme of the 4th edition of the Bruges Triennial aims to explore the possibilities of the city’s center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the ways in which change and sustainability can coexist with preservation. The last three years have proven the importance of well-designed public spaces, as hubs of movement, creativity flexibility, and freedom. With a history dating back to the 9th century, Bruges continues to evolve, exemplifying the importance of adaptable urban spaces in our changing world.
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The artists and architects have been invited to search and uncover hidden or little-known sites in the city center, West Bruges and Zeebrugge, and to temporarily reinvent them. Brussels-based office Traumnovelle has chosen the courtyard of the 13th-century City Halls, Lebanese-British artist Mona Hatoum is working in the garden of a Psychiatric Hospital, whileBangkok Project Studio is building a contemporary clock tower near the King Albert I Park to draw attention to this neglected part of the garden. American architecture practice SO–IL is collaborating with Dr. Mariana Popescu and Summum Engineering to transform the site of a former monastery by using a high-tech fabric to guide visitors to discover the walled gardens of the Capuchin Friars Minor. Similarly, Belgian artist Adrien Tirtiaux highlights a forgotten connection within the city via a green marker.
With TRIBRU24 we are focusing on a subject close to all our hearts: space. Space to live, to work, to meet, and to relax. In a city where conservation takes center stage, how can we consider concepts such as sustainability and transformation? With Spaces of Possibility, we want to work with artists and architects to create fresh opportunities and bring beauty into what is often overlooked. A collective exercise in thinking about the (historic) city of today and tomorrow. – Shendy Gardin, Curator
Since 2015, Bruges Triennial has strived to bring contemporary art and architecture to the historical city, inviting national and international artists and architects to contribute with new site-specific installations to activate the city. During the five months of the event, their contemporary creations highlighted the potential of the city in response to the specific theme defined by the curators. During past editions, architects such as Selgas Cano added a splash of color to the city’s water channels, while Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY installed a coral-like pavilion in a 17th-century Seminary building.
Courtesy of Triennial Bruges 2024
Participating artists and architects, along with their chosen locations:
