The Fold: The National Pavilion of Pakistan 16th International Architecture Exhibition
La Biennale di Venezia 2018
Edited by Durreshahwar Alvi
Ushba Publishing International
ISBN: 978-969-9154-57-7
119pp.

When Pakistan’s creative minds step on to the global stage and succeed, it instils a shared sense of pride among the nation’s people. The book, The Fold, is a beautifully produced record of Pakistan’s first-ever National Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, and captures one such momentous achievement in the field of architectural design.

This visually striking and intellectually stimulating book serves as more than just a documentation of the pavilion — it elevates the design accomplishment into the realm of permanence through print. Not only does it commemorate the physical creation of the pavilion, but it also preserves the motivation, processes and ideas that brought it to life. As a result, The Fold becomes an iconic coffee-table book, simultaneously rich in content, aesthetics and cultural relevance.

Veteran planner, architect and social guru Arif Hasan, a figure renowned for his deep understanding of urban dynamics, provides a foreword that lends further depth to the publication. His reflections add both vitality and clarity, reinforcing the project’s significance.

At its core, The Fold was conceived by a team, comprising architects from Coalesce Design Studio and the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi. Their pavilion interpreted the Biennale’s theme, Freespace, through the lens of Karachi’s urban struggles — a megacity grappling with stark inequalities.

A visually striking coffee-table book that delves into the broader socio-political implications of architectural design through the lens of Karachi’s urban struggles

The design explores the tension between the affluent and the urban poor in Karachi, where public space is increasingly contested, and claimed by both neoliberal economic forces and those fighting for communal access. In such environments, informal settlements flourish, but so does the conflict between preserving open spaces and exploiting them for densification and profit.

The book eloquently captures these realities, not just through a discussion of architectural design, but by delving into the broader socio-political implications. It portrays the cyclical nature of conflict, resilience and adaptation, offering hope for a more equitable urban future.

Defining Freespace

One of the most poignant examples of Freespace explored in the book is Karachi’s Clifton Beach — a vast, liberating expanse that offers respite to the city’s inhabitants across social divides. The beach is one of the few accessible public spaces left in a city that has been increasingly monetised. Yet, as the book provocatively questions, does this freedom truly exist for everyone, or is it an illusion — one that excludes as much as it includes?

Policies and actions subtly draw an invisible line, making the simple act of eating and drinking increasingly costly. What may seem improved or more exclusive, for some, strips away its essence as a truly public space — a free space. Was it, perhaps, just the illusion of free space for some while others faced harsh exclusion? This raises a critical question: can the concept of free space be better understood by its very absence?

This exploration of Freespace challenges the reader to think beyond physicality. The presence of Freespace becomes inseparable from the presence of conflict, and as the book suggests, only by understanding this conflict can we truly grasp the concept of free space.

The unavoidable conflict

Conflict is as ancient as life itself. The evolution of living systems arose from their inherent ability to sustain themselves. Survival, for our species and all others, has always depended on adaptation and evolution in the face of conflict.

In its examination of urban life, The Fold contextualises conflict as an inherent and necessary force. Human settlements, especially those as dense as Karachi’s informal communities, are arenas of constant negotiation. The text vividly describes how, within these spaces, every group must carve out its place, balancing survival with the need for harmony.

Axes and play

Human settlements are bursting with activity — dense settlements exude an energy, as every user group finds its own time to occupy and appropriate the limited available space. These characteristics indicate different axes of movement. Finding a space to survive and thrive requires conflict resolution. Resolving conflicts to co-exist demands resilience.

The metaphor of ‘play’ emerged from this. Play requires resilience to resolve conflict and achieve harmony. Play is used to resolve a more serious concern, that is a lack of space and how to navigate it.

The metaphor of play emerges as a key concept — play as an essential means of navigating limited space, fostering resilience and resolving conflicts. This playful approach offers a poignant reflection on how communities adapt and persist within the constraints of their environment.

The fold: A design philosophy

The Fold’s conceptual heart lies in its profound understanding of Karachi’s urban density. The design journey involved mapping the city’s settlements and analysing the shifting dynamics of movement and interaction within them. Moving from Point ‘A’ to Point ‘B’, one becomes more aware of being an outsider. Ethnic and political unrest of the city flash by, as one unexpectedly finds oneself at Point ‘B’.

The activities now determine the street instead of the buildings. The people and their relationship become the central reference of this space. The building structures have a distant presence in the background.

The idea of The Fold — a boundary that delineates activity from passivity — was inspired by these experiences, culminating in a structure that echoed both the vibrancy and the hardships of the city’s informal settlements.

A pavilion that speaks

Ultimately, Pakistan’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale became a celebration of the spirit embedded in Karachi’s urban fabric — a spirit that thrives despite limited resources and extreme hardship. The pavilion drew attention to the resilience of the city’s inhabitants, whose daily lives reflect their ability to persist amid socio-economic inequalities.

In its unfolding layers, the pavilion became a space where the generosity of community coexists with the harsh realities of urban life. It reflected the resilience of the people against the failure of the state to address the widening socio-economic inequalities and spatial disparities that now typify Karachi and other so-called world-class cities of South Asia.

Located in the Gardens of Marinaresse along Venice’s Riva dei Sette Martiri, the pavilion welcomed visitors from May to November 2018. It stood as a testament to how architectural design can not only reflect social conditions, but also actively engage with them.

A beautifully crafted work

The accompanying book does justice to this monumental project. From its expertly curated content to its stunning visuals — photos, diagrams, plans and renderings — The Fold offers a comprehensive exploration of the design process and its larger implications.

It stands as a testament to the vision of the pavilion’s creators and sponsors, serves as an equally pleasurable compendium to the realities of conceiving, compiling and constructing a contemporary feature.

In short, The Fold is a must-read for anyone interested in architecture, urban design, and the complex social realities of our rapidly changing world.

The reviewer is a Karachi-based architect, urban designer, and author of two books. He can be reached at mukhtar.husain@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, September 8th, 2024