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...

Celebrating Idiosyncrasies - The Kuksa...

On a recent visit to Finland I received this 'Kuksa', a wooden cup carved out of a single piece of knotted wood, from my parents as a gift. Apparently it was hand-made by Anders Eklund and was purchased at the Christmas Market that took place at the Esplanade in central Helsinki.

I've been using it as my work-coffee-cup here at VCUQ, and it has received its fair share of admiring looks... In a world which some claim, due to the facilitated access to both wares and information, is becoming an 'ubiquitous porridge', where national and cultural idiosyncrasies have been diluted out (something I'd like to strongly dispute), it's nice to come across something, in this instance an artifact, that proves them wrong...

ps. The 'stick' attached to the cup's handle by a leather string is a short section of reindeer-horn that can be used for stirring...

A Short Poem About the Ideal Digital Fabrication Lab...

What would the optimal Digital Fabrication Lab be made of..?

Perhaps of Lasers that splice, or 3D Printers real nice..?

Maybe it should be an assembly of Machines that Sinter, Glue, and cure - to make objects Very precise and pure…

Perchance it should use bits that are small, to build things most tall..?

Or be conceivably conceived by a designer, to make a wedding-ring, or even a diner..?

Could it use Software & Hardware with Buildware in a most excellent way, to make a Thing that Saves the Day..?

What would the ideal DF Lab be made of..?