Sweating Assets

Kingdom of Bahrain’s National Participation at the 18th
International Architecture Exhibition
La Biennale de Venezia- Arsenale

20 May – 26 November 2023

Sweating Assets is the Kingdom of Bahrain’s National Participation at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition- La Biennale de Venezia. The pavilion, located at the Arsenale Artiglierie in Venice, was commissioned by His Excellency Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture & Antiquities.

Exhibition

SWEATING ASSETS

The pavilion explores the unique climatic conditions of extreme heat and humidity alongside current demands for comfort in Bahrain. The exhibition traverses scales—from the domestic to the territorial—highlighting the position of cooling infrastructure in relation to a wider ecosystem. Sweating Assets is an adaptive means of resource management, that entails working with existing systems to their best capacities rather than starting anew. It considers our built environments, infrastructure, and relationships as a complex, resource-rich, man-made landscape subject to cannibalization. By no means encouraging wasteful usage of cooling systems, the possibilities (rather than solutions) made through their necessary consumption are uncovered. In Bahrain’s intense conditions of high heat and humidity, air conditioning produces proportionally high condensate. Utilizing this unintended byproduct of anthropogenic activity, loose ends are tied, redirecting water to other parts within the larger ecology.  

Installation

The exhibition’s microenvironment is a choreography of temperature, humidity, and condensation. It conveys the omnipresent conditions and experiences of life on the island. Supplementing the import of the climate is a call for the collection and rerouting of the incidental condensate reserves towards wetlands and agricultural regions in need of replenishment. A landscape sits adjacent to a cold condensing volume,  demonstrating the dichotomy of industrial systems against transient ecological grounds.  

This volume is an emblem of the constantly cooled and condensing living enclosures. As Venice’s thick air comes into contact with the volume, at dew point temperature, water constantly releases across its surface. Coatings, channels, and grooves control condensation patterns along with the movement of water. From the surface, water is collected and led to ‘deposits’ on an earthen landscape. The deposits each represent regions scaled based on quantitative analysis of the cooling they consume and subsequent condensate they produce.   

Publication

The publication “Sweating Assets: On Climate Conditioning and Ecology” compliments the exhibition by providing numerical analysis and qualitative speculations and writings. A nationwide audit studies cooling infrastructure, its environmental implications, and offerings in the form of water.  

Curators

Latifa Alkhayat

(b. 1996) holds a Master of Architecture from MIT. While speculating on future material practices, she explores their technical potential and maintains a sensitivity towards cultural reception and ecological impact. As an architectural researcher and practitioner, she has experience in Manama, London, and Cambridge. She received her degree in Architecture from the University of Bath in 2018.  

Maryam Aljomairi

(b. 1995) is a multidisciplinary architect and doctoral candidate at Harvard University. Her research spans across scales—from nano to macro—lying at the intersection of technology, material programming, and computational fabrication. She holds an MS in Design & Computation from MIT, a BArch from the American University of Sharjah, and has practiced between New York, Bahrain, and Dubai.   

Images

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Project
Information

Credits

Commissioner:
HE Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa

Deputy Commissioner:
Noura Al Sayeh-Holtrop

Pavilion Coordinator:
Batool Al Shaikh

Curation, Design, and Research Lead:
Maryam Aljomairi & Latifa Alkhayat

Publication & Research Contributors:
Dr. Waleed Alzubari, Nada Almulla, Hajer Budhahi, Sara Ali, Shan-Chun Wen, Alanood Alkhayat, Melad Alfulaij, Alya Alaam, Natalie Pearl, Maryam Alnoaimi, Nujud Alhussain, Dr. Reem Almaella, Dr. Marwa Alkoheji, Nasser Alzayani, Fadia Mohammed, Arabian Gulf University, Office for Applied Histories

Photography:
Hussain Almosawi

Publication Editor:
Khushi Nansi

English Copyediting:
Angela Loescher-Montal

Arabic Translation:
Ghadeer Alkhunaizi

Arabic Copyediting:
Fatima A.Ali, Batool Al Shaikh

Graphic Design:
Rabeeya Abduljabbar

Graphic Design Assistant:
Khaled Esguerra

Publication cover Illustration:
Sasha McKinlay

Website Development:
Chenyue “xdd44” Dai

Exhibition Contributors:
Landscaping:
Zhicheng Xu

Hydrophobic Coating Design:
Natalie Pearl

Pattern Production Drawings:
Shan-Chun Wen

Model Production Drawings:
Melad Alfulaij, Alya Alaam

Lighting Design:
Hsin-Ying Huang & Yi-Liang Ko

Film:
Saleh Jamsheer

Sound:
Vijay Rajkumar

HVAC Consultation:
Aeris Group

Installation Execution:
Tosetto

Physical Models:
Fablab Venice

Downloads

Links

Standalone site
www.sweatingassets.bh