AlMusalla Prize collateral event at the 19th International Venice Architecture Biennale
May 10–November 23, 2025
Venice 30123
Italy
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation presents Rooted Transience, an exhibition showcasing the winning design for the inaugural AlMusalla Prize 2025 at the Abbazia Di San Gregorio as a Collateral Event of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Curated by Faysal Tabbarah, the exhibition examines the typology of musallas—temporary prayer spaces that can materialize wherever they are needed—and the architectural possibilities that emerge when we learn from material practices rooted in transience and adaptability.
Rooted Transience highlights the multivalent natures of musalla spaces. Specifically, the exhibition explores the entangled relationships between the historical, material, and contemporary registers within which musalla spaces emerge. The exhibition includes full-scale fragments of the AlMusalla Prize’s winning design by EAST Architecture Studio in collaboration with artist Rayyane Tabet and engineering firm AKT II and, alongside works from shortlisted firms AAU Anastas, Asif Khan, Dabbagh Architects, and Office of Sahel AlHiyari for Architecture. The projects are presented alongside a series of archival images and documents related to the architectural history of musallas, placing the contemporary work in dialogue with historical spatial practices in Islamic societies.
Launched by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the 2025 AlMusalla Prize was first presented at the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah in January 2025. Titled On Weaving, the winning design features a central courtyard surrounded by a prayer hall and celebrates the Saudi date palm tree by utilizing its waste as the primary building material. Palm fronds are introduced as alternatives to a column-and-beam structure, and palm fibers form a façade inspired by traditional techniques of weaving that envelops the entire pavilion.
Prince Nawaf bin Ayyaf, jury chair of the AlMusalla Prize: “Venice has long been a crossroads of cultural exchange, making it the perfect setting to dive deeper into how the untapped architectural typology of a musalla can contribute to contemporary discourse around sustainable and adaptable architecture. By bringing fragments of the AlMusalla Prize from Jeddah to Venice, we are hoping to demonstrate how traditional architectural practices relying on sustainability, impermanence, and flexibility can generate fresh ideas and solutions for tomorrow.”
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication focused on the transient nature of musalla spaces, which will be co-edited by Prince Nawaf Bin Ayyaf and Faysal Tabbara and published by KAPH.
About the Almusalla Prize
The AlMusalla Prize is an international architecture competition for designing modular spaces for prayer and contemplation, open to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the prize celebrates innovative architectural practices while honoring Islamic cultural traditions. The inaugural edition of the AlMusalla Prize 2025 featured a jury of Ali Malkawi, Azra Aksamija, Farrokh Derakhshani, Lina Ghotmeh, and Prince Nawaf Bin Ayyaf as jury chair. Shortlisted architects for this edition included AAU Anastas, Asif Khan, Dabbagh Architects, Office of Sahel AlHiyari for Architecture, and EAST Architecture Studio as winners for this inaugural edition.
Press contact
For press inquiries, please contact mediaqueries@biennale.org.sa.
