United Arab Emirates

Lifescapes Beyond Bigness explores the interplay between the physicality of architecture and places, and the dynamic choreography of everyday life. The pavilion of the United Arab Emirates presents an exhibition exploring human-scale architectural landscapes. The exhibition aims to highlight the role of architecture and urban design in forming the choreography of people’s daily routines. It particularly investigates the role of ‘quotidian’ landscapes in accommodating, enhancing, and facilitating the ‘everyday’ social activities. The everyday urbanism, or the choreography of lifescapes in the UAE, is explored through a curatorial selection of different typologies and places from the UAE’s diverse landscapes. The exhibition aims to present an exploration of their physical characteristics and typologies; behavioural rhythms of life; and the design traditions that have shaped them. It also invites visitors to experience important landscapes that are often overlooked in common perceptions about the United Arab Emirates’ mega-development discourse.