Wesam Al Asali, architect, professor and reseacher at IE School of Architecture & Design (IE University), has designed Tašbik, a site-specific architectural installation for Amman Design Week 2026, held from October 2 to 17 in Amman, Jordan. The project reintroduces the Mediterranean construction technique of bóvedas tabicadas (thin-tile vaulting) to the Arab region, reinterpreting it through the use of locally sourced Jordanian limestone.

Occupying 256 square meters in Al Mudarraj, the open-air lecture courtyard of Amman Design Week, Tašbik consists of a sequence of stone vaults that serve as seating, a stage, and spatial enclosures. The intervention transforms the courtyard into a gathering space for lectures, public activities, and informal exchanges.

The installation was developed as part of the fourth edition of Amman Design Week, organized under the theme Accumulations, which explores how time, labor, materials, and knowledge contribute to cultural and material practices.

At the center of the project is the reinterpretation of bóvedas tabicadas, a lightweight vaulting technique associated with Mediterranean architectural traditions. By reconstructing the vaults using limestone from Hallabat, Jordan, Al Asali explores how traditional construction knowledge can be transferred and adapted across different geographical and material contexts.

The project also establishes a connection between construction and language. Its name, Tašbik (تشبيك), refers to the Arabic term from which the Spanish word tabicadas is traced, suggesting a relationship between architectural traditions across the Mediterranean and the Arab world.

Conceived as an open workshop, the installation places the construction process at the center of the architectural experience. Its repeated vaulted elements explore accumulation not only as a physical process of assembling materials, but also as a means of transmitting craftsmanship and technical knowledge over time.

The project involved the participation of Anna Isabel Martinez and Yassamin Ghassimi, students at IE School of Architecture & Design, who contributed through the School’s Construction Lab. Architectural drawings and details were developed by Dalaa Al Khadra. Stone fabrication was carried out by Siwan Stone & Marble in Amman, with timber sponsorship from Home Pillar.

Beyond his teaching and researching role at IE University, Wesam Al Asali is co-founder and Director of Design and Innovation at IW-lab and founder of CERCAA (Educational Center for the Regeneration of Craft Construction) in Valencia, Spain. His work explores the relationship between design, material experimentation, and craft-based construction.

Together with architectural historian Nadi Abusaada, Al Asali is also co-editor of Arab Modern: Architecture and the Project of Independence (gta Verlag, 2025), a book that examines the relationship between architecture, nation-building, and cultural identity in the Arab world during the twentieth century. Read more about the book on IE University’s website.