Everyone talks about the 'community' at Alserkal Avenue, but what—or who—defines the spirit of the place? The creative entrepreneurs who have made Alserkal Avenue their home—those disruptors and cultural risk-takers you see walking (or scootering) down the lanes? The artists and multi-disciplinary researchers who gather at Alserkal Arts Foundation? Families out for a burst of inspiration, or the dedicated caretakers who keep a watchful eye over it all?

All these people—our extended community have made the Avenue a space that sometimes defies classification. Whatever the label, the Avenue is a place where business and culture cross-pollinate, where dreamers and dare-devils are welcome, where the impossible happens every day, and where the home-grown can find a home.

Concrete, the OMA-designed exhibition and performance space, is the perfect emblem of the Avenue. Exquisitely designed, it is an architectural tribute to invisible details. Like the Avenue itself, every corner holds some discreet surprise. Its doors—comprising the entire façade—open wide to welcome the culturally curious for history-making exhibitions and memorable performances.

Perhaps the Avenue is so hard to define as a space because it isn’t one; it’s an experience.