This workshop resulted from a partnership between Numaish Karachi, CLUSTER- Cairo, and THISS Studio- London, with the support of the British Council, and was hosted by the Architecture Department at NED University.

Building on the expertise of all partners, the workshop aimed to explore design alternatives to negotiate one of the city’s contested public spaces in the historical center of Karachi, Khouri Garden. Khouri Garden, surrounded by buildings reminiscent of the Victorian era, was once a green space for the Hindu community that used to live there before the partition. Today, Khouri Garden is characterized by the deterioration of its surrounding heritage buildings and the encroachment of peddlers, street vendors, and resting laborers.

The one-week workshop began with visiting the site and the surrounding neighborhood and building a physical model of the current state of the garden. This was followed by an engaging session with the local community in the garden to listen to their needs and priorities. A round of brainstorming sessions took place at the studio with university students to explore possible small-scale interventions and represent them, using the model as a communicative tool. The proposed interventions were finally presented to the local community in the garden.