Pressure Cooker: National Pavilion UAE at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale | Azza Aboualam

We delve into the UAE National Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale, titled "Pressure Cooker" with curator Azza Aboualam. An assistant professor at the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises at Zayed University Dubai and co-founder of Holesum Studio, Aboualam explains how architecture can be a cornerstone for achieving food security, particularly in challenging climates like UAE's and the broader Gulf region. Inspired by a simple question from her mother about the origin of blueberries in the UAE, Aboualam's work explored the intersection of architectural design and food production, focusing on innovative greenhouse typologies. The "Pressure Cooker" exhibition showcases how traditional and high-tech architectural elements can be reconfigured to prolong growing seasons and expand food production within the UAE. We unpack the complexities of food security as a national priority, the economic and environmental costs of imported food, and the surprising prevalence of individual-led greenhouse projects in the UAE. We also touch upon the fascinating historical context of food in the UAE, the impact of population growth on food systems, and a unique architectural cookbook attached to the project, which frames the conversation around food and built environments.

0:00:00 The UAE's Vision For Food Security

0:02:40 "Pressure Cooker": Architecture and Food Flow

0:03:33 The Blueberry Revelation: Origin of the Idea

0:04:38 Why Food Security Is an Architectural Problem in the UAE

0:05:48 The Urgency of Food Security In The UAE

0:07:08 Global Warming and Food Production Challenges

0:08:08 Inside The "Pressure Cooker" UAE Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2025

0:10:41 A Call to Action and Moment of Reflection

0:11:55 The True Cost of Food

0:12:21 Greenhouses: a Common Practice in the UAE

0:14:16 The "Kit-of-Parts" Innovation

0:14:42 The Adaptable Greenhouse System

0:16:07 Food Production in Apartment Living

0:16:44 Sparking Broader Conversations

0:17:30 Individual vs. Urban Scale Food Production

0:19:08 Who Is Doing Food Security Well?

0:20:32 Food Infrastructure in the UAE

0:21:56 Regional Knowledge Sharing

0:23:02 Local Food Production and Sufficiency

0:23:53 Oil Revenue's Impact on Food Security

0:25:01 Pressure Cooker Recipes: An Architectural Cookbook

0:26:44 Engaging With Local Farmers

0:28:18 Pathway to Food Independence

0:29:03 Defining Food Independence

0:30:54 Supermarkets: a Changing Landscape

0:32:08 Historical Food Production in the UAE

0:33:11 Migration and Food Systems

0:35:00 Resources for Learning About Food Security

0:36:51 The Problem of Food Waste

0:39:17 Packaging Waste in the F&B Industry

Upcoming event 👉 https://publicprograms.nyuad.nyu.edu/en/the-institute/events/2025/october/pressure-cooker-curated-by-azza-aboualam.html

Azza Aboualam is an Emirati architect and curator of the National Pavilion UAE for the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2025. She is an Assistant Professor at the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises at Zayed University in Dubai and a co-founder and Director of Research at Holesum Studio, an interdisciplinary architecture and design practice based between New York, USA, and Sharjah, UAE. She co-founded the studio in 2021 a few years after graduating from the Yale School of Architecture. She worked with the UAE Ministry of Culture’s Architecture Initiative, and her field research, sketches, and writing were published in the book "In Search of Spaces of Coexistence: An Architect’s Journey" (2019), edited by Dr. Alamira Reem Al Hashimi and Adina Hempel. While working in Sharjah’s Department of Public Works, Aboualam managed the design and construction of large-scale projects such as the Aga Khan Award–winning Wasit Wetland Center.

Connect with Azza Aboualam 👉 https://instagram.com/azza.aboualam

Hosted by: 
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

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