Abwab, meaning 'doors' in Arabic, is a programme that supports practitioners from across West, South and East Asia, as well as the African continent, through the commissioning of pavilions that are thematically remodelled each year to reflect timely global and regional contexts.

To date, over 180 designers from across the region have participated in Abwab, representing a range of countries including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the UAE.

2025 Theme

This year’s theme, ‘In the Details’, invites designers, architects, researchers, archivists and all creative practitioners from across West, South and East Asia, as well as the African continent to explore ornamental details - drawing from architectural research, textiles, applied surfaces and narrative-driven aesthetics. Proposals were invited to explore ornament as a primary language that transforms detail into immersive spatial experiences, while engaging historical forms, motifs and textures through design.

2025 Winner

This year's commission Stories of the Isle and the Inlet, is by Maraj, a Bahrain based architecture and design platform dedicated to research, education and practice, founded by Latifa Alkhayat and Maryam Aljomairi.

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The winning installation, Stories of the Isle and the Inlet, explores the ecological and cultural layers of Nabih Saleh, a Bahraini island located between Tubli’s wetlands and Sitra’s industrial zone. Combining ornament and oral histories, ’Stories of the Isle and the Inlet’ reflects on a disappearing ecology while raising awareness of environmental preservation and cultural memory.

Sourcing materials from Bahrain and working with local artisans, embroiderers and tailors, the work documents the island’s spatial story through a textile enclosure with embroidered depictions of the island’s flora, fauna and surrounding waters of Tubli Bay. Made from layered embroidered mesh textiles inspired by thob al nashil, the installation highlights native species and ecosystems. It builds upon conventional architectural notions of rhythm, composition, and proportion through an ornamental language inspired by the flora and fauna of the water body and land.