This interactive installation explored the courtyard as a space for talks, screenings and performances.

Some Kind of Practice’s installation titled When Does a Courtyard Become a Threshold? moved beyond a static display, transforming into an active space that hosted talks, screenings and performances centred on storytelling, folktales and oral histories across multiple mediums.

The full programme schedule was as follows:

Immersive Soundscapes by Safeya Alblooshi
An experimental sound installation that transformed the built structure into a resonant instrument. Using transducers, it transmitted layered field recordings from across the Emirates: from craft and domestic sounds to traditional performances, creating a four-track sonic portrait of place and memory.
Dates: Tuesday, November 4; Wednesday, November 5; Sunday, November 9
Time: 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM on November 4 and 5, 6:00 PM on November 9

Lecture by Hasan Hujairi
Date: Tuesday, November 4
Time: 7:00 PM

Some Kind of Practice's Edible Library by ballad
A research-driven tasting and material display that merged architecture, food and sensory exploration. Conceived by Moza Almatrooshi’s studio, ballad, the installation featured ingredients, samples and printed materials that linked what is built with what is grown, inviting participants to observe, smell and engage through edible narratives rooted in local landscapes.
Dates: Thursday, November 6; Friday, November 7
Time: 6:00 PM

Lecture by Prof. Kevin Mitchell on Courtyards
A lecture examining the evolution and definition of the courtyard, analysing the shift away from traditional models and assessing its continuing relevance in contemporary architectural design.
Date: Thursday, November 6
Time: 8:00 PM

Architectural Interventions as Public Art: A Dubai Public Art (DPA) Talk by X Architects
This session examined built interventions in public space that went beyond utility, exploring how design could shape social interaction, memory and civic imagination. X-Architects discussed strategies for embedding narrative, cultural context and participatory engagement into the public realm, turning structures into living, meaningful sites of encounter.
Date: Thursday, November 6
Time: 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Lecture by Omar Darwish & Abdulla Abbas
Date: Friday, November 7
Time: 5:00 PM

The Future of Gulf Housing: Reflections & Propositions Book Launch
A multidisciplinary project bringing together artists, photographers, writers, historians, architects and planners from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Edited by Kevin Mitchell, Rashed AlMulla and Salem AlSuwaidi, the work examined housing and neighbourhoods across the Gulf, offering insight into how domestic spaces were conceived and experienced.
Date: Friday, November 7
Time: 8:00 PM

Film Screening by Hams Al Juthoor
Date: Saturday, November 8
Time: 5:00 PM

Film Screening: Heaven and the Afternoon Stars by Reem Al Beshr (2023)
An auto-ethnographic short film by Reem Al Beshr in which the filmmaker’s conversations with her youngest siblings transformed the Emirati mythical creature, the “Nap Time Donkey,” into a reflective meditation on Gulf childhood and the afterlife.
Date: Saturday, November 8
Time: 7:00 PM

The Housh as the Playground: The Imaginative Worlds of Emirati Childhood Play, by Hoor Al Nuaimi
This bilingual activation revisited Emirati childhood games as acts of imagination and collective creativity. Through recollection, listening and writing, participants explored how children once built worlds from rhythm, sound and gesture, culminating in the creation of a living archive of Emirati play traditions.
Date: Sunday, November 9
Time: 5:00 PM

About Some Kind of Practice:

Founded in 2022 by Omar Darwish and co-led since 2025 with Abdulla Abbas, Some Kind of Practice is a UAE-based design and research studio that explores architecture and spatial design beyond conventional frameworks. Its projects sit at the intersection of architecture, public programming and cultural inquiry guided by processes of field research, archival engagement and collaboration. From built interventions to curatorial projects and educational initiatives, the practice seeks to uncover the informal patterns that shape how people live, gather and remember. Through its work, the studio defines design as collective inquiry – one that listens, responds and creates with sensitivity to place, memory and community.