The Pavilion of the Western Sahara represents the first time ever, that a nation- in-exile is represented with a pavilion at the Biennale Architettura di Venezia. It isthe outcome of a collaboration between the architect Manuel Herz, the National Union of Sahrawi Women, and the photographer Iwan Baan. Following the leitmotif of the 15th Architecture Biennale of Venice, entitled ‘Reporting from the Front’, the contribution is literally a report from a front line, namely from the border zone of the Western Sahara, Algeria and Morocco.

It documents the urban and architectural production of the Saharawi refugees that have lived for the last forty years in refugee camps in south-western Algeria. Unable to inhabit their own country, that remains occupied by Morocco, the Sahrawis have established a nation-in-exile in the camps, with a rich architectural oeuvre.The refugees are using the camps as a place of social transformation and emancipation, where they are practicing and anticipating to govern themselves.

The contribution to theVenice Biennale also aims at using the - at times contested - concept of the ‘National Pavilion’ as an instrument to bring the Western Sahara on eye level with the other nations represented at the Biennale, while also allowing for novel ideas for the nation state to enter the debate. At a time, when the topic of refugees is dominating the news of today’s media,and the Western world is at odds how to deal with this dynamics, a contribution that brings in a new perspective of refugees as self-determining and sovereign individuals through architecture, is more than crucial and shows the relevance of our discipline of architecture and urbanism. 

Team:
Architect: Manuel Herz Architects
Photography: Iwan Baan