Organized by Sophie Mayuko Arni
Presented by Startbahn, Inc.
Venue: SRR Project Space, Tokyo, Japan
Exhibition Website
Graphic Design: waiwai
Cooperation: waiwai research and design agency
Photography: Masataka Tanaka, courtesy of Startbahn
Wetland Lab
Wetland is a project led by waiwai research and design agency, the research arm of waiwai, an award-winning architectural practice with offices in Dubai and Tokyo. The research project proposes an environmentally friendly salt-based cement alternative inspired by sabkhas—crystalline salt formations found in wetlands in the United Arab Emirates. This will be Wetland’s first presentation in Japan, a year after it premiered at the National Pavilion of the UAE for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale.
waiwai research and design lab, Wetland Lab. Installation view at SRR Project Space, Tokyo, 2022. Photo by Masataka Tanaka. Courtesy of Startbahn, Inc.
Startbahn is pleased to present a new exhibition at its SRR Project Space in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, opening on October 29, 2022. Entitled Wetland Lab, the exhibition will showcase research into ecosystems and materials carried out by waiwai research and design agency, the research arm of waiwai, an award-winning multidisciplinary architecture, landscape, graphic, and urban design studio with offices in Dubai and Tokyo.
This research project began at the Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021, with the exhibition Wetland. The pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, the Biennale’s highest honour. The exhibition at SRR Project Space marks the first time the research is being exhibited in Japan.
The Wetland exhibition in Venice presented a prototype of a salt-based cement material, made from recycled industrial waste brine, which has the potential to reduce the construction industry’s impact on the environment. This new material was devised as a potential alternative to commonly used Portland cement, which is responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions. It uses salt as a binding agent and relies on a crystallization process inspired by the sabkhas (salt formations) naturally found in the UAE.
The exhibition in Shimokitazawa is an opportunity to celebrate leading architects and researchers from the UAE and Japan, in line with SRR Project Space’s mission to promote the role of art, creativity, and technology in sustainable urban development. A central theme of the exhibition is the ways in which technology can be used for the development of new construction materials that are uniquely suited to local ecosystems and environments. The work of waiwai research and design agency on view in the exhibition furthers SRR Project Space’s mission to connect the local community of Shimokitazawa with the latest research projects in contemporary art and design from around the world.
About Wetland
Curated by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto, Wetland is a research project first presented at the National Pavilion of the UAE at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021. The pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for the Best National Participation. Inspired by the salt and mineral ecosystem found in the United Arab Emirates’ sabkhas (salt flats), Wetland presents research into an environmentally friendly cement alternative derived from salt brine produced by seawater desalination plants in the UAE. Commissioned by the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation and supported by the UAE Ministry of Youth and Culture, Wetland is a product of a collaborative effort between the co-curators and researchers at Amber Lab at New York University Abu Dhabi, the Obuchi Lab and Sato Lab at the University of Tokyo, and the Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences at American University of Sharjah. The exhibition also included photographs taken by New York–based Emirati artist Farah Al Qasimi, and it was accompanied by a publication dedicated to the study of sabkhas and their importance in global ecology and architecture, entitled The Anatomy of Sabkhas, written by Rashid and Ahmed Bin Shabib, co-edited by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto, and with a contribution by Marina Tabassum.
About Wael Al Awar and Kazuma Yamao
Wael Al Awar founded waiwai (formerly ibda design) after returning to the Middle East from Tokyo. Wael layers his interests in natural phenomena into an architecture of light, time, structure, and landscape. He seeks to create an architecture that is more than fabrication, that remains open to adaptation. His site-specific designs encourage unexpected experiences. Wael curated the UAE National Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021, which was awarded the Golden Lion.
Kazuma Yamao is a Tokyo-based architect who founded waiwai (formerly Gingrich). Following work with Coelacanth and Associates, an office known for designs of educational buildings in Japan, he established his own practice in 2013 and strengthened his connections across Asia and the Middle East. He founded waiwai in 2018 and solidified the office’s deeply rooted position in Dubai and Tokyo. The transcultural perspective he brings to the office’s work facilitates communication through the process of architecture itself.