The Hangar Exhibition
Experimentation is a vital element to the development of design ideas. In this feature of UAE based designers, we see how design collaborations are experimenting and using unconventional materials and methods to create their pieces.
Architecture + Other Things is a UAE based collaborative and interdisciplinary studio which explores alternative models of architectural practice and design. Approaching design holistically, Architecture + Other Things deploys technology to produce work at multiple scales and within multiple disciplines, reflecting novel solutions in the design and production of architecture and other things.
Comprising Faysal Tabbarah, Nada Taryam, and Khawla Al Hashimi, Architecture + Other Things are exhibiting two chairs, Sit 1 and Sit 2, as part of a series called Almost Natural Things.
This series represents an ongoing attempt at exploring the role of the Anthropocene in the production and aesthetics of the everyday. The motivation behind these chairs is to uncover a nebulous relationship between natural and synthetic things.
In a third piece, done in collaboration with Yasmeen Hamouda, Architecture + Other Things have created a chair that integrates two usually contradictory conditions; transparency and texture.
Toast is a piece that explores the potential of utilizing computational design methodologies and digital fabrication techniques to question and transform everyday objects.
Yasmeen Hamouda is an architect and illustrator based in Kuwait. Yasmeen’s design work integrates technology and whimsy to create novel spatial and material conditions.
Yasmeen hamouda also collaborates on another piece, with Ammar Kalo, Dina Samara and Takwa ElGammal, a collective that goes by the name of Waxbusters. This group is behind the Concrete Bulbs piece, showcased in this year’s Amman Design Week.
Inspired by the relationship between two non-homogeneous materials, Concrete Bulbs is a limited edition set of concrete panels in 4 parts. It is an exploration of emergent material patterns and 3D manufactured surface conditions.
The bulbous textures are a result of a process by which hot liquid wax is cooled down rapidly with iced water. All the wax molds used for the project are melted to create new panels after casting, resulting in unique patterns on every piece.
The work produced above is all done by faculty members and alumni of the College of Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah.