Between 2019 and 2022, I worked with the organization Bimkom on a project dedicated to teaching Bedouin women the language of planning and mapping, so they could engage more directly in shaping the spaces around them. Each visit to the village of Abu Qurienat brought me back to an extraordinary group of women, mostly mothers between the ages of 40 and 50, who were eager to learn and participate. Yet each time, we struggled to find a proper place to meet—a recurring absence that underscored the urgent need for a space these women could truly call their own.

Out of this necessity, we began to imagine a cultural center together. Through conversations, sketches, and shared visions, we developed a professional architectural proposal aimed at presenting this vision to institutions and bodies who might support its realization. This process gave birth to Um-Metan—an exhibition named after the original name of the village, which translates to “Mother of the Metnan,” referencing a wild desert bush that grows abundantly in the area.

The exhibition took place in the heart of Abu Qurienat, on a plot of land intended for public use. Drawing inspiration from the structure of the traditional Bedouin tent, with its inner core and extended “sleeves” that separate public from private zones, we designed the space as a living translation of this logic. Using al-Riwaq—a series of architectural walls or arcades—we shaped the exhibition into three interconnected areas. At its center, a large model of the proposed center created a space for gathering and dialogue. Around it, the women’s maps and drawings offered a visual language for their ideas and aspirations. And finally, a welcoming corner for hosting visitors, sharing food, sitting together, and displaying handmade local products brought the project into everyday life.

Um-Metan was more than an exhibition. It was a collective act of claiming space. It made visible the dreams of women who are too often left out of architectural and planning conversations, and it asked what could happen if their voices shaped not only the content, but the very structure of the public spaces they inhabit.