At ADFF:STIR Mumbai, the much anticipated South Asia debut of the architecture festival, a series of pavilions fuelled by the creativity of seminal architects and designers and supported by estimable brands, await interaction with the curious eyes of visitors. In the JSW Pavilion Park, where 10 striking pavilion designs materialise in response to the curatorial brief Frames of Reference, London-based architecture and design studio UHA will envision a luminescent ‘theatre within a theatre’. Dubbed Stack, the pavilion contrived in collaboration with the Saraf Foundation will screen short documentaries about Mumbai and beyond, fragments from these reflecting on the commonality of our lives. “We are delighted to have been invited by STIR to the Architecture and Design Film Festival,” UHA director Ricardo Mateu mentions in an exclusive conversation. "Fittingly, it is in Mumbai, a mecca of film, and we have curated a series of short films and documentaries which we feel captures the essence of Maharashtra and Mumbai,” he adds.

Founded in London in 2011, UHA flaunts an oeuvre of over 50 projects across three continents—from the tallest residential tower in New Delhi to an acclaimed 53-hectare masterplan in Moscow. The studio delivers projects sculpted to specific contexts, functions and scales by harnessing architecture, master planning and interior design. At the design festival, UHA joins forces with the Saraf Foundation, a non-profit established in 2016 dedicated to preserving intangible culture and built heritage across the Himalayas. It aims to foster critical dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration through restoration projects, cultural spaces and educational initiatives with efforts spanning architecture, art, design and science.

The congregation, both spatial and human, reflects something implicit in being human: generating, relaying and portraying different stories across multiple generations and geographies. Stack, in a similar effort, dismisses monocular storytelling, instead inviting an approach of plurality of lenses. Within the radiant 'theatre-within-a-theatre' constructed by UHA, short documentaries about Mumbai, all under 10 minutes, by Mumbai-based filmmakers will be screened. “The pavilion glows, so it really draws the spectator in, draws the audience in to experience the space,” Mateu tells STIR. To this, Jonas Upton-Hansen, founding director of UHA, adds, “And instead of a black box, it becomes a series of spaces that you walk through like a promenade where we have exhibited artefacts chosen by the directors to represent their movies.”

Fragments or literal objects from the stories will feature below each of the 10 framed volumes surrounding the screening space in a protective embrace. The multi-genre approach pays homage to NCPA’s role as South Asia’s first multi-venue, multi-genre cultural centre. The framing, light and colour all take cues from the centre’s interior and exterior while also alluding to the ethos of the Saraf Foundation, the pavilion’s supporting partner. On view is the foundation’s making of Sagarmatha Next Director’s Cut by Nundrisha Wakloo, reflecting its dedication towards integrating development and sustainability across the Himalayas, together with other short films focusing on Maharashtra, generously provided by Virtual Bharat and others.

UHA and the Saraf Foundation, with their enticing architecture pavilion, aspire to encapsulate the best of culture, architecture and films at ADFF:STIR. Shedding light on the vision of the installation in a conversation with STIR, Upton-Hansen notes, “We have designed a pavilion where you can view these short films and movies, which is all about cinema. And on top of just viewing these movies, it celebrates the act of viewing the movies themselves by being able to be seen from the outside of the pavilion.”

For more information, visit the ADFF:STIR Mumbai website for key highlights of the festival, including the 20+ films, 10 cinematic pavilions, special projects the ~log(ue) programme, media and press coverage and more. Stay tuned and keep an eye out for ADFF:STIR Mumbai 2026.