Calendar Stories About Support
Calendar Research Workshops Publishing Library Digital maps Stories
About Support What we do Spaces Press Contact
Guide to Tbilisi Districts — Kala Ubani has launched its initial printed guidebook about Kala, the first in a series of guidebooks devoted to Tbilisi's districts. Discover
24 Vasil Petriashvili Street,
Tbilisi 0179, Georgia
Back
Ubani is part of a research project, “EZOLOGIA — Porous Body of Tbilisi,” which aims to bring light back to Tbilisi’s urban structure
News

Ubani is part of a research project, “EZOLOGIA — Porous Body of Tbilisi,” which aims to bring light back to Tbilisi’s urban structure

1 June 2026
Initiated by NWDS multidisciplinary studio and carried out in collaboration with Ubani, wit[h]nessing, and studio2am, the project studies, documents, and presents Tbilisi’s urban fabric through understanding the phenomenon of its courtyards.
Copyright Giga Tsikarishvili

“Ezo” in Georgian refers to Tbilisi-style courtyards. Emerging in the 19th century, they have since been shaped by various socio-political and ideological transformations of Georgia’s capital. 

Tbilisi-style courtyards form the city’s porous body. The pores are in-between spatial voids within the urban fabric — an internal system of courtyards, semi-private semi-public spaces, and passageways. “EZOLOGIA — Porous Body of Tbilisi” reflects the project’s approach to studying Tbilisi courtyards as both architectural and living social, spatial, and cultural elements. It aims to explore the role of the pores in shaping the city’s architecture and vice versa.

The project is initiated by NWDS, while its key collaborators include Ubani, a non-profit focused on Tbilisi; wit[h]nessing, a platform for transdisciplinary artistic research; and studio2am, a multidisciplinary studio. The initiative also involves a diverse group of contributors, including visual artists, art historians, sociologists, urban researchers, and architects, such as Tatia Ghvineria, Levan Kalandarishvili, Mariam Jibuti, Marina Khatiashvili, Nata Vasadze, and others.

The project’s first public activity will be a research-based exhibition opening this June at the Tbilisi History Museum (Karvasla). The preparations are already underway, bringing together students, researchers, and practitioners from different disciplines to develop architectural, historical, and archival research on Tbilisi’s shared courtyards. We hope this exhibition will spark curiosity and interest in the city’s urban structure among both local and international audiences.
Nata Tatunashvili, founder of Ubani, NWDS, Aea: Culture Initiative
A multidisciplinary studio of architects, designers, curators, and researchers, established in 2013. Powered by female minds and operating internationally. The work of NWDS spans heritage transformation, residential developments, hotels, and museums across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and beyond.
A platform for transdisciplinary artistic research that nurtures cultural, social, and environmental ecologies to reinvent new ways of co-existing. With an open collaborative framework, it aims to incorporate perspectives concerned with expanding the concepts of subjectivity, aesthetics, and ethics at the intersections between art, architecture, and design.
A non-linear journey performing in the fields of Architecture, Design, and Research. 2AM explores the notion of space, materials, and objects. It reacts on the built environment, culture, traditions, needs, and present challenges. It focuses on re-thinking the realities, building prototypes, and researching the materials.