ADAPTIVE SPACE 2016

Performance - Event / Video with Zinka Bejtic

Exhibited in Design Space 1971, Sharjah. 2016 / Presented at “After Dark : Nocturnal Landscapes and Public Spaces in the Arabian Peninsula” Harvard  2017

The area of Muwaileh is a very recent settlement rapidly built in the last few years as the majority of the city of Sharjah. It is mostly inhabited by newcomer immigrants. A common feature of these recent developments is the dramatic lack of essential infrastructures and services. The area is next to an industrial compound and it is nestled between high‐traffic roads making it one of the cheapest neighborhoods to live in the entire region. Moreover, the quality of buildings and architectural solutions is very low,

contributing to the perception of a generic and ordinary “image of the city” which alienates the sense of belonging to a specific place. Buildings are scattered around the area in a seemingly random manner, plugged in a sandy desert, lacking important urban infrastructure elements such as roads, parks, and public squares. The urban fabric is composed of many contrasting areas, ranging from middle class residential buildings to low‐rise labor housing. The inhabitants change the leftover spaces to adapt their needs, and the use of these spaces varies according to each area. The proposed project involved the community in the neighborhood and beyond. The intervention on site aimed at representing how usually inhabitants are the real designers of their public spaces. In other words, how users make subtle changes in the nature of their surroundings to create public spaces within the limits of what the site provides