How did Sha’abi houses improve the quality of life? Emiratis show the way in Venice

The 15th International Architecture Exhibition at Venice Biennale to focus on how the basic model in the 1970s was adapted and individualised, reflecting culture and changing lifestyles

A Sha’abi house built for Emiratis in Al Ain in the 1970s. Delores Johnson / The National

About the time of UAE’s unification in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most people in Abu Dhabi lived in palm-frond, or arish, houses – single-storey shelters with basic amenities.

Thanks to a move by the newly formed government to provide national homes, Sha’abi houses were built throughout the 1970s and 1980s to offer permanence and modern conveniences to a previously transient local population.

Built mostly as concrete, single-storey houses, with designs inspired by the arish architecture they replaced, they followed a standard Gulf housing tradition and were composed of a series of rooms overlooking a central square courtyard. However, the design was highly adaptable, and over the years, as oil revenues transformed the country’s economy, the houses were renovated and redesigned accordingly.

Many still exist all over the country, although some are almost unrecognisable from their original design.

For the 15th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia, Yasser Elsheshtawy, curator of the UAE National Pavilion, has chosen to present examples of how such structures can improve the quality of life, with a focus on how the basic 1970s model was adapted and individualised, reflecting culture and changing lifestyles.