UAE Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale Explores Greenhouses in the Desert

The UAE Pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, open until November 23, 2025, presents "Pressure Cooker," a project curated by architect and scholar Azza Aboualam. The exhibition reimagines greenhouses as architectural systems adapted to extreme arid climates, challenging their conventional treatment as standardized agricultural tools. Aboualam's research, sparked by a conversation with her mother about the origin of blueberries in the desert, investigates how design choices—roof shape, wall height, orientation—impact greenhouse performance. Key findings include that north-south orientation reduces heat gain, passive cooling strategies like partial earth-sheltering and ventilation-promoting roofs are effective, and external shading outperforms some high-tech interventions. Developed with Holesum Studio, a digital modeling tool simulates variables such as roof curvature and vent placement. The project highlights the overlooked role of women in food production architecture, citing a widow in Al Ain who expanded her farm with self-invented greenhouse systems and Dr. Tarifa Alzaabi, Director General of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) since August 2022. The modular, open-source kit aims to be low-cost and adaptable to other arid regions facing climate change.