As part of ArchDaily's coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we are presenting a series of articles written by the curators of the exhibitions and installations on show.

Courtesy of NPUAE

As part of ArchDaily's coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we are presenting a series of articles written by the curators of the exhibitions and installations on show.In response to Alejandro Aravena?s Biennale theme ?Reporting from the Front? the UAE National Pavilion, commissioned by the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, and supported by the UAE Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, has chosen as its main theme the transformation of the UAE National house, also known as Sha?abi, or People?s house ? a housing program that was introduced in the UAE in the early 1970s to house what was then a fairly transient population.
Courtesy of NPUAE

One of the most significant aspects of the Sha?abi house is its transformative capability. People moved in and over the years modified this particular model by adding rooms, decorative elements, changing color schemes and doorways, as well as extensive landscaping. The extent of change varied from one city to the next, one neighborhood to the next. Yet the main idea remained, an architecture that people were able to personalize to their needs. As a result it became an expression of their culture and lifestyle. Indeed the specific way in which these houses were designed allowed for such an accretive change. ...