Words by Fahad Malik.

We often discuss the idea of belonging as a practice, in relation to ourselves, as well as the places we come from. In trying to understand this theme on a personal level, we often develop a better understanding of our projects through the lens of belonging too.

When we proposed an exhibition for The London Festival of Architecture in response to this theme, we wanted to reflect on the practice story as well as recent projects. Wadhal is a tribal name from Mianwali and the surrounding land in Pakistan- in this respect my practice has always been an attempt to understand belonging through the lens of landscape, history and heritage.

The first project we will show is a family home in a woodland, with a curving form avoiding root protection zones while flowing with the topography of the site. This was a way to look at belonging through the lens of landscape.

The second project is a new build home that fits in while standing out against the back drop of 1930's suburbia. Creating distinction by sharpened detail, this was a way to reinterpret belonging through the lens of history.

Lastly we will present a residence, art gallery and stepwell- an ancient typology found in South Asia. This project looks at belonging through the lens of heritage.

As an immigrant, your relationship to belonging is sometimes restricted, resulting in erasure of elements of your identity. Stuck between east and west and holding onto multiple places, cultures and identities at once, a new sense of belonging can emerge. These experiences inevitably inform how you practice, encouraging to you towards tension and contradiction- colliding contexts to create something new.