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Led by Sumayya Vally @sumi_v @time 100Honouree @worldeconomicforum Young Global Leader @biennale_sa 23, Artistic Director @serpentineuk Pavilion 21
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#sumayyavally#counterspace#asiatdarse#paulpandafarnana#congo#vilvoorde#islamicartsbiennale#diriyahbiennalefoundation#awwalbait#jeddah
Recent posts
Leading architect Sumayya Vally, Principal of the Johannesburg/London-based studio Counterspace, has won the competition to design the new Asiat-Darse pedestrian bridge in Vilvoorde, Belgium.
Counterspace’s response to the brief uncovered the story and legacy of Paul Panda Farnana, one of the most important, yet least acknowledged figures of the city, who epitomises the region’s complex relationships with past and future generations of migrant bodies and communities.
Sumayya Vally said: “Vilvoorde is a city celebrated for its diversity. It comprises multiple cultures, identities, and narratives. I was deeply moved to uncover the story of Paul Panda Farnana through our research, which then drove our response to the city’s brief for a pedestrian bridge.
Trained as a horticulturist at the Vilvoorde Horticultural School not far from the site, this project will revive Farnana’s legacy by foregrounding the concept on the species explored in his research, alongside water architectures from the Congo.”
Vally looked to the water architectures of the Congo as one of the starting points to honour this history. Along the Congo River, fleets of dugout canoes are frequently seen docked alongside one another. As a collective, they form a communal platform, from which trading and gathering can take place.
These images form the basis for the proposed Asiat-Darse bridge, itself a place of gathering of travellers, whether commuters or visitors. The bridge is constructed of a series of boats tied together to cross the canal.
Each boat is planted with species from Farnana’s horticultural research, creating gardens for reflection.
Construction is expected to start in April 2024, with a completion date of December 2025.
#AsiatDarse #Counterspace #SumayyaVally #PaulPandaFarnana #Congo #Vilvoorde
06 Jun 2023
“What does it mean to come home, to belong?
Home is how we locate ourselves and as much as it is a physical place, we carry it inside us. As a Muslim, this place Awwal Bait, The First House, is ever present inside me as it is for all Muslims. The Kaaba, the Awwal Bait—The Eternal House, has presence in every Muslim home through our rituals. A Muslim community is one that gathers in faith—sharing pain loss, prayer, celebration, memory and imagination. These ingredients of community, gathering and making home have inspired this first Islamic Arts Biennale and our artists have interpreted these themes in myriad ways. From the scale of seeds in the earth to the celestial. We have collapsed distinctions between contemporary and historic works of art to weave each with a lineage.
Art, architecture and craft give expression to our presence and the power of a biennale of this nature, in this place, to shape a future from these voices, cannot be overstated. I am deeply grateful to the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, to my colleagues and to our incomparable team for your faith in sharing this vision and to our artists who have dreamed its possibilities. It has been an absolute honour to watch this site become home with you. A home we now invite you to.” — Awwal Bait, Artistically Directed by Sumayya Vally
@sumi_v @biennale_sa
Held at Jeddah’s Western Hajj Terminal and runs till April 23.
#IslamicArtsBiennale #DiriyahBiennaleFoundation #AwwalBait #SumayyaVally #Jeddah #Rituals #Community #Gathering
28 Jan 2023
Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena is best known for his innovative social housing solutions that confront problems around rapid urbanisation and inequality. In 2016, he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, the highest accolade in architecture.
South African architect Sumayya Vally challenges conventional Western principles and celebrates the local textures and traditions of her hometown, Johannesburg. In 2021, she became the youngest architect to design London’s Serpentine Pavilion and is the 2023 Artistic Director of the first Islamic Arts Biennale.
In this @aljazeeraenglish episode of @studiobunscripted, Vally and Aravena discuss how architecture is able not only to improve people’s lives but also better reflect who we are.
Tap the link in our bio to watch the full discussion.
#SumayyaVally #Counterspace #StudioBUnscripted #Architecture
22 Jun 2023
Art has been part of my life for many years. Collecting has introduced me to extraordinary artists and ideas, but it has also made me increasingly aware that the real value of art lies in its ability to be shared. This is the vision behind the @eliekhouriartfoundation (EKAF).
My ambition is to create a place where contemporary art can be discovered, experienced and understood by a wider public. A foundation that encourages curiosity, learning and meaningful engagement with the ideas and artistic practices shaping our time.
EKAF will develop its own identity and programme under the leadership of @carolinelouca_ , bringing together exhibitions, institutional collaborations and educational initiatives. Above all, I hope it will become a place where people feel welcome to engage with contemporary art.
Today, I am particularly pleased to announce the appointment of @sumi_v and her practice, @_counterspace ounterspace, to design the Foundation’s future home in Jumeirah, Dubai. Sumayya understands the relationship between architecture and community.
I look forward to seeing this vision take shape and sharing the journey ahead.
11 Nov 2026
Counterspace, led by @sumi_v , has been appointed to design the permanent home of the Elie Khouri Art Foundation @eliekhouriartfoundation in Dubai.
The project, expected to open in late 2028, will transform an existing domestic villa in Jumeirah 1 into a vibrant public space for contemporary art, learning, and cultural exchange. Conceived between the streetscapes of Beirut and the courtyard cosmologies of the Gulf, the design repurposes the intimate domestic memories of the site into a city-facing public vernacular complete with galleries, pavilions, educational spaces, and gardens.
"I think of buildings as having many lives. At EKAF, we begin with a house that has already held a world within it... I am interested in what happens when we take these intimate geometries and give them a new public scale." - Sumayya Vally
11 Nov 2026
Counterspace's @sumi_v joins Hermès (@hermes) Artistic Director Nadège Vanhée for @britishvogue to explore the dialogue between place, craft, and context.
Photographs by Felicity Ingram
Styling by Charlotte Rutter
Written by Mahoro Seward
For the full feature, read via the link in bio.
09 Nov 2026
Structures are built from memory, gesture, and the radical act of gathering.
An architectural model of our AlUla project is currently on view at Beyti Beytak: Architectures of MENASA curated by Sean Anderson and Aurélien Lemonier @artmill_museum
Translating to "my home is your home," Beyti Beytak brings together practice and reflection from across the region to ask what it means to hold space, to honour landscape, and to craft belonging.
Alongside the exhibition, our @tacapaeharvest project is also featured in the accompanying publication, Architectures of MENASA, which documents shifting spatial conditions across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia; to which @sumi_v also contributed a chapter essay on gathering.
Exhibition: Beyti Beytak
Project: AlUla artists dwelling/studio and @tacapaeharvest artist residencies by @sumi_v and Counterspace
Curated by Aurélien Lemonier, @artmill_museum Senior Curator of Architecture, Design and Gardens; Sean Anderson, Guest Co-Curator and Scholar; assisted by Virgile Alexandre, Independent Curator, and Farah Al Sidiky, Art Mill Museum Senior Curatorial Researcher. Beyti Beytak is designed by Cookies and its visual identity by Gaggero Works.
Location: Fahad Bin Ali Palace, Doha, Qatar
Publication: Architectures of MENASA, edited by Sean Anderson and Virgile Alexandre, published by Silvana Editoriale in collaboration with @qatar_museums
With deepest thanks to the @almayassabnthamad @qatar_museums @artmill_museum and the curators and team ✨
05 Nov 2026
Happy birthday Zaha
89 DEGREES OF ZAHA HADID
Fri 30—Sat 31 October 2026
, أفق، أثر، معاً: horizon, trace, together - a dialogue between Arabic and Urdu, 2026; posters produced by @sumi_v for @hansulrichobrist exhibition on Zaha at Luma Foundation, Arles, currently on show
Across Arabic and Urdu, the words أفق، أثر، معاً are shared linguistic and spatial concepts, carried through a common script and centuries of exchange across the Arab world, Persia, and South Asia.
Ufuq names the horizon: the edge of vision, but also a field of possibility, “the wide world” or distant realm that extends beyond immediate perception.
Athar/asar holds the trace: an imprint, a residue, an effect that lingers, suggesting both memory and consequence.
Ma’an brings these into relation: togetherness as solidarity, proximity, co-presence, and collective becoming.
Read together, the three words form a conceptual sequence: from horizon to trace to togetherness, mapping how space is imagined, marked, and shared.
Through these shared terms, architecture becomes a site of translation where horizons are extended, traces are re-read, and new forms of togetherness are made possible across geographies that have long been in conversation.
This weekend, Sumayya Vally (@sumi_v) joins the 89 Degrees of Zaha Hadid Symposium, for two sessions:
- Would They Call Me a Diva If I Were a Guy?: Being Zaha
- The World is Not a Rectangle
A collaboration between @zahahadidfoundation @aaschool and @serpentineuk it has been curated by @aricchen @jihanedyer @francescofiammenghi (Zaha Hadid Foundation), @shumonbasar and @hansulrichobrist (Serpentine), and features over 40 incredible scholars, collaborators and friends.
Thank you @shumonbasar @aricchen @zahahadidfoundation @serpentineuk @bettinakorek @hansulrichobrist @aricchen @iis1000 and the incredible teams for having us! 🖤
31 Oct 2026
89 DEGREES OF ZAHA HADID
Fri 30—Sat 31 October 2026
Sumayya Vally (@ sumi_v) joins the 89 Degrees of Zaha Hadid Symposium on 31 October.
A collaboration between @zahahadidfoundation @aaschool and @serpentineuk it has been curated by @aricchen @jihanedyer @francescofiammenghi (Zaha Hadid Foundation), @shumonbasar (Architectural Association) and @hansulrichobrist (Serpentine), and features over 40 incredible scholars, collaborators and friends.
Final slide is a poster produced by @shumonbasar with Madelon Vriesendorp featuring a 1978 Zaha portrait for Hans Ulrich's exhibition on Zaha at Luma Foundation, Arles, currently on show.
30 Oct 2026
Ibraaz, under the directorship of Lina Lazaar, is an initiative of the Kamal Lazaar Foundation. The design of Ibraaz’s HQ in London was conceptualised by Sumayya Vally and Counterspace.
Collaborating with @ibraazlondon as a client and working alongside Shumon Basar (@shumonbasar) has been an absolute dream for @sumi_v and the Counterspace team. “It has been quite moving to witness this community take shape and be a part of its family over the past year,” says Sumayya.
Designed as a living 'gathering of gatherings' – anchoring the collective spatial typologies of the global majority and reimagined for London today – and observing how visitors have inhabited these spaces, from the street-level warmth of @oula.london @boutheina.b.salem , to @burleyfisher and @palfest at Maktaba, through to Iqra, the central Majlis, and in dialogue with voices like @shumonbasar , has been extraordinary.
This one-year milestone reflects the continuous layering of community, ritual, and memory that keeps this architecture evolving every single day.
27 Oct 2026
I Ibraaz, under the directorship of Lina Lazaar, is an initiative of the Kamal Lazaar Foundation. The design of Ibraaz’s HQ in London was conceptualised by Sumayya Vally and Counterspace.
Collaborating with @ibraazlondon as a client and working alongside Shumon Basar (@shumonbasar) has been an absolute dream for @sumi_v and the Counterspace team. “It has been quite moving to witness this community take shape and be a part of its family over the past year,” says Sumayya.
Designed as a living 'gathering of gatherings' – anchoring the collective spatial typologies of the global majority and reimagined for London today – and observing how visitors have inhabited these spaces, from the street-level warmth of @oula.london @boutheina.b.salem , to @burleyfisher and @palfest at Maktaba, through to Iqra, the central Majlis, and in dialogue with voices like @shumonbasar , has been extraordinary.
This one-year milestone reflects the continuous layering of community, ritual, and memory that keeps this architecture evolving every single day.
27 Oct 2026
Ibraaz, under the directorship of Lina Lazaar, is an initiative of the Kamal Lazaar Foundation. The design of Ibraaz’s HQ in London was conceptualised by Sumayya Vally and Counterspace.
Collaborating with @ibraazlondon as a client and working alongside Shumon Basar (@shumonbasar) has been an absolute dream for @sumi_v and the Counterspace team. “It has been quite moving to witness this community take shape and be a part of its family over the past year,” says Sumayya.
Designed as a living 'gathering of gatherings' – anchoring the collective spatial typologies of the global majority and reimagined for London today – and observing how visitors have inhabited these spaces, from the street-level warmth of @oula.london @boutheina.b.salem , to @burleyfisher and @palfest at Maktaba, through to Iqra, the central Majlis, and in dialogue with voices like @shumonbasar , has been extraordinary.
This one-year milestone reflects the continuous layering of community, ritual, and memory that keeps this architecture evolving every single day.
27 Oct 2026
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