Beth agency

Saudi Arabia returns to the London Design Biennale 2025 with an exhibition titled "Good Water", running from June 5 to 29 at Somerset House.
Commissioned by the Architecture and Design Commission, the pavilion is curated by a design collective including Alaa Tarabzouni, Aziz Jamal, Dur Kattan, and Fahad bin Naif, who bring together diverse backgrounds in architecture, design, and art to present a multidisciplinary experience that challenges and reimagines systems of access, distribution, and meaning related to water.

Responding to this year’s Biennale theme “Surface Reflections”, the Saudi Pavilion centers around the sabeel – a traditional public water fountain, deeply rooted in Saudi hospitality.
In the Kingdom, these fountains are generously scattered to offer water freely to passersby – a symbol of community and generosity.

Yet in this context, the sabeel is not just an act of kindness; it becomes a provocative question:
Who pays for free water?
What is its true cost?
If someone else carries the burden, is it not shared by all?

While the sabeel offers water freely, it masks the reality that water is not truly free.
Each sip involves systems of labor, energy, infrastructure, and governance.
From expensive desalination and plastic bottling to complex pipelines – the cost is real, and collectively borne.

The sabeel thus becomes more than a structure—it’s a symbol of interdependence, reflecting the tension between generosity and cost, and between access and consequence.

The Saudi National Pavilion stands as a flagship initiative by the Architecture and Design Commission, supported by the Ministry of Culture, reaffirming Saudi Arabia’s commitment to global design conversations and to championing sustainable, innovative design solutions.