Cooking Sections, 2019
Sharjah Architecture Triennial
Installation
Stereotypical Western representations of desert regions commonly depict them as dead or empty landscapes—impossible to contain, with little vegetation and water, suitable only for secret tests. In response, Becoming Xerophile (from the Greek terms xēros, meaning “dry,” and philos, meaning “loving”) proposes that we appreciate plants that thrive in dry areas. Reimagining the role of desert plants, and challenging the idea of the desert as a bare landscape, Becoming Xerophile is a live test that lasts for the duration of the Triennial, with a view toward developing a new model for non-irrigated urban gardens in Sharjah and other cities in arid environments.
A new topography has been carved outside the former Al-Qasimiyah School. Nine sand bowls create a series of microclimates to enable “watering without water” based on ancient techniques of cultivation. The landscaping makes use of local soil and rubble from the school’s renovation. The garden is planted with over forty desert plant species that are not necessarily considered as “ornamental”—but have been used for centuries by people living with the desert. Through their materiality, shading, depth, and positioning, the sand bowls optimise air humidity and moisture seepage from the water table. The conditions of the trees inside and outside the sand bowls is sensed and monitored to understand the role of solar radiation, soil moisture, and wind speed in reducing water stress.
A CLIMAVORE food menu, questioning how we eat as humans change climates, accompanying the installation is available. It is based on edible desert plants that grow with little or no irrigation, as well as salt-tolerant species from the Gulf region.
