Dubai Design Week 2016: Abwab Pavilions

Dubai – Abwab offers a glimpse of the emerging designers and curators who are defining the future of the Arab design identity.

Abwab, which means ‘doors’ in Arabic, is an annual part of the Dubai Design Week programme
Six pavilions have been installed in the Dubai Design District (d3) to celebrate emerging talent from the MENSA regions

In response to this year’s overarching theme, The Human Senses, the six pavilions – by designers from Algeria, Bahrain, India, Iraq, Palestine and the UAE – offer visitors different sensory experiences through the lens of Arab design.

Echoing the layout of a small Arab courtyard, the architecture of the installation, designed by Dubai-based studio A Hypothetical Office, leads visitors through a canopied, neighbourhood-like space housing different pavilions, each with their own regional design narrative.

The UAE pavilion, by designers Salem Al-Qassimi and Maryam Al Qassimi, evokes a hyper-real future vision of an Emirati cafeteria, drawing on the vibrant cultural fusions and hybridised visual languages at play in the local cafés. The café installation houses holograms, projections and bold graphic branding in RGB colour palettes – hues and tones inspired by the café signage in the Emirati urban landscape.