The United Arab Emirates has appointed Dalia Hamati, a Sharjah-born architect and assistant professor at the American University of Sharjah, as curator of its national pavilion for the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale, running from May 8 to November 21. She was selected through an open call for proposals.
The UAE's permanent pavilion, housed in the Sale d'Armi at the Arsenale, will explore how water has historically shaped Emirati communities and how traditional hydrocultural knowledge can inform climate-responsive design as the world warms. Hamati studied at the University of Bath and Columbia University and previously worked at Ennead Architects in New York before establishing her own independent practice in Dubai.
Describing her approach, Hamati said the UAE holds unique water-based models, some centuries or even millennia old, that can inform future innovation in architecture and urban design. The exhibition will draw on traditional Emirati building techniques, including wind towers, palm-frond arish structures, and densely clustered settlements that developed climate-intelligent principles long before the term existed.
The pavilion is commissioned by the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation with support from the UAE's Ministry of Culture. The exhibition's final title and design are still being developed, with further details expected in January 2027.
The UAE has built a consistent presence at the Venice Architecture Biennale in recent editions, using the platform to position itself as an active voice in global conversations on architecture, heritage and sustainability. Hamati's pavilion will mark another chapter in that ongoing engagement, this time centring water as both a historical resource and a design lens for the future.