Invisible Soundscapes: Saudi Design Week
SPATIAL DESIGN | WORKSHOP
How does sound affect the way you experience a city? In a rapidly changing city, what is the value of public space in helping negotiate the old and new urban fabric?
In our first international project, we set out to look at how to navigate the city through our senses. As part of the 2019 Saudi Design week, we curated a programme of events that focussed particularly on sounds and story telling in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.
OVERVIEW
Team: Migrant’s Bureau & Eidectic Collective
Build & Programme: Temporary
Status: Completed
Client: British Council UK & Saudi
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
ROLE
Saudi Design Week | 2019
Pavillion & Dyeing workshop
MB & Eidetic worked in close contact with British Council UK, British Council KSA and Saudi Design Week to develop the project, participating at regular design meetings, coordinating with the local team regarding materials supply and structure details, creating an installation and workshop programme. During the Dyeing workshop, we engaged with local Architecture & Design students & young professionals, who were very keen to learn about the design process behind the pavilion and learn about our Practice approach.
We explored the old ‘souk’ district. Participants were invited to explore and record the local soundscapes as they were guided around the bustling markets. Using sounds of the old and new, we looked at how the sounds of the city have changed over time.
Resulting in a small collection of sound collages, the workshops were based on identifying and recreating spaces that we socialise, play, read and connect in.
Workshops
Thank you to our team, including those that came to volunteer!
The project enabled a week’s programme culminated in a woman-centered panel discussion with local artists and collaborators centred around the negotiation of Riyadh’s old and new identities, its public space and the future of public space in an increasingly digitised world.