Japanese blockchain art company Startbahn is presenting a new exhibition entitled “Wetland Lab” at its SRR Project Space in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, from October 29 to December 11 that will showcase research into ecosystems and materials carried out by waiwai research and design agency, the research arm of waiwai, an award-winning multidisciplinary architecture, landscape, graphic, and urban design studio with offices in Dubai and Tokyo.

The research project presented began at the Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021, with the exhibition Wetland. The pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, the Biennale’s highest honour. The exhibition at SRR Project Space marks the first time the research is being exhibited in Japan.

The Wetland exhibition in Venice presented a prototype of a salt-based cement material, made from recycled industrial waste brine, which has the potential to reduce the construction industry’s impact on the environment. This new material was devised as a potential alternative to commonly used Portland cement, which is responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions. It uses salt as a binding agent and relies on a crystallization process inspired by the sabkhas (salt formations) naturally found in the UAE.

“We feel a strong sense of responsibility towards the climate crisis and an urgent need to act. The role and definition of the architect must change, to imagine and work towards new futures that support and nurture our ecosystems. Modern materials are responsible for almost 40% of the climate crisis, and the production of space has left our cities looking identical to one another, with no reflection of context. Our concept of the future vernacular offers a way to reconnect with the past using present technologies, with a focus on recycling industrial waste,” Founding Partner and Principal Architect at waiwai Wael Al Awar said in a press release.

The exhibition in Shimokitazawa is an opportunity to celebrate leading architects and researchers from the UAE and Japan, in line with SRR Project Space’s mission to promote the role of art, creativity, and technology in sustainable urban development. A central theme of the exhibition is the ways in which technology can be used for the development of new construction materials that are uniquely suited to local ecosystems and environments.

The work of waiwai research and design agency on view in the exhibition furthers SRR Project Space’s mission to connect the local community of Shimokitazawa with the latest research projects in contemporary art and design from around the world.

“Here begins an attempt to address the many threats to our ecosystems such as global climate change. The site is the key: the culture, the history, the climate, and the people who inhabit it. The key is to see things deeply and up close as local beings and to see things objectively and rationally, as an outsider. The future vernacular rises from these seemingly conflicting perspectives. A multicultural and multidisciplinary team led by architects based in Japan and the UAE presents Wetland Lab, and the possibilities of a certain future,” Founding Partner and Principal Architect at waiwai Kazuma Yamao said.