Beyti Beytak. My Home is Your Home. La mia casa è la tua casa

Commissioner: Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson, Qatar Museums / Curators: Aurélien Lemonier, Art Mill Museum Curator of Architecture, Design, and Gardens, and Sean Anderson, Associate Professor at Cornell University, assisted by Virgile Alexandre / Location: Giardini and ACP-Palazzo Franchetti. 

For the 19th International Architecture Exhibition—The Venice Biennale, the Qatar Pavilion presents Beyti Beytak. My Home is Your Home. La mia casa è la tua casa, produced by Qatar Museums and organized by the future Art Mill Museum, featuring an installation in the Giardini della Biennale and a presentation at the ACP-Palazzo Franchetti. The 19th International Architecture Exhibition marks the first official participation of Qatar. The presentation at the ACP-Palazzo Franchetti is organized with the support of ACP Art Capital Partners. 

Beyti Beytak explores how forms of hospitality are embodied in the architecture and urban landscapes of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA). Beyti Beytak also examines how contemporary architecture responds to community needs and reimagines a sense of belonging.

Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Commissioner of the Qatar Pavilion and Chairperson of Qatar Museums said, “The exhibition Beyti Beytak demonstrates the commitment of Qatar Museums to amplify the voices of leading modern and contemporary creatives from the Arab world and neighbouring regions. This exhibition not only highlights the profound contributions of MENASA architects to global architecture but also reflects our shared values of hospitality, community, and belonging. As we continue to shape a cultural landscape of dialogue and exchange, this exhibition serves as a testament to Qatar’s role in advancing cultural diplomacy and fostering a deeper understanding of our diverse architectural heritage.”

In the Giardini, on the site of the future Qatar Pavilion, Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari’s Community Centre (2024) showcases Lari’s humanitarian, social, cultural, and architectural development model. The temporary installation, a bamboo structure, uses techniques that were deployed by the architect as part of relief efforts prompted by the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, an organisation she co-founded in 1980. The foundation continues to establish shelters and villages for those suffering from a devastating earthquake and repeated flooding in Pakistan. The design of the Community Centre—including a perimeter veranda and dome structure topped with a waterproof palm frond roof—highlights the adaptability of bamboo, used to construct the entire centre through varied structural assemblies. Events inside the Community Centre throughout the duration of the Biennale Architettura 2025 will focus on traditional Qatari forms of welcome, including the serving of coffee and dates.

At ACP-Palazzo Franchetti, the exhibition will present the work of more than 30 architects, including several who have not previously shown in Venice. Examining three generations of architects that have worked in the MENASA region, the exhibition features drawings, photographs, models, and important archival documentation. Through these materials, Beyti Beytak will explore interconnected themes of community and belonging, organised into sections dedicated to the reinvention of the oasis, city housing, community centres, mosques, museums, and gardens. A section is also devoted to the architecture and urbanism of Doha, which includes several doors from the old city that have been restored with the support of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Beyti Beytak reflects on the legacy of pioneering Egyptian architect and urbanist Hassan Fathy, whose work promoted social engagement while embracing vernacular forms, techniques, and materials.

The exhibition’s design, conceived by Cookies, a Paris- and Rotterdam-based architecture studio formed by Federico Martelli, Clément Périssé and Alice Grégoire, explores the spatial possibilities of mesh, a ubiquitous architectural element found in many cultures around the world. Referred to as “mashrabiya” in the Arab world, but also known as “claustra,” “cobogo,” “roshan,” “şanşol,” “jali,” “aggasi,” “takrima,” and “mushabek” in other regions, it is incorporated into the exhibition architecture as a display device, creating transparencies, partitions, and relationships between the content and themes in the show.

The Beyti Beytak scientific committee is composed of Catherine Grenier, Ibrahim Jaidah, Yasmeen Lari, Hafid Rakem, and Raj Rewal.

Participating architects
AAU ANASTAS (France, Palestine), Ateliers Jean Nouvel (France), Leopold Banchini Architects (Switzerland), Geoffrey Bawa (Sri Lanka), Rifat Chadirji (Iraq), Aziza Chaouni Projects (Morocco), Charles Correa (India), DAAZ Studio (Iran), Minnette de Silva (Sri Lanka), Sumaya Dabbagh (Saudi Arabia), Nayyar Ali Dada (Pakistan), Michel Desvigne (France), Diller Scofidio + Renfro (USA), Michel Écochard (France), Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil (Egypt), Hassan Fathy (Egypt), Nabil Haque (Bangladesh), Rizvi Hassan and Khwaja Fatmi (Bangladesh), Róisín Heneghan and Shih-Fu Peng (Ireland; Germany), Ibrahim Jaidah (Qatar), Sumedha Kelegama, Irushi Tennekoon, Sumudu Athukorala (Sri Lanka), Yasmeen Lari/Heritage Foundation of Pakistan (Pakistan), Salima Naji (Morocco), New South (Meriem Chabani) & sOne (France), Office for Metropolitan Architecture (Netherlands), Sameep Padora [sP+A] (India), André Ravéreau (France), Raj Rewal (India), Noura Al Sayeh (Bahrain), Abeer Seikaly (Jordan), Ahmed Hossam Saafan (Egypt), Balkrishna Doshi, Vastu-Shilpa Foundation (India), Marina Tabassum (Bangladesh), Jean-François Zevaco (Morocco), Ola Saad Znad (Iraq)

About Qatar Museums
Now marking its 20th anniversary, Qatar Museums (QM) is the nation’s preeminent institution for art and culture, providing authentic and inspiring cultural experiences through a growing network of museums, heritage sites, festivals, public art installations, and programmes. QM preserves and expands the nation’s cultural offerings, sharing art and culture from Qatar and the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA) region with the world and enriching the lives of citizens, residents, and visitors.

Under the patronage of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and led by its Chairperson, Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, QM has made Qatar a vibrant centre for the arts, culture, and education in the Middle East and beyond. Since its founding in 2005, QM has overseen the development of museums and festivals including the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and MIA Park, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Qatar (NMOQ), 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, QM Gallery Al Riwaq, QM Gallery Katara, and Design Doha. Future projects include Art Mill Museum, Lusail Museum, Dadu: Children’s Museum of Qatar, and Qatar Auto Museum. Through its Creative Hub, QM also initiates and supports projects—such as the Fire Station Artist in Residence, the Tasweer Qatar Photo Festival, M7, the creative hub for innovation, fashion and design, and Liwan Design Studios and Labs—that nurture artistic talent and create opportunities to build a strong and sustainable cultural infrastructure. Animating everything that Qatar Museums does is an authentic connection to Qatar and its heritage, a steadfast commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, and a belief in creating value through invention. For more information visit here.

About the Art Mill Museum
Completing a cultural district that already comprises the Museum of Islamic Art, MIA Park and the National Museum of Qatar, the Art Mill Museum is designed by ELEMENTAL, led by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena. A signature public garden is designed by VOGT Landscape Architects, led by Günther Vogt. A creative village for arts, crafts and design will provide recreational, learning and production resources for the general public and for the creative communities of Qatar and beyond. The future Art Mill Museum will house an exceptional and international art collection assembled over the past 40 years, with multidisciplinary works of great diversity dating from 1850 to the present. In a main building of 80,000 square meters (including 23,000 square meters of gallery spaces), the Art Mill Museum will offer visual art icons as well as architecture and design, films and film props, fashion, crafts, and much more. A pioneering institution in the non-Western world, it will represent the modern and contemporary arts of all regions of the globe on an equal basis, engaging local and international audiences alike through multiple narratives of art history. The museum concept has been developed by art historian and museum director Catherine Grenier and the prefiguration team. 

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