CODE0039 at Dubai Design Week 2025 with the Biodiversity Dome
CODE0039 Cooperativa Designer Italiani participated in Dubai Design Week 2025 – the eleventh edition of the Middle East’s largest creative festival – presenting the Biodiversity Dome – Arnie for the Future project as part of the group exhibition “Heart | Head | Hand”, curated by Isola Design Group in collaboration with Double J Collective Gallery at the Dubai Design District (d3).
A project bridging design, nature and sustainable innovation
Biodiversity Dome – Arnie for the Future is a project dedicated to protecting urban biodiversity through the creation of distributed hives, specifically designed for solitary desert bees – key pollinators essential to the balance of ecosystems in arid environments.
The hives are 3D-printed using bio-based PLA materials, fully sustainable, and designed to blend harmoniously into the urban landscape while providing safe shelters for pollinating insects. The project serves as a replicable model for future cities seeking to foster a more mindful coexistence between humans, nature and the built environment.
The inspiration: the ancient hives of Al-Kharfi
The project draws inspiration from an extraordinary heritage: in the Saudi Arabian desert, near Taif, the abandoned village of Al-Kharfi preserves over 1,200 clay and mud hives crafted by its ancient inhabitants as a vital resource for the community. These structures stand as a testament to human resilience and adaptability, demonstrating how people managed to thrive in one of the world’s harshest landscapes. Biodiversity Dome reinterprets this thousand-year-old legacy through the lens of contemporary design and digital fabrication.
The “Heart | Head | Hand” exhibition
The “Heart | Head | Hand” exhibition, hosted at the Double J Collective Gallery in the Dubai Design District, explored the emotional, intellectual, and tactile dimensions of making – an investigation into the relationship between contemporary craftsmanship, design thinking and materiality. The group show, curated by Isola Design Group together with Double J Collective, was one of Isola’s three main activations at Dubai Design Week 2025, alongside “Icons of Tomorrow” at the new Isola Space in Business Bay and “Living Forms” at the Sevil Dolmacı Gallery.
CODE0039 on the international stage
The participation at Dubai Design Week strengthens CODE0039’s international trajectory, which began with the selection for the Italian Certified Connectors 2025 programme, promoted by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the UAE. A path that reaffirms the cooperative’s mission: bringing together skills, cultures and diverse visions to design a sustainable, shared future, carrying Italian design and its capacity for innovation into the global conversation on sustainability.
Dubai Design Week 2025 – 4–9 November 2025, Dubai Design District (d3)
Exhibition: “Heart | Head | Hand” – Isola Design × Double J Collective Gallery
Project: Biodiversity Dome – Arnie for the Future