Architects Simón Vélez and Stefana Simic have worked with craftspeople from Colombia, Morocco and Italy to create The Majlis, which recreates a traditional Islamic gathering space from bamboo and handwoven textiles.
The structure is installed in the gardens of the Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice for the 2021 edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale.
It aims to bring wider attention to the global importance of majlis, which feature on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Majlis structure is made from bamboo and hand-woven textiles
In pre-Islamic Arabia, a majlis was a place where people would come together to exchange ideas. They are common among nomadic communities, but could also be a part of the home or a more formal gathering space. "Although the majlis is a reality for many nomadic people across the world, from the Maghreb to Eastern Asia, the name and the meaning of the majlis is unfamiliar to many," said exhibition curator Thierry Morel, "so I thought it was very important to explain the role of the majlis and what happens there."
A majlis is a traditional type of gathering space, typical in nomadic communities
Although a majlis can take many forms, this example features a bamboo structure designed and built in Bogotá, Colombia, and textiles handwoven in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
Bamboo experts Vélez and Simic, who together lead the studio Gigagrass, used their expertise to design a structure with a domed sha...