The exhibition showcases an innovative building prototype designed explicitly for the challenges faced by communities in unrecognized villages in the al-Naquab or Negev desert region. These communities, home to Bedouin residents familiar with desert living, offer a unique opportunity to bridge traditional techniques with modern architectural concepts. Recognized draws upon the combined knowledge of local Bedouin communities and scholars, with a specific focus on creating architecturally significant, human-scale spaces that align with current ecologic needs in the built environment. Through on-site documentation and immersive experiences, this installation actively contributes to resilient ecological architecture and aims to reshape architectural dialogue by presenting an economically viable and environmentally friendly building approach to serve as a model for the future.

Lobna Sana is an architect from the Al-Laqya Bedouin village in the the al-Naquab or Negev desert region. She is an active architect in the unrecognized Bedouin villages of Beer Sheba, striving to introduce innovative building methodologies to improve people's lives while documenting these villages due to the constant threat of destruction. Having graduated from the Bezalel Art and Architecture Academy in Jerusalem, Sana earned the top award in the Azrieli Foundation’s Architecture Student Prize contest in 2023. Her thesis introduces “planning letters” customized for marginalized Bedouin villagers, incorporating local insights to address their planning challenges. As cofounder of the “Sada” art movement, a Jerusalem-based initiative that combines art and architecture as tools to address challenges of life under occupation, she was the curator for the movement’s exhibitions.  Her involvement in the Venice Film Festival-selected virtual reality piece Remember This Place (2023) underscores her efforts to preserve the essence of vanishing Bedouin homes and specifically the resulting impact on Bedouin women. Sana’s use of architectural ideas helps further architectural dialogues with the potential to have Bedouin communities shape the desert landscape rather than hide within it.