Imagine a structure that can, at the end of its life as a gathering place, come apart not to create concrete dust and nonbiodegradable waste but rather be repurposed to aid the growth of plants on land or coral in the sea.

Tarabot: Weaving a Living Forum, a pavilion commissioned by Art Jameel and designed by Adib Dada, Founder and Lead Architect of theOtherDada, does not leave these possibilities of regeneration and renewal to the imagination—it makes them a reality. Using innovative materials and design that engage with the local environment, Tarabot is a pioneering, sustainable structure hosting talks, presentations and community programmes. It opened during COP28 and will run through April 2024. With the twin visions of Art Jameel and theOtherDada coming together, the pavilion exemplifies how art institutions can engage with sustainability, both as a thematic as well as a practice.

Art Jameel has long made thinking about the climate crisis and sustainability a priority. “For five years, it’s been a pillar of our programming,” Antonia Carver, Director of Art Jameel shares with STIR. Elaborating on the genesis of this project, she explains that it was conceptualised in the lead-up to COP28 which was held in the UAE in 2023. “We were thinking about how to mark this moment in a significant way…We're very aware of the role that the arts play in communicating the climate crisis and in drawing in broad communities as active participants to address the crisis and not as consumers of rhetoric from elsewhere. When we began thinking about this and the idea of creating space that was innovative in itself and also could draw in people, theOtherDada came to mind as a collaborator.”

theOtherDada’s innovative approach to building materials and its philosophy of regenerative architecture made it the obvious choice to build the structure. Dada encapsulated this vision in conversation with STIR: “I kept hearing the same things when it came to sustainability and built environments. It’s like: we need to spend X per cent less energy and X per cent less water. All this is part of a mindset of scarcity. My approach was: how do we transform this? There are enough resources if they are not misused. For example, what if we think of waste as a resource and as a nutrient? In nature, waste simply does not exist. One organism’s waste is another’s nutrient.” With this philosophy in mind, Dada began to experiment with how Tarabot could be a space that was not just carbon-neutral but had a net positive impact on the environment. The pavilion was to be situated in a courtyard at Dubai’s Jaddaf Waterfront Sculpture Park—a space Dada describes as concrete, exposed to harsh sunlight and devoid of natural flora or fauna. Tarabot was imagined, therefore, as an interspecies ecotone (an ecological term for an area where two types of ecosystems meet) where the human and non-human, the built environment and natural environment could come together in a transitional and harmonious third space.

Dada explains that it was designed with four pillars that sustain life in mind: soil, water, plants and energy. A closed-loop system processes waste from the Jameel Arts Centre which is adjacent to Jaddaf Waterfront Sculpture Park, repurposing it as compost which is then used to cultivate plants that are used in the restaurant on the premises. The structure is a semi-enclosed dome that is open to light and air but shielded from heat by roofs and walls that are composed of modular conical elements designed to cool air as it enters the pavilion. The conical modular elements of the structure are built from mycelium, locally sourced clay and two special materials called Desert Board and Desert Form composed of the byproducts of processing dates in the UAE region. These natural materials have been chosen for their potential to enrich the soil when they degrade once the pavilion is dismantled. The structure also uses an energy-efficient method based on indigenous local technologies of condensing fresh water from the humidity in the air which not only connects to a point where people can access water but also leads to a bird bath for local wildlife to partake in. Using open-ended cones made from local clay by local potters, inspired by a company called Coolant in India, the structure also has an energy-efficient inbuilt natural air conditioning system that relies on hot air going through the wet cones, creating a pleasant atmosphere in the pavilion.

Each element of the structure connects to create an interlinked system that makes it hospitable to human and non-human life alike. Underscoring the presence of the non-human in the UAE—which is usually assumed to be either urban or sterile desert environments—the pavilion also hosts artist Solimar Miller’s work.

Carver mentions that the decision to invite Miller to be part of the pavilion stemmed from thinking about the intersection between sustainability, biodiversity, ecology and the idea of environmentalism and how biodiversity was often left out of the conversation in policymaking during events such as COP28. "Solimar’s practice in Dubai has centred on thinking about indigenous trees and animals and what has happened to nature as the UAE has become increasingly urbanised,” Carver explains. Art Jameel, too, is no stranger to examining the desert landscape as a place of abundance rather than a wasteland. Previous programmes such as Desert is a Forest, an Artist’s Garden project by Sunoj D and Namrata Neog shed light on the vast diversity of animal and insect life in the desert.

"Our aesthetic ideal about what is desirable is inherited from colonial frameworks—something green that needs constant watering or plants and animals that come from elsewhere. Solimar’s work helps us reset our minds and see beauty and abundance in places that are thought of as barren,” Carver explains. Miller’s work not only exquisitely captures this abundance through meticulous drawings and paintings; she also often uses the leaves of indigenous trees to dye the materials she works with, incorporating the landscape into the materials she uses. In Tarabot, her work appears in a series of panels that are embedded into the structure and represent a range of trees and animals that are native to the UAE but are also endangered.

Bringing together innovative materials, reminders of the abundance of life in the desert along with a robust educational programme, Tarabot has been the catalyst for community conversations about conservation and the relationships between the urban environment and the natural world. After de-installation, the modular constituents of Tarabot will take on a new life as underwater habitats for coral regrowth in the northern Emirate of Fujairah while the cones will be used for domestic planting on land—making sure that while the conversations Tarabot sparks remain alive, the structure also has a second life as a sustainable habitat for more-than-human life forms.

STIR speaks to Antonia Carver and Adib Dada about the materials used to create the structure, theOtherDada’s commitment to regenerative architecture and Art Jameel’s extensive programmes at the intersection of ecology, climate change and art. Tap the cover video for the full conversation.