Souq Al Haraj: An Urban Furniture Lab

In the Souq Al Haraj Urban Furniture Lab we will develop the design for an urban furniture that serves as a community-based intervention in Souq Al Haraj. Located in the neighborhood Al Najma in inner Doha, Souq al Haraj is a market where secondhand furniture is repaired, upcycled, and traded. The souq holds significant economic and social importance for a large migrant community.

The urban lab is part of a series of workshops in which we are researching the urban qualities of Souq al Haraj and imagining spatial/design interventions that can improve the everyday experience there.

The first Souq al Haraj urban field lab (held in spring 2023) focused on documenting and representing the market as an urban living room. With our second urban lab, we aim to design a public furniture that will improve the quality of space for the current community in the Souq and represent the craftmanship of the carpenters and makers in the Souq. We will draw inspiration from the everyday life and artifacts found within the souq.

We envision to design a furniture that will highlight the souq’s role as an upcycling community hub and celebrate its makeshift qualities.The workshop will include a guest talk by a renowned Pakistani architect X, and as an outcome of the urban lab, we will produce a publication that captures the design process and the urban furniture proposal.

Workshop Leaders Isabella Rossen, Urban Sociologist and Heritage Programs Researcher Reem Al-Muraikhi, Architect. 

Week 1: Nov 2 & 6Week 2: Nov 10 & 13Week 3: Nov 17 & 20Week 4: Nov 24 & 27 from 4.00 - 6.30 pm