In the this episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast, Emirati architect and co-founder of Holesum Studio, Azza Aboualam discusses her curation of Pressure Cooker, the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates' 2025 contribution to the 19th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. 

Pressure Cooker examines the UAE’s evolving relationship with food production, focusing on how architectural interventions that synthesize indigenous and contemporary knowledges can address food security in one of the world’s most arid regions. Azza frames the exhibition as a response to the UAE’s unique environmental, cultural and social challenges, whilst responding to the specific, situated realities of everyday life in the UAE. But, might well you ask, if the spatiality of food is global, should not Pressure Cooker speak beyond borders? Well, spoiler alert, it does. 

Azza can be found at work here and on LinkedIn here. The exhibition is linked above. 

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Music credits: ⁠Bruno Gillick