Join Elias & Yousef Anastas as they discuss the work of their studio AAU Anastas in transforming the use of stone in Palestine to create sustainable contemporary architecture. They will discuss their work and practice as well as their recent V&A commission with Yara Sharif.

In Palestine stone was historically used to build structures but is now more commonly used as cladding. AAU Anastas have been working directly with factories and artisans in order to optimise energy consumption in function of the local resources available. Their ambition is to develop a more sustainable and more comfortable Palestinian city of the future. They co-founded Stone Matters, an ongoing research project that addresses the misuse of stone in Palestine, subverting artisans’ knowhow into novel possibilities of working with the material.

As part of London Design Festival, Elias and Yousef Anastas have been commissioned by the V&A to create While We Wait – a meditative installation made of over 500 modules of stone from Palestine. The towering structure consists of elements of stone from different regions of Palestine, fading upwards in colour from earthy red to pale limestone.

Founded in 1979, AAU Anastas is a wholly owned Palestinian architectural and engineering practice with offices in Bethlehem and in Paris.

Yara Sharif is a researcher and architect working as a senior associate on projects related to participatory design and social sustainability in Palestine and London. She has lived and worked in Palestine/Ramallah until 2005, where she worked as an architect in Riwaq: Centre for Architectural Conservation.

Part of London Design Festival 2017

FREE