< PreviousdesignMENA Quiz welcomes over 200 industry professionals for its third round For its third cycle, the designMENA Quiz, organised by Mid- dle East Architect and its sister title Commercial Interior Design has fast become a regular annual event for industry professionals based in the GCC. Building on the success of its previous two editions, the designMENA Quiz brought in more than 200 designers, ar- chitects and suppliers from the UAE, who participated in a light-hearted evening of creative games and networking. The event was held at On42 at Media One Hotel in Dubai’s Media City on 24 April, 2019. Dubai-based radio, television and events presenter Tom Urquhart was the host of the night. Those who attended represented regional industry compa- nies including Aedas, JT+Partners, National Engineering Bu- reau, Herman Miller, Kohler, Cosentino, La Casa and Wilson & Associates, among many more. Featuring seven rounds, the quiz night included rounds on general knowledge, film and music, as well as rounds that centred on architecture and design. The creative round, held at the end of the evening, tasked participants with creating a team pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai involving the use of a sin- gle block of Plasticine, as well as building materials supplied by the round’s sponsor Cosentino. The creative round saw enthusiastic participation from the designers and architects alike, who used the given materials to create humorous and inventive structures. The winner of this round was Huda Lighting, which won eight brunches at Media One Hotel’s food and beverage outlet, Garden on 8. The evening’s first place prize went to Pallavi Dean’s ROAR team, while JT+Partners came in a close second. This year’s sponsors included Cosentino, USM, Herman Miller, NVC Lighting, Sunon, Kohler, Franke, Danube and Huda Lighting. MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM 10 / NEWS HIGHLIGHTSSPONSORED BY MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM NEWS HIGHLIGHTS / 11Noha Jaheen Egyptian architect and academic Noha Jaheen launched her own practice, Jaheen’s Design and Creative, in Dubai Design District in October 2018. Integrating three elements including cultural, intellec- tual and green building forms (each of which has its own de- partment within the company’s structure), Jaheen’s Design and Creative aims to deliver public buildings and landscape designs that adapt design elements and tools of the past for the present and future. “We built Jaheen’s upon a vision,” said Jaheen. “To design your sustainable future, you need to first recognise your sus- tainable past, and we translate that into a mission of redefin- ing architecture. The point here is to grab all the sustainable tools of the past and use them to grow the future and create buildings that are in harmony with their environment.” Having only launched a few months ago – previously, Jaheen worked as a researcher at various universities around the UAE – Jaheen has announced her proposal for what she calls the ‘Notre Dame Diamond’, a project she hopes will be a collaborative effort with different cultural entities around the country, such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi and UNESCO. Employing her ‘Modern Antique Technique’, which falls under the company’s department of art and heritage and which aims to revive old building techniques and adapt them for the present, Jaheen hopes to create a modernised gothic form for the church’s reconstruction following its fire in April 2019. “We believe that we now need a new path for gothic archi- tecture,” she said. “Behind each problem, there is the oppor- tunity. The opportunity here is not about what Jaheen’s will build alone, but what we can build together. This is our inten- tion and hope from the UAE to the world.” While Jaheen said her and her team would need to visit the Notre Dame site in order to develop a concrete design con- cept for the reconstruction, she aims to propose innovative materials that respect the heritage of the site while speaking to the present. In addition to the Notre Dame Diamond, Jaheen also re- cently published a paper in February 2019 in cooperation with the British University in Dubai on green building in the emirate and its new regulations. She is currently working on another project focused solely on material innovation. The Egyptian architect, who recently launched her own practice in Dubai Design District, announces her proposal for the ‘Notre Dame Diamond’ Written by Rima Alsammarae Images by Rajesh Raghav MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM 12 / INSIGHT: NEW ARCHITECTMIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM INSIGHT: NEW ARCHITECT / 13Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences TOPOTEK 1 has won the international competition to de- sign the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Scienc- es, which aims for completion by 2023. Situated between a parkland and seaport, the complex is designed to carefully integrate into the existing environ- ment, and is characterised by a distinctive typology that merges two low-rise buildings with a park landscape. This fosters a “cohesive visual dialogue with the surroundings”, said the architects. TOPOTEK 1’s design is inspired by the use of patios and oases, and adapts traditional building strategies to minimise direct sunlight while enjoying the benefits of natural light within the structures. The buildings are perforated by a series of horizontal and vertical geometric voids of different shapes and sizes in the façade, roof and interior, creating a series of “inner land- scapes”, which unfold as visitors walk through. The 18m three-storey headquarters building is suspended on columns above an open public space. According to the architects, it “offers respect to the adjacent high-rise 1960s building, complementing its form and appeal.” The façade of the headquarters building is perforated by three deeply-recessed niches, the largest of which features an expansive glass terrace facing the harbour. The second building houses the conference centre, and features a simple cubic form that spans 12 stories and an in- tricate, multifaceted interior that accommodates a modular workplace. Passing beneath the structure is an open space that offers views of the nearby beach and sea. Connecting the conference centre and the headquarters building is a lush green corridor, which runs along the exist- ing seaside promenade and continues along the harbour. “Imagined as a harmonious extension of the northern coastal promenade, the park embodies the existing land- scape design’s rhythm of palm trees and small hills,” said the architects. Construction on the project is slated for 2021, while com- pletion is aimed for 2023. TOPOTEK 1 wins an international competition to design a new cultural project in Kuwait Written by Rima Alsammarae Images courtesy of TOPOTEK 1 MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM 14 / INSIGHT: CONCEPT DESIGNMIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM INSIGHT: CONCEPT DESIGN / 15MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM 16 / INTERVIEW“I aim to produce inspiring architecture, void of any formulaic preoccupations,” said Fouad Samara, Lebanese architect and founder of his namesake practice. “Architecture has to provide an authentic and unique solution each and every time. This so- lution cannot be the fashionable architecture that is plaguing our cities and that has a very short cultural shelf-life.” Having established Fouad Samara Architects in Beirut in 1997 after winning a string of in- ternational prizes, including first place in the open competition for a Canadian architectural exhibition, as well as first place in the Ile Per- rot Housing Competition, Samara has long been committed to creating “an architecture of integrity”. For him, each project must be relevant to its cultural, social, physical and economic con- text, without any stylistic or branding preoc- cupation. Architecture, he explained, should always aspire to reflect ‘l’esprit nouveau’ of the Modern Movement. “Architecture has to be substantial and time- less,” he said. “And this timelessness can only be achieved by creating something that is au- thentic…My practice has developed a process- based approach to design that when applied to a site, brief and client, will produce a specific and unique project. There are no preconceived ideas or an established language at the start of a project. The architect is like an archaeolo- gist, and [he or she] must work with the param- eters at hand and discover what the project wants to be.” In addition to running his practice, Samara also teaches final year design studio at the Leb- anese American University’s School of Archi- tecture and Design. A former lecturer at ALBA: University of Balamand in Lebanon, as well as a speaker at the A+P Smithson Symposium: Ide- as, Impact, Architecture, he has also contrib- uted to research on the work of Alison and Pe- ter Smithson – influential Brutalist architects and theorists from the second half of the 20th century. His research has greatly impacted the development of his own design process, influ- encing the way his team reads history and land- scape and interpret that into their work. Guided by this design process, Samara’s pro- jects are allowed to emerge and develop into “what they want to be”. According to the ar- chitect, the best compliment he ever received on a project was during his presentation of his design for the Assembly Hall for Marjayoun National College (MNC) in 1996, when a board member stated that the building appeared to “have always been there”. Samara’s other projects include CASID, Uni- versity of Balamand in Al Koura, Lebanon. Built in 2015, this project was designed to em- body its role as a vehicle for dialogue between east and west, as well as with its immediate physical context. Another project, Modulofts, built in Beirut in 2016, serves as a direct response to the continu- ously changing living requirements of the city’s residents. Inspired by the lofts of the 1960s and 70s in New York and London, and by the clarity of the traditional Lebanese house, the Modu- Fouad Samara The Lebanese architect and founder of his namesake practice speaks on the ‘fashionable architecture that’s plaguing our cities’ Written by Rima Alsammarae Images courtesy of Fouad Samara Architects MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM INTERVIEW / 17lofts aim to establish a new typology that creates a flexible, relevant and inspiring place to live within the city. “There has to be a real understanding of the imagined use of the building and what we want the building to mean and inspire the users to be,” he said. “The brief that is therefore developed is not only a physical practical brief, but an emo- tional one. This is important in arriving at ‘why’ or ‘what’ we are doing. The ‘how’ is somewhat easier and more linear to arrive at. “We must ask how this project contributes to and inspires its users, urban and social context, and the wider architec- tural discourse. There is a great balance to be had between addressing the specific and indigenous condition on one hand, and addressing and engaging with the wider global context on the other.” Samara also shared his concerns about development in MNC Assembly Hall A villa in Jeddah Modulofts in Beirut MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM 18 / INTERVIEWLebanon. According to the architect, the Levantine country faces a number of challenges that impact the country’s qual- ity of architecture and development. “The majority of developments in Beirut are mostly un- enlightened,” he said. “There are glimpses of hope, but this needs to come more from the discerning end-users who are becoming more demanding of the quality of their environ- ment, as well as from enlightened developers. This should drive the need for better design and construction.” Samara lists challenges such as lack of governmental sup- port, meaningful public work programmes, open competi- tions and proper architecture journalism. “Although we have a great president of the Order of Engineers and Architects [in Lebanon] at the moment, this is an anomaly, as this position is too often dictated by politics rather than merit.” Fouad Samara Architects is currently involved in a num- ber of projects in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and it has several projects near completion, including a 27-storey tower in Beirut and single-family homes in Jeddah. Inside the Modulofts CASID CASID MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT / 05.19 / WWW.MIDDLEEASTARCHITECT.COM INTERVIEW / 19Next >