Undergraduate Portfolio | Abdullah Tahseen

PORTFOLIO ABDULLAH TAHSEEN Seletected Works | 2014-2018

Statement To me, Architecture became a lifestyle. I enjoy every moment of it. It provided me with the platform to spend time learning and reading about different topics, enhancing my skills and knowledge and become a better version of myself.

I invest a lot of time and effort in self-teaching and self-exploring. Studying Architecture have allowed me to discover many different disciplines and opened the door for me to indulge and experience all sort of interesting subjects, from science, art, design, history, philosophy, theory, software... and many others.

Since I was a little kid, creation was something dear to my heart. I used to spend a lot of time imagining the world and shaping it the way I want. Discovering design allowed me to continue this habit while being an adult, and most definitely for the rest of my life.

I am forever grateful to Architecture for changing the way I live my life as well as the way I think, observe, and analyze the world around me. It allowed me to regain my self-confidence and gave me the chance to dream for a better tomorrow. Not to mention, traveling around the world became a whole different experience, very rich and much more meaningful.

Deeply inspired by the quote “Everyone dies, but not everyone lives.” I wake up every day asking myself “What can I do to improve myself?” Keen to learn something new and share this knowledge with the people around me. I became thirsty for knowledge and for achieving greater success in life. In every newly assigned project, I challenge myself to do a project that is harder to accomplish than the previous one. To reach a level, I haven’t reached before and to work harder than ever to make it happen while sacrificing a lot of beautiful things in my life for the greater good and for the sake of reaching my ultimate objective. Which is to be remembered for the work that one day I will contribute to this world and to humanity as a whole.

This Portfolio is a compilation of a few selected works from 2014-2018 excluding my final thesis design project, designed for the pursuit of further education for the Fall of 2019.

Kindest Regards, Abdullah Tahseen

Contents Curriculum Vitae

1-6

The Pearl Professional work

7-12

Morphing Identities Academic work

13-18

Nexus Academic work

19-21

JEEL Academic work (Competition)

22-24

Urban Forest Academic work

25-28

Making+Meaning Personal work

29-30

Autoencoded Polyhedra Personal work

31

Caelum - Undergraduate Thesis Academic work

32

Norman Foster Foundation Workshop Proposal Personal work (Competition)

01

The Pearl

Summer 2018

The Pearl Professional work Internship at AmorphouStudio Collaborator: Karim Khayati Supervisor: Zayad Motlib

The Pearl is a proposal for a design competition by EMAAR in Dubai for an “Iconic Mosque.” Our Idea primarily revolves around fusing tradition with technologies escaping the traditional line of thought, by creating something that at first glance may look extraterrestrial, but is fundamentally grounded by traditional and cultural ideas and beliefs. The inspiration for the idea came about from sea shells, that consist of a protective outer layer and a precious pearl inside. Pearls historically were considered one of the main sources of local income. Our mosque was composed of three main shells with a fourth one inverted to create a traditional “Sahn.” The play of light and shadow that is created by the dynamic openings in the skin of the building shells is the pearl in our project. As the worshipers come in to pray, they are greeted by the heavenly lights that illuminate the interiors of the mosque, creating an ambiance like no other.

02

INSPIRATION AND PROCESS

The Pearl

Summer 2018

CONCEPT

Step 1: Sea shells resting on the shore in Dubai

Step 2: Relocating the sea shells on site

Step 3: Metamorphosis or Transformation into architecture, align with Qibla direction

Step 3: Creating dynamic openings in the skin of the shells according to the light exposure from the sun.

Urban Connections

03

BUILDING PERFORMANCE

Parametrically-Differentiated Skin Pattern

Solar Analysis

Passive Cross-Ventilation (Closed Riwaq)

Passive Cross-Ventilation (Open Riwaq)

The Pearl

Summer 2018

3D PRINTED SKIN CONSTRUCTABILITY

Steel Frames

3D Printed Terracotta Panels

Water Circulation System for Passive Evaporative Cooling

Detailed Perspective

3D Perspective of the Three Building Shells

Water Sprinkler System within the Terracotta Panels

Section Section Detail

04

DRAWINGS

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

The Pearl

Short Section

Long Section

Summer 2018

05

The Pearl

Summer 2018

Sunset Render

06

The Pearl

Summer 2018

Night Render

07

Morphing Identities

Fall 2017

Morphing Identities Academic work ARCH 401 • Architectural Studio VII Collaborators: Marwa Al Haija, Yara Salma and Stephanie Al-Rahbanie Faculty: Nadine Bitar The district of Business Bay in Dubai has grown to become one of the most influential business hubs in the region. Its strategic location near Dubai Downtown and Dubai canal, as well as its variety of industries and mixed-used buildings, made it an attractive area for investors and entrepreneurs.

However, the district lacks a sense of identity. In other words, a social condenser that brings people together as well as a public retreat for the residents of the area.

The proposal tackles the social, environmental, and commercial aspects of the context and addresses the people’s needs with a new contemporary formula. An urban network that highlights the different identities into one central node, which ultimately became the heart of the proposal. A transit-oriented development that enhances the experience of public transportation. As well as, a new way of thinking about urban centers, where nature plays a primary role in its design decisions. The idea was to bring nature into the city and make it an essential part of the proposal to increase the quality of life and the experience of space.

08

Morphing Identities

Fall 2017

09

Morphing Identities

Fall 2017

10

Morphing Identities

Fall 2017

11

Morphing Identities

Fall 2017

12

Morphing Identities

Fall 2017

Central Node Render

13

Nexus

Spring 2018

Nexus Academic work ARCH 402 • Architectural Studio VIII Collaborators: Yara Salma & Stephanie AlRahbanie Faculty: Jose Carrillo The employees that work in offices are a constantly growing part of the workforce and play an increasingly decisive and essential role in the growth of the economy.

Consequently, this human group needs better care than what they used to receive in the past. It is in the interest of the employer to cultivate, motivation, and obtain top productivity by providing more comfortable working environment and office conditions. Nexus is a project that attempts to achieve a new office typology where the space adapts to the employee needs and not the other way around. Forming bridges that connect between the two separate office blocks and creating an internal open space experience that acts like a social platform for employees, while being purely driven by the contextual qualities of the site.

14

Nexus

Spring 2018

15

Nexus

Spring 2018

16

Nexus

Spring 2018

17

Nexus

Spring 2018

18

Nexus

Spring 2018

19

JEEL

Spring 2017

JEEL Academic work (Competition) ARCH 302 • Architectural Studio VI Faculty: Jose Carrillo

Won Best Project Award - Solar Decathlon Jeel meaning “Generation” in Arabic, was chosen as the name of the proposal, to reflect the values of the past on the lives of the future generations. Solar Decathlon is an international design-build competition that aims to design and build highly efficient buildings powered by renewable resources. The project brief included a lot of restrictions and limitations. The most successful proposals are those that had the most creative design solutions while meeting all the requirements and standards. My project was voted the “Best Project Award Winner” at the American University in Dubai by a jury consisting of Architectural faculty, Engineering faculty, Sustainable-design consultants and others.

20

JEEL

Spring 2017

21

JEEL

Spring 2017

22

Urban Forest

Summer 2017

Urban Forest Academic work DDFT 341 • Digital Design and Fabrication Faculty: Jose Carrillo

Urban Forest is project that addresses the need to become one with nature on a small architectural scale. Its a design solution to create specific venues for the activities that students do during their study breaks on campus. The proposal help the students rejuvenate and rewind the stress of studying by providing them with quality spaces for their daily needs. “Socializing, Eating, Resting and Reading� were identified as the most common types of activities students spend their time doing during their free time. The proposal intends to segregate each of the activities into separate zones to allow people to have more quality time during their stay. Mainly because each of the activities has its own set of criteria and space requirements to succeed. The intention here was to have a structure that could become part of the ecological identity of the site, as well as address its contextual qualities.

23

Urban Forest

Summer 2017

24

Urban Forest

Summer 2017

25

Making+Meaning

Summer 2017

Making + Meaning Personal work Summer Program at SCI-Arc Faculty: David Eskenazi, Viola Ago, Matthew Au, Emmett Zeifman, Russell Thomsen and Alexis Rochas

Making+Meaning was a 4-week summer program that dealt with various design strategies. From studying 3D forms and compositions to surface studies with a focus on depth & color to architectural experimentation and finally to transformative design techniques. The majority of the program was an individual approach, except for the first week which was group work. The course touched on fundamental exercises like constructive critique and theoretical discussions on the various phases up until the final review. Along with the rigorous weekly studio hours, the program also included field visits to various important projects and offices in the city of Los Angeles.

26

Bodies in Space In this section, we were asked to investigate the idea of spatial composition through the articulation of specific body postures. As the body plays a very important role in defining a space as it simultaneously measures and affects it. Composition will mediate between choreography principles, scalar relationships and documentation processes.

Cluster | 3D Scanning 3D scanned models extracted from real-life postures.

Posture | Compositional Studies Exploring ways to put all three figures together with idea of provoking a sense of emotion or shock. (Group Work)

Making+Meaning

[Above] Spatial Compositional Section The intention here was to provoke a sense of emotion for the viewer. It was meant to show a moment of grief as if someone was lost in an accident or something horrible happened right in front of the scene, and all three figures reacted to it in different manners. (Group Work)

[Right] Texture Mapping Experimentation I was trying to explore how the texture can affect the dimensionality of the human figure through a series of experimentations with this being one of the most successful outcomes I came up with.

Summer 2017

27

Surface and Depth We developed an iterative series of surface models in multiple materials, using multiple techniques of design & production. Each new model required capturing, analyzing and transforming information from the last. Through techniques of folding, scanning, stacking, forming, and photographing, we manipulated physical and digital surfaces in order to achieve formal and phenomenological effects.

Serial Folds Surface experimentation

Making+Meaning Contouring | Serial Sections

Summer 2017

LED Light Photography Room

3D scanned one of the most successful physical surfaces and then refined the 3D model.

The 3D model went through a process of digital contouring to be prepared for physical assembly.

Hard physical model made from layers of acrylic ready to be used as a form for vacuum forming process.

Formal Exploration with LED Lights LED lights from different positions were used to explore the different 3D patterns from the vacuum-formed physical model.

Additive color processing

Formal Exploration with bitmap channels Photographs of the folded studies were taken into further experimentation by creating bit-mapped variations with different color channels.

28

MASSING - COLOR - INTERIORITY This section introduces the relationships of volume, space and color. Techniques derived from painting and printing will be the basis for understanding how color can be both dependent and independent of volumetric form, and how color alters our perception of it. Different concepts of arrangement and transformation of volumes in space will also be explored and analyzed.

Basic Transformations in Space 1.0 Starting from a box, I began to apply very basic 3D transformations uniformly until a very distorted form was reached.

Basic Transformations in Space 2.0 By combining three or more variations into one volume, complexity was achieved from a very simple operation.

Nesting and Unfolding | Nesting Process The chosen digital form was then taken into a nesting software to unfold and nest the geometry for fabrication.

Physical model

Making+Meaning

Summer 2017

Physical Texture Mapping Used the bitmap 2D texture from the previous assignment to map it manually along the physical model.

Negative Space | Digital Subtraction Performing subtracting operations to a form to highlight the mass/void, light/shadow qualities of the outcome.

Physical Models

Digital Texture Mapping Used the bitmap 2D texture to digitally map the digital model I had. After a series of iterations, I picked the best iteration and physically applied it on the final physical model.

29

Autoencoded Polyhedra

Spring 2017

Autoencoded Polyhedra Personal work 5-Day Advanced Workshop with DesignMorphine Collaborators: Omar Kaddourah & Monika Kalinowska Tutors: Mateusz Zwierzycki & Zayad Motlib

This project explored the possibilities of machine learning autoencoder algorithm on an architectural scale. First by generating a polyhedral parametric model. Then using the autoencoder algorithm to produce hundreds of iterations based on a set of parameters initially specified. Based on the results, one model was selected. Different types of analysis were then run on the model to study radiation values and optimum orientation. Finally, based on the data from the previous radiation analysis, three types of panels 1) OPEN 2) SEMI-OPEN 3) CLOSED, were created and clustered on the model with twelve iterations of the building with different opening sizes for each month of the year.

30

Autoencoded Polyhedra

Spring 2017

31

Caelum - Undergraduate Thesis

CAELUM

A human desire to reach the Sky

Caelum, the book of the sky is a rhetorical intellectual product that delivers a new understanding of the relationship between the human and the sky; a cardinal metaphysical presence that has astonished humans for millennia. The book observes the subject from different lenses. To present a holistic and more complete understanding of this lasting relationship. Designed to explore the possibilities of manifesting this research product into an architectural monument, that looks to reshape and reunite the expression and perception of the human with the celestial realm. A journey from the physical to the immaterial, through different phases of human consciousness and superlative experiential transcendence. Capturing the essence of the moment and then reflecting it back into the urban fabric of the city of Dubai.

Copyright Š 2018 Abdullah Tahseen

Fall 2018

32

What happens when the natural world and the artificial world are the same?

Short-listed Naturtopia A city where the natural world and the built environment become one. Our urban cities become urban forests.

Nature becomes part of our city life, co-existing homogenously with us in one shared environment. With the rapidly increasing human population and the constant growth of our cities, we have no choice but to bring in and welcome nature into our homes and urban habitats. We, humans, are part of nature, we always were. Whenever we feel the need to let go and relax, nature is where we head to, and It is where we came from and where we belong. However, due to our advancement in technology and high demands. We started to detach ourselves from it and slowly started to destroy it along with our planet. I got inspired by the book “Naturalia: Overgrown Abandoned Places� by Jonathan Jimenez. The book shows a series of photographs of old abandoned buildings and ruins reclaimed by nature as its own.

Norman Foster Foundation Workshop Proposal

Fall 2018

Abdullahtahseen@ymail.com +971 55 3007641 Undergraduate Student

Copyright © 2018 Abdullah Tahseen