Arian Saghafifar, Portfolio, 2019-2021

Deira Urban Market

Monolithic Inhabitation

Shelter at the End of Time

Artificial Refuge Ecosystem

Baton Rouge Dwelling

AD House

Website: Rch.design

Email: Arian@Rch.Design

Instagram: Rch.Des

Phone:+971 50 343 35 72

About Arian received his bachelor of architecture with Magna Cum Laude from American University of Sharjah. He achieved the MAD award in 2021, a continuous competition during the five years of education, the award is given to one student from the Architecture program based on Motivation, Attitude, and Dedication. He also achieved Riba President’s Bronze Medal Entry in 2019, and highly commended global undergraduate award in 2020. He Combined the virtual reality (VR) with architecture to create an immersive experience in the Dubai design week exhibition and was invited to the Future Talk Podcast to present this project. He was the team leader in Shahira Fahmy Architects for ‘Architects in Residence’ competition. Currently, He is working as a part II architect at DesignTomorrow.

He is well-capable of using variety of digital techniques and design strategies. During his education, he was constantly participating in research and competitions to extend his knowledge. He worked as a scripting assistant for the Synergistic space potentials paper. he also worked as research assistance since the second year of his education. He had the privilege of exploring procedural thinking and 3d printing. He believes learning is not only how to use a software, but how to develop an innovative design strategies. As, he was invited as a guest to teach blender and Houdini in the digital modeling and rendering course at AUS 2021

Objective Education

An architect and designer looking for an opportunity with a prestigious company to expand further experience

- (2015 - 2021) American University of Sharjah (AUS), Collage of Architecture, Art, and Design (CAAD), Sharjah, UAE

• Bachelor of Design in Architecture

• CGPA: 3.7/4

Work Experience

- (2022Jul - Present) Architect Part II at DesignTomorrow

- (2022Oct) Guest Critic Review at American University of Sharjah

- (2022Apr - 2022May) Design build a house in Abu Dhabi

- (2018Jun. – 2022 apr.) Worked as Research Assistant, Catovic

Hughes Architecture

• Member of rendering, modeling, and designing team on projects of Baton Rouge and Broce dwelling project in the United States

- (2022Feb. - 2022Mar.) Team leader of ‘Architects in Residence’ competition.

• Working in Shahira Fahmy Architects as the team leader and lead designer of the project

- (2020Aug. - 2020Sep.) CAAD, AUS, Scripting Assistant on the article:

• Farr, M., & Macruz, A. Synergistic space potentials: technology, humans and responsive materials in the design process

- (2018Jul. - 2018Aug.) Collaboration with Monsieur Vilu Bach on “Paris La Defense Competition”, 80 rue du Faubourg saint Danis, France

• Explored different sectional spatial iterations to integrate waterfall in the Paris La Defense

- (2019Jul. - 2019Aug.) Internship at Naga Architects, Marina Plaza, Dubai, UAE

• Introduced to BIM environment and explored its advantage in practice

Achievements, Awards, & Honors

- (2021) Achieved MAD Award, CAAD, AUS

• A continious competiton during the five years of education,the award is given to one student from the Architecture program based on Motivation, Attitude, and Dedication

- (2021) Featured in “World Arch-Student Best Project Selection”

Publication in Korea

- (2020-2021) Obtained Maroun A. Semaan Scholarship at AUS, UAE

- (2018, 2021) Achieved the Chancellor Award at AUS, UAE

- (2015-2021) Obtained Deans list scholarship at AUS, UAE

- (2020) Accomplished Highly Commended the Global Undergraduate Award

- (2019) Presented A New Architectural Utopia at Alserkal Avenue

- (2019) Riba President’s Bronze Medal Entry

- (2018) Shortlisted on the “Unfinished Chambord” Competition Group project Instructed by Professor Juan Martin

Attended Courses

- (2021) Attended Futurly Houdini 2.0 for Architects

- (2021) Attended Futurly Mechanomorph

- (2021) Design of Zero Net-Energy Buildings

- (2020) Attended “Digitalfutures Superabundance” Workshop

- (2020) Advanced Computer-Aided Design

- (2019) Attended Architectural Association (AA) Visiting School Dubai 0.5

Modeling Skills

- Excellent knowledge of Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, and Blender 3d

- Good knowledge of Revit, Sketchup, Zbrush, and Houdini

- Basic knowledge of Cinema-4D

Visualization Skills

- Excellent knowledge of Lumion,V-ray in Rhinoceros, Cycle, AutoCAD, Photoshop, and Indesign

- Good knowledge of Illustrator, Octane in Cinema-4d, Keyshot, Eevee

- Basic knowledge of IESVE

Professional Skills

- Excellent knowledge of laser cutting, 3D printing

- Basic knowledge of woodshop

Drawing Skills

- Excellent knowledge of sketching and rendering with watercolor, marker, acrylics and charcoal

Language

- Excellent in spoken and written Farsi and English

Personal Attributes

- High level of dedication and self-motivation

- Punctual

- Responsible

- Problem Solver

Refrences

-Available upon request

Deira Urban Market

Instructed by Prof. Marcus Farr

Collaboration with Ali Sader

Urban agriculture is a social movement for sustainable communities, where organic growers, foodies, and locavores form social networks founded on a shared ethos of nature and community. Many people are looking for food security, nutrition, and income generation which are key motivations for urban agriculture and local markets. People who live in cities need a more direct access to fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat products through urban agriculture. Our project begins to interplay between tectonic modules that interconnect with one another to produce a stereotomic construct existing as an urban carpet, which acts as a mediator between the dense but static fabric of the city of Deira with the vast and dynamic fluidity of the nearby sea. focusing on the development of a comprehensive architectural design project integrating building technologies with other non- technical design. The intent of the project is to celebrate food culture and provide access to good quality produce locally while also addressing issues of self-sustainability.

North

Vertical Farm Render

South Elevation

East Elevation

West Elevation

longitudenal section AA

Transverse

Auditorium Wallsection Physical Model A

Auditorium Wallsection Physical Model B

MONOLITHIC INHABITATION

Instructed by Prof. Michael Hughes

Collaboration with:

Ali Sader & Mohamed Fakhry

The project is a professor visiting house located near American University of Sharjah. The intent is to create a sublime interior spaces with an affordable budget. During a sandstorm one may comes to the observation that the blur of the surroundings, the rustic and sand filled environment creates an illusion of decay and disparity in the environment. This ruin-like representation of the environment is often disregarded. However, ruins are a representation of the passage of time and the inevitability of change. The project revolves around four primary elements and interventions of light construct to create shelter. the objective is to create a design that adds to the ruin, while also emphasis on contraction of the space. And contrasted with the expanded views to amplify the stereotomic/massive quality of space.

The main materials in this project are rough. however, when there is a tactile interaction between body and project, roughness would gives away to smoothness. In the entrance for example, sand has been used as a soft material for this interaction. The glass mass (Washing closet), acts as a lighting feature for the exterior during the night-time, also acts as a lightbox for the interior during the morning, allowing natural light to seep and diffuse into the space. As one explores further into the project, stumbles upon the courtyard, where the feeling of ruin and a sense of age has been awoked. In the project the sand, giving the Impression that has been here for a long time.

Exterior Entrance Night Render

Interior Entrance

one key element found in ruins across the region is sand. The constant motion of sand creates the illusion of passage of time and movement of the space. Sand could also act as a journal recording every step but yet with time turns into a blank slate marking a new adventure for the observer. While the project is only occupied half the year, the constant movement of sand within the project keeps the space alive. The project therefore functions like an hourglass while the sand within is the expression of time. The project revolves around four primary elements and the intervention of light construct to create shelter. The objective is to create a design that adds to the ruins, while also decaying beautifully over time. Where an emphasis on contraction of the space occurs, which is exchanged with expanded views to amplify the stereotomic/massive quality of the space. The internal ruins of different atmospheric habitats, all of which are constrained by similar material properties are excavated. In Addition, roofing is installed within the main ruins to allow for shade. The void created between masses can become programmatic or circulation space. Our proposal aims to provide different experiences and atmospheres within a small footprint. Through the use of affordable sustainable materials that are assembled onsite, framing of views, and innovating with materiality, procession, and program.

Bathing Space

at the End of Time

“The old idea of one hospital to satisfy all needs is a thing of the past . . . we need a series of institutions . . . in the terminal situation, the family is as necessary as any other form of care. But we exclude families from intensive care units . . . we’ll need [care settings] where humanity won’t have to overcome the technical apparatus. “

John D. Thompson (1975)

ARC 502 | Instructed by Prof. Michael Hughes

Shelter

Defining “Shelter”

The shelter at the end of time is a graphic novel. The transcript story grows simultaneously with the narrative of each space. The approach is to design based on the main four roles of this story. The design focuses on the senior, parents, child, and nurse to explore each character’s perspective. The background story and the different desires of each character guides the design constraints. The goal is to demonstrate a suitable experience rather than unrealistic happiness. The book Condemned Buildings by Douglas Darden is the main inspiration of this thesis. He believed “architecture is implicated in both its insistence on authenticity and its complicity in the production of the fake. That man is off-center of divine creation.” Although this project strives to place human back to the center of the circle, it prevents any unrealistic joyful emotions. The aim is to create the platform for question. Hospitals has been designed as a disease at its central core rather than human.

Drawing Collage of an Ideal Shelter

Chapter Narratives

The book is divided into three chapters. Chapter one is Humanity: A failed project. This chapter explains albert background life and his near-death experience while he was working in the dam. It also tells the story of his persistence to persuade his wife to have a surgery when she had a sever chronic disease. The surgery was not successful which made his wife’s final days more difficult, a guilt that Albert took to his grave. Therefore, this chapter is comparing hospital to this project as a narrative. Second chapter discusses the idea that beauty would fade and that is why it is beautiful. It is about albert’s life inside the project till the last moment of his life. You can listen to part of this chapter in the narrated video. The narrative of this story is all about metaphors and strives to challenge the hospital surgical deaths. The last section is “this is your curtain call” as albert’s memory stays and becomes part of the project.

Redefining each space through different naming strategies pushed the project further from a normal terminal care. There are six main programs including the shelter of stillness, temple of forgetfulness, curtain call-osseum, opening night machine, garden of life, and the closing night. The shelter of stillness is a house for living as well as dying. The temple of forgetfulness is a place for nurses to forgive and forget pain. As their livings become monotonous in the terminal cares, there is a need to refresh their mind. Curtain call-osseum is a combination of curtain call and Colosseum. It is a place to grieve with warmth as the body getting prepared for the garden of life. The closing night has been chosen as an opposing manner to the nightclub. This is a space to fulfill the emotional needs of the person who lost the loved one. Therefore, this is place for grieving and it contains the isolated shafts and tunnel of memory. The ceremonial entry is unique to each character role. In this case, the family would go through the tunnel to the parking and take a boat to reach the site.

Speculative reconsideration of the shelter

Shelter of stillness

The shelter of stillness is a house for living as well as dying. There is a temporary part of the project which can be connected to the living. It is a memorial architecture which becomes a metaphor for what happens in afterlife by referring back to the idea that man is the universe. The shelter of stillness is inspired by the caterpillar transformation to a butterfly. The living shelter is a chrysalis which would be removed as the patient dies and the remaining stays as a memorial. The different iterations of the shelter are shown on page 3 to 6. These experimentations show the breathing mechanism and light controlling elements.

Another essential element in the shelter of stillness is the tree. The tree can become the source of enjoyment for the child and an interaction to the patient. It is also the crucial part of the transition from shelter of stillness to the garden of memory. As the person dies the opening night machine transfer the body and the tree to the curtain call-osseum. After the rituals, the body would be transformed to the biodegradable burial pod which transforms body into the memorial as a form of tree and it metaphorically becomes part of the tree as the narrative suggested.

Curtain call-osseum

For most people, the scariest part of death is not being dead, but the dying process. Curtain call-osseum is the ritual part of the project. As the body is heading toward the garden of life everyone pauses and share their stories about the deceased. In other words, it facilitates grieving with warmth rather than repugnance. Let us compare this with a hospital death when the patient’s life ends it feels as if the person never existed. They assault our senses. But this is your curtain call. This is a death with dignity. As the opening night machine enters the curtain call, the ceiling opens up informing others that someone is flying and blooming like a flower in the dawn.

Moth and flame

The last page of the book asks a simple question: How many wings have burnt in the hope of light? It refers to the moth and flame as a metaphor of hospital surgical deaths. The project offers allegories instead of solutions and sets the stage for inquiry and rhetorical thinking. As the light displays the shape, shadow would define the edges. This project seeks the absence of light to discover a drop of joy. These last moments create the memory of remaining and the last experience for the senior. It is all about accepting, embracing, and celebrating the last chances. Indeed, there is no good way to say the last goodbye. But we can live well not in spite of death but because of it. Death implies life and life implies death. Let death be what takes us not the lack of imagination.

Artificial Refuge Ecosystem

ARC 401 | Instructed by Prof. George Katodrytis

The project is an artificial ecosystem which can be called as “partial life”. It merges with the landscape like a fossil and expands, adapts, evolves and dissolves over time. The scaffolding-like structure braces the topography as prosthetic to the sand dunes surface. These tectonic features accelerate the crystallization growth over the pressured cloth to create the inhabitable spaces. Furthermore, using and generated by the dynamics of natural phenomena (sand, fog, temperature and wind) the project becomes a new ecology and landscape to preserve and inhabit a barren landscape. Three different scales and modes of inhabitation are created that correspond to the various natural levels of the desert. Therefore, the project is a transition between the small crystal particles to the large sand dunes which creates an important hierarchy.

The program is a working and living unites mainly for refugees. These working units are divided to agriculture and construction sections since the project is constantly expanding. The living units are smaller spaces and located near to the sabkha site. The agricultural units are the connection to the dunes far from the crystallization reactions. According to my researches, two of the main problems of refugee camps are the lack of ability to work and limited inhabitation spaces. However, this proposal suggests evolving and extending inhabitation units with the opportunity for farming and construction works.

Kitchen Render

Front Porch Render

Interior Elevation Render

Physical Model West Side

Physical Model East Side

Physical Model Birds Perspective

The project is the interlocking of cluster of masses. The project is divided to two main masses, services and living spaces. Living spaces are interlocking spaces as the void becomes the living room and circulations. Focus is to frame the internal views with consideration to UAE hot climate and preserving privacy.

Collaboration with Ali Sader

AD House

Living Room Render

physical Model South Facade

physical Model South Facade

physical Model North Facade

physical Model North Facade