News > [Workshop] Making Earth Into Architecture (Mabiti, 16-17 december)

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and the French Agency for AlUla Development (Afalula) launched a pilot residency  program in November 2021. This pilot edition, operated by Manifesto, is an 11-week residency gathering six artists from Saudi Arabia, the region, and the world.
Their research and work will focus on the oasis, one of AlUla’s most prominent landscapes, and the first stop in “A Journey Through Time.” The residency program is based on collaborations between resident artists, and technical and scientific experts. A regular public program will be organized in AlUla in collaboration with the artists, the experts, and the local community.

Date: Thursday 16 December 2021
Time: 9 AM to 12 PM
Location: Mabiti AlUla

As part of the AlUla Art Residency program and in collaboration with CRAterre, you are invited to join a workshop on earthen architecture at Mabiti AlUla.
During the workshop, participants will examine various types of local soil sourced from different quarries in AlUla. Participants will be encouraged to play with granular compositions, plasticity, colors, textures, and finishes, as a way of exploring the material and its creative potential, while also sharing their first impressions amongst the group.
They will also have time to ask specific questions and request feedback from the CRAterre facilitators on the properties of soil, how they  can use it in their own artworks or designs, how it acts and changes over time, and so on.

The workshop will be led by Anis Saoudi and Nuria Munoz, architects and urbanists specialized in earthen architecture at CRAterre.
This workshop is free of charge and open to artists, artisans, and designers. It will be conducted in English and in Arabic. Fifteen spots are available for this workshop. Light refreshments will be served.

Please register by 5 PM on 15 December at the latest by email or by phone.
Contact Anis Saoudi at +966509135083 and/or anissaoudi06310@gmail.com

Session 1: Thursday 16 December 2021 (3 PM - 6 PM)
Session 2: Friday 17 December 2021 (9 AM - 12 PM)
Session 3: Friday 17 December 2021 (3 PM - 6 PM)
Location: Mabiti AlUla

For the second edition of our “Making Earth Into Architecture” workshops, participants are invited to (re)discover the soil of AlUla, an undervalued and rich component of local architectural heritage. It is potentially usable for the development of ecological building materials adapted to our current lifestyles. Facilitators from the CRAterre team will introduce the fundamental characteristics of AlUla's soil and will invite participants to make plasters and raw earth bricks and thus imagine new possible construction techniques, between tradition and modernity.

The first edition of the workshops took place in AlUla’s Old Town in April 2021 and was an initiation to the traditional earthen architecture. This new edition is part of AlUla Art Residency and will create a dialogue between creativity and sustainability.

The workshops will be led by Anis Saoudi and Nuria Munoz, architects and urbanists specialized in earthen architecture at CRAterre with the support of workshop monitors (activity leaders trained in local earthen techniques during the first session in April).

The workshops are free of charge and open to all.
Participants do not need to bring any tools with them. The workshops will be conducted in English and in Arabic. Light refreshments will be served.

For further information, contact Anis Saoudi at +966509135083 and/or anissaoudi06310@gmail.com