
Pakistan's highlights climate change at Venice architecture exhibit
As per a press release, Pakistan continues to occupy a paradoxical and precarious position along with many other countries of the Global South. Despite contributing less than one percent to global carbon emissions, the South Asian country bears the disproportionate weight of climate-induced disasters ranging from rising temperatures to melting glaciers, intense downpours to savage floods, unusually low precipitation to severe droughts, heatwaves to wildfires. The 2022 floods alone affected over 30 million people across the country, resulting in a dramatic loss of human life, livestock, crops, infrastructure, and land, while further straining an already strained economy.
(Fr)Agile Systems not only highlights the severity of Pakistan's vulnerability to climate-induced disasters, but also serves as a reminder of the stark inequity of the climate crisis—one that keeps weighing down hardest on regions that have historically had the least to do with causing it. In the presence of such severity and inequity, it also reiterates the imperative to rethink climate resilience as an adaptation process attuned to the asymmetries and imbalances of an interconnected world.
At the heart of the Pavilion is rock salt — a material deeply rooted in Pakistan's geological and
cultural heritage. Concentrated in large quantities in the Northern Punjab region of the country,
Pakistani rock salt embodies a temporal depth formed over hundreds of millions of years. With its rather distinct pink hue and unmatched purity, it also embodies aesthetic and spiritual values besides lending itself to other uses.
Here in the ambient humidity of Venice, however, it serves a different purpose. By constantly dissolving, rehardening, and reshaping itself, it becomes a powerful metaphor, reflecting on the one hand the adaptive and enduring qualities inherent in natural elements and processes, and on the other the vulnerability of natural systems and cycles
under the strain of profit-driven human activities. In other words, it reflects both agility and fragility.
This phenomenon, where an indigenous material is brought into an unfamiliar environment and subjected to conditions that alter its very nature, also suggests that climate resilience does not rest in universal solutions dictated by regions primarily responsible for the climate crisis, but in localised and nature-based acts of adaptation that resist colonial and capitalist structures of extraction and exploitation.
Inside the Pavilion, a suspended structure, both fragile and agile, dominates and articulates the front space, holding the rock salt in a rather complex system that through its asymmetry and imbalance recalls the paradoxes, precarities, and inequities of the climate crisis, while urging a more proactive, equitable, and locally-led response. This central installation is lined by a series of maps that explore Pakistan's climate crisis through the interplay of geology, resilience, and vulnerability. Titled Mapping Pakistan's Fragility and comprising 12 copper-etched plates with colour overlays, the series presents the profound impacts of climate change on Pakistan's diverse landscapes.
At once a reflection and a call to action, the Pavilion also envisions a future in which architecture takes a radical turn and becomes deeply re-rooted in cultural heritage and critically re-engaged with ecological realities. It is here that we invite visitors to a place we imagine — a place embedded in a mountain range that extends from a plateau to a river in Pakistan's Punjab province, a quiet place that speaks loudly for change in how we design and build as architects.
In addition, the Pavilion presents a pamphlet titled Climate Inequity: A Closer Look that offers a more detailed study of global climate inequity by tallying the historical carbon footprints of the Global North and the Global South. The Pavilion also presents a framework titled Decolonsing Design: Toward Mutualist Practice that calls on architects to conscientiously value and support diversity, locality, and interdependence in architecture.
Organised by Coalesce Design Studio (Karachi) and MAS/Architects (Lahore), the Pavilion is curated by Anique Azhar (MAS/Architects), Sami Chohan (Studio 4Pai; Navigating Noplace; GCAS-Jehan), Salman Jawed (Coalesce Design Studio), Bilal Kapadia (Coalesce Design Studio), Mustafa Mehdi (Coalesce Design Studio), Madeeha Merchant (DOT; Urban Justice League; Columbia University), Arsalan Rafique (The Urban Research Frontier; Revolving Games), and Ayesha Sarfraz (MAS/Architects; Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture).
The Pavilion is housed in Spazio 996/A, a gallery space managed by Exhibition Care and situated between the key entrances of the Biennale.
Have something to add? Share it in the comments below.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Express Tribune
24-06-2025
- Express Tribune
A flexible approach to World Environment Day
Listen to article Every year on June 5, people worldwide observe World Environment Day. It's a crucial reminder that we must protect our surroundings, or face severe consequences like higher medical costs, reduced productivity, increased poverty and societal decline. While many awareness campaigns by governments and NGOs are largely superficial, a small part of society genuinely participates with limited resources. In contrast, wealthier groups often spend significantly to lead commemorative efforts, leveraging their financial power. Notably, over the past twenty years, there's been almost a tenfold increase in social engagement on this day. This resurgence echoes the original environmental pledge made in the early 1970s, which aimed to renew humanity's commitment to protecting and conserving our environment. When the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established this day for global environmental commemoration, climate change was only just emerging. At that time, temperatures in the Global South weren't as extreme as they are today, especially for the large populations already living with limited resources. In June, many southern South Asian cities now experience temperatures consistently above 40 degrees Celsius. Consequently, most awareness activities for this day are held indoors. Those who can't afford air conditioning must rely on fans, bearing the brunt of their marginalised status. In contrast, those who can afford air-conditioned venues — often from government or business sectors -— celebrate the day in comfort. In our region of hot climate, the most effective awareness activity for this occasion, tree plantation, faces significant hurdles. The intense heat, even in the early or late hours, makes it quite challenging for participants. Furthermore, summer is far from ideal for planting trees; the monsoon season, which follows shortly after, is much more suitable. For these reasons, we've largely abandoned tree plantation as a commemorative activity. Instead, organisations here have gravitated towards indoor, rhetoric-based activities to raise awareness. These events, often labeled as seminars, workshops, conferences, debates or symposia, are presented to the public as significant awareness-raising efforts. Unfortunately, the focus of these events often strays from their intended purpose. Instead of prioritising insightful and inspirational presentations and speeches, much attention is given to formalities. This includes inviting VIPs as chief guests, serving refreshments and distributing mementos and giveaways. This often leaves the "awareness" aspect taking a backseat to event logistics and ceremonial aspects. A significant hurdle for observing this day in Pakistan, particularly when it comes to tree planting activities, is the start of summer vacation on June 1. This means our most promising target audience — students — are out of reach. No institution can realistically ask students to return solely for this activity after they've been dismissed for their holidays. Beyond students, we lack a community that voluntarily participates in these awareness campaigns. If we resort to forced nominations, such as government or corporate employees, their engagement and attentiveness will likely be low compared to those who willingly participate to learn. In essence, this situation severely limits our ability to both plant trees effectively and involve students to create a wider impact. Both the government and civil society, along with the business sector, largely organise environmental awareness activities for this day. They're doing so without considering the intense heat, which poses a significant risk to both organisers and participants. While those with access to safe transportation might not face many issues commuting for field activities, individuals without good quality conveyance will suffer from the heat, having to travel to venues and meet others under the open sun. Ultimately, the primary goal for the leaders of all these sectors is to demonstrate their environmental commitment to their superiors, competitors, donors and critics, regardless of the challenging conditions. Pakistan has been observing World Environment Day since the late 1980s. Even back then, June was a hot month, yet the suitability of this timing for Pakistan's climate was never really discussed. The main goal, not just in Pakistan but in many donor-dependent developing countries, seems to be to follow Western practices and project an image of environmental awareness. Pakistan's civil society already observes numerous other days dedicated to various important issues, so the odd timing of World Environment Day doesn't get much attention. A few NGOs have, on occasion, floated the idea of proposing a National Environmental Day that aligns with local educational calendars and weather conditions, but this has never progressed beyond a mere suggestion. The environmental civil society sector in Pakistan is relatively small and often works in isolation. As for the government, there's a perceived lack of initiative to develop innovative solutions. Their primary role is often seen as complying with directives rather than initiating "out-of-the-box" thinking. UNEP is our best bet in this situation. If we bring this issue to their attention, they're likely to consider the document that established June 5 as World Environment Day. They just need to make a small change, adding that countries aren't obligated to observe the day exactly on June 5. Instead, they could observe it locally at their convenience. The main goal isn't just to show unity, but to spread environmental awareness globally. The Global South, in particular, needs more outreach, as many people there aren't yet ready to act on environmental messages. If signatories of the Paris Agreement can develop their own contributions to meet their obligations, then a day of such environmental importance should also be flexible for countries to observe according to their unique circumstances.


Express Tribune
24-05-2025
- Express Tribune
Pakistan's highlights climate change at Venice architecture exhibit
At the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Pakistan Pavilion is presenting its installation (Fr)Agile Systems, which seeks to explore the drastic impact of climate change. As per a press release, Pakistan continues to occupy a paradoxical and precarious position along with many other countries of the Global South. Despite contributing less than one percent to global carbon emissions, the South Asian country bears the disproportionate weight of climate-induced disasters ranging from rising temperatures to melting glaciers, intense downpours to savage floods, unusually low precipitation to severe droughts, heatwaves to wildfires. The 2022 floods alone affected over 30 million people across the country, resulting in a dramatic loss of human life, livestock, crops, infrastructure, and land, while further straining an already strained economy. (Fr)Agile Systems not only highlights the severity of Pakistan's vulnerability to climate-induced disasters, but also serves as a reminder of the stark inequity of the climate crisis—one that keeps weighing down hardest on regions that have historically had the least to do with causing it. In the presence of such severity and inequity, it also reiterates the imperative to rethink climate resilience as an adaptation process attuned to the asymmetries and imbalances of an interconnected world. At the heart of the Pavilion is rock salt — a material deeply rooted in Pakistan's geological and cultural heritage. Concentrated in large quantities in the Northern Punjab region of the country, Pakistani rock salt embodies a temporal depth formed over hundreds of millions of years. With its rather distinct pink hue and unmatched purity, it also embodies aesthetic and spiritual values besides lending itself to other uses. Here in the ambient humidity of Venice, however, it serves a different purpose. By constantly dissolving, rehardening, and reshaping itself, it becomes a powerful metaphor, reflecting on the one hand the adaptive and enduring qualities inherent in natural elements and processes, and on the other the vulnerability of natural systems and cycles under the strain of profit-driven human activities. In other words, it reflects both agility and fragility. This phenomenon, where an indigenous material is brought into an unfamiliar environment and subjected to conditions that alter its very nature, also suggests that climate resilience does not rest in universal solutions dictated by regions primarily responsible for the climate crisis, but in localised and nature-based acts of adaptation that resist colonial and capitalist structures of extraction and exploitation. Inside the Pavilion, a suspended structure, both fragile and agile, dominates and articulates the front space, holding the rock salt in a rather complex system that through its asymmetry and imbalance recalls the paradoxes, precarities, and inequities of the climate crisis, while urging a more proactive, equitable, and locally-led response. This central installation is lined by a series of maps that explore Pakistan's climate crisis through the interplay of geology, resilience, and vulnerability. Titled Mapping Pakistan's Fragility and comprising 12 copper-etched plates with colour overlays, the series presents the profound impacts of climate change on Pakistan's diverse landscapes. At once a reflection and a call to action, the Pavilion also envisions a future in which architecture takes a radical turn and becomes deeply re-rooted in cultural heritage and critically re-engaged with ecological realities. It is here that we invite visitors to a place we imagine — a place embedded in a mountain range that extends from a plateau to a river in Pakistan's Punjab province, a quiet place that speaks loudly for change in how we design and build as architects. In addition, the Pavilion presents a pamphlet titled Climate Inequity: A Closer Look that offers a more detailed study of global climate inequity by tallying the historical carbon footprints of the Global North and the Global South. The Pavilion also presents a framework titled Decolonsing Design: Toward Mutualist Practice that calls on architects to conscientiously value and support diversity, locality, and interdependence in architecture. Organised by Coalesce Design Studio (Karachi) and MAS/Architects (Lahore), the Pavilion is curated by Anique Azhar (MAS/Architects), Sami Chohan (Studio 4Pai; Navigating Noplace; GCAS-Jehan), Salman Jawed (Coalesce Design Studio), Bilal Kapadia (Coalesce Design Studio), Mustafa Mehdi (Coalesce Design Studio), Madeeha Merchant (DOT; Urban Justice League; Columbia University), Arsalan Rafique (The Urban Research Frontier; Revolving Games), and Ayesha Sarfraz (MAS/Architects; Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture). The Pavilion is housed in Spazio 996/A, a gallery space managed by Exhibition Care and situated between the key entrances of the Biennale. Have something to add? Share it in the comments below.


Express Tribune
22-04-2025
- Express Tribune
Trainee pilot killed as training aircraft crashes in India's Gujarat state
Listen to article A Indian trainee pilot lost his life on Tuesday after a trainer aircraft belonging to a New Delhi Delhi-based private aviation academy crashed in a residential area near Giriya Road in Amreli district of the South Asian country's Gujarat state. The crash occurred around 12:30 PM and resulted in the aircraft being destroyed by fire. No other injuries were reported. According to Amreli Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kharat, the pilot was flying solo and had taken off from Amreli airport prior to the accident. The cause of the crash remains unknown. 'The aircraft struck a tree before crash-landing in an open plot,' said Kharat. 'The aircraft caught fire after the impact, but fortunately, no one else was injured.' Emergency services, including the local fire brigade, responded quickly to the scene. Fire officer S.C. Gadhvi confirmed that the aircraft's collision with the tree and subsequent fall into an open plot likely prevented greater damage or casualties. Police have initiated the process to register an accidental death case and have begun an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash. The aviation academy involved conducts pilot training from Amreli airport, and the trainee was reported to be undergoing standard flight training. Authorities are continuing to examine the wreckage and reviewing flight records to determine what caused the fatal incident. Further updates are expected as the investigation progresses. Previously an Indian Air Force (IAF) Jaguar fighter aircraft crashed near Suvarda village, approximately 12 kilometres from Jamnagar city in Gujarat. The jet was on a routine training mission when the incident occurred. According to Police , one of the two pilots ejected safely, while a search operation is underway to locate the second pilot. The aircraft caught fire after the crash, and police along with fire personnel rushed to the site to secure the area and begin rescue efforts.