Printing Concrete...

A short (promotional) snippet from one of my alma matres, Loughborough University's Additive Manufacturing Research Group (AMRG) showing a large scale volumetric printing technology that provides a parallel and comparable 'slur-based' printing method to that developed by D-Shape's Enrico Dini...

Very cool and exciting indeed..!

Tasmeem - Synapse-Designer as Link - Conference & Workshop...

iphone image of the poster in front of VCUQ promoting the event...

Next week the Tasmeem - Synapse-Designer as Link Conference takes place... During the event I'll be conducting a (already sold-out?!) workshop titled, 'Exquisite Corpse Laser Cut Totem' during which we'll be conceiving just that, a quasi-randomly assembled and constructed laser-cut, layered cardboard, roughly five meter tall, totem...

Laser-Cut & Slumped Acrylic Bowl Prototype...

A few quick images of an initial prototype of a laser-cut and slumped acrylic bowl, roughly 45 by 55 by 15 centimeters in size...

More to come later...

Fire Fighting Features at the Traffic Gallery, Dubai...

A few images of the, in my mind quite ascetic and visually pleasing, fire-prevention equipment/ paraphernalia at the Traffic Gallery in Dubai...

Thank you Rami & Sharifa for your hospitality and great coffee...

Favorite Buildings - Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Wether one derides or admires the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, its audacity/ elegance (cheek/ boldness, superciliousness/ gravity...) is undeniable. Its delicately staccating and streamlined outline remains a sight to see and its presence and defining prominence in the city's skyline allows it to be used as an orientational tool from almost anywhere in Dubai...

Above and below are some images both of and from the burj.

A detail from the tower's lobby...

Above and below - images taken from the building's 124th floor...

The roof of the Mall of the Emirates...

New Student Center at Education City, Doha...

The new Student Center was opened recently here in Education City. The (just about completed) center will be serving the whole academic community here at EC. The other day I had a chance to visit it for the first time, and was somewhat taken aback by the sheer scale and grandiosity of the endeavor - this must be the most elaborate and striking student centers I've come across anywhere - high spec'ed detailing and materials at every turn, and facilities ranging from galleries to movie theaters, grand games rooms to bowling allies and basketball courts entwined into a matrix of architectural follies... The interiors read more like a gigantic First-Class airport lounge than a student center... Let's just hope that even us faculty will be allowed to enjoy its variety of amenities...

The Student Center was designed by Legorreta & Legorreta...

A central courtyard...

The gallery...

The games room...

The courts...

The walk to the main entrance...

Inverted Dunes - Exhibited at the Sultan Gallery's 50/20 Exhibition, Kuwait...

Tomorrow the second half of the 50/20 Exhibition at Kuwait's Sultan Gallery opens. The exhibition celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Kuwait's independence. Our contribution for the exhibit is titled 'Inverted Dunes' which, as the title might suggest, consists of a set of laser-cut reliefs of imaginary concave dunes 'viewed' from a macro, meso and micro scale.

During the last few weeks we've been working a lot with molds with my students, which as tacit artifacts are (instead of being mere secondary form givers to the protagonist object) very engaging in their own right. These molds, and the processes involved in making them, have probably been an influence on these works...

The works are all 18 x 24 cm, and are made in limited editions of 10...

The opening takes place from 7-9 PM...

All the pieces were made at the Digital Fabrication Lab at VCUQ...

Presenting at the Pecha Kucha Night in Doha...

I'll be presenting at the next Pecha Kucha Night here in Doha, taking place next Sunday, February 13, here at VCUQ's Atrium, starting at 6.20 PM...

My presentation is titled:

From Hardware and Software to Buildware - Celebrating the Wonderful World of Digital Fabrication in the Context of Design...

Should be a fun night..!

Detail of a PaperCut ('weaved' laser-cut paper)

MFA.DESIGN Open Day at VCUQ...

We're having an Open Day here at VCUQ next Wednesday, February 16, starting at 6 PM...

Click above or here for further info...