Ehsan Abushadi - Student Architecture Portfolio

Ehsan Abushadi Architecture Portfolio

Graduated February 2015 BSc. Architectural Engineering Anthropology minor Arab & Islamic Civilizations minor

eashadi@aucegypt.edu linkedin.com/in/ehsanabushadi

Maqa’ad al-Mutajaweleen AENG 491 - Senior Project II

Fall 2014 - Design Spring 2014 - Research Thesis Individual design. Research & masterplan with Menna Afify, Reham Hamad, Nada Hany, Marina Ibrahim, Maya Kazamel, Salma el-Lakany

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Philosophy Revitalization of the intangible heritage of Cairo through the reintroduction and reinvention of the traditional places for social gathering that are platforms for alternative forms of exchange and learning.

Section A, cutting through the workshops/studios, the Takiya of Taqi al-Din al-Bistami, and the Bimaristan of al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh.

Connectivity and Islamic Design Connectivity was a cruicial aspect of the project, it is what brought the individual plots together, unifying them into a coherent whole. The Qasaba or spine of the project, which is entered from the gate of Darb

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al-Labbana, is the throbbing is with activity on many inward looking levels, platforms, stairs and ramps that link through and across it. This non-facade architecture is a dominant aspect of the project it mostly consists of an urban and architectural infill intervention, these are both typical aspects of Islamic architecture as few buildings were, meant to be standalone.

Section B, cutting through the ‘Qasaba’ which is one of the main nodes of activity.

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Collectiveness The Bimaristan of al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh originally was a larger complex that spanned all the way to the midan. The project links between the infilled interventions, the existing rehabilitated buildings, and the alleys of Haret al-Marstan to recreate the unity the complex once had through spatial and learning interactions.

The social and learning collective is reinforced by the program of the project: an hammam and an artist residency.

The hammam is reintroduced as a place of gathering as well as for mental, emotional and physical regeneration. This theme carries in other areas of the project by providing spaces of inspiration for the artists within the project, community, neighbourhood and Bab al-Azab.

The artist residency springs from the idea of the madrasa as a place where people would go to learn in an unquantifiable way, until they were satisfied. It also is inspired from the idea of mentorship and the wikalas where the living spaces would be above the communal working spaces.

Ground floor plan.

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Program The studio building is made up of large rooms that can be partitioned into smaller rooms, the south eastern end contains insulated music and dance rooms, the roof includes a large terrace, lounge and bedrooms.

The Takiya is rehabilitated into small study rooms for smaller and quieter activities, a lecture hall, a library, a reception and a large terrace that connects to the first floor of the dormitory building across the street, which includes a restaurant.

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The Bimaristan is rehabilited with the insertion of platforms into a performance and exhibition space with some areas available for workshops and sessions.

The Hammam contains the Tea House, Baths as well as a soap and perfume workshop and retail space.

In addition, the platforms on the Qasaba, the courts, and urban spaces are available for the daily activities of the neighbourhood and artists.

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Top, first floor plan. Bottom left, second floor plan. Bottom right, the Darb al-Labbana gate. and studio elevation made of veneer alabaster cladding, and borrowing fenestration outlines from the Bimaristan to emphasis the wholeness of the complex.

Journey of the senses

Right, street elevation showing tea house and hammam entrance, existing buildings and solar water heating mashrabeya. Below, hammam section.

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A busy street. A quaint door, a tea house perfuming the air with mingling scents and tinkling glasses as spoons whirl in glasses above murmuring voices. Through an arch to a dim lit stone lounge cooled with the water gently flowing down the shadurwan fountain, and the mellow breeze descending from the court sways the leaves, wafting floral fragrance. Onward to the bath through the vestibule, muqarnas stalactites high above drip, drip, dripping into pools.

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Bimaristan elevation showing the open plaza and the tunnel passageway.

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Bimaristan

Public Space

The building is currently undergoing restoration.

My proposal is one where the tunnel underneath the building is cleared and opened to the public so it may once more serve as a passageway.

The project conserves and reclaims the negative space of the historic urban fabric as public spaces that are as much part of the project’s activities as they are part of the community’s activities.

In its current roofless state, the building has a different spirit, one of tranquil lightness and spirituality, open to a world of wonder and creativity. It is a vessel full of potential declaring: the sky is the limit.

Part of the way this is achieved is through the pods, different arraingements of palm stalk units arranged to provide different urban furniture and shelters. These were designed by the group and are used throughout the masterplan inside the projects as well as in the rest of the urban spaces.

al-Hattaba Urban Pockets Regeneration As part of the community integration aspects of the masterplan and particularly Reham’s community center and my project, we designed the empty/landfill plots along Sikkat al-Mahgar that connects our projects.

football court cinema graffiti outdoor wall women’s area pocket garden

cafe

with Reham Hamad

Top left, plan of urban regeneration area. Bottom left, highlighted negative space and proposed interventions. Right, zoom in on urban interventions. Clockwise from top right: football court, outdoor cinema/stage, pocket garden, cafe, outdoor women’s working area & graffiti wall.

Masterplan Bab al-’Azab The revitalization of the area starts with the Nucleus, the interventions within the the lower enclosure of the Citadel, that are the beacon that attract the tourists. The next phase is Reflection, ensures a strong connection between the project and the local community to ensure dialogue. The third phase is Outreach, these are the projects that attract people that are more interested in the area than in the tourist attractions.

Nucleus • Conservation school (with a focus on residents & their homes) • Diwan, rare books library and conservation • Boutique hotel & bazaar • al-Sahn, new waqf administration, think-tank dialogue platform and NGO hub Reflection • Community center, theatre and kids’ activities Outreach • Artists’ residency and hammam • Crafts workshops

Masterplan showing projects and urban interventions.

Cotton Metaphor AENG 468 - Urban Design and Landscape Architecture

Fall 2013 Project 2 3 weeks with Maya Kazamel, Marwan Omar, Yosra Rafat & Karim Wadid

Cotton has been the pride and joy of Egypt for centuries; it has been a cruicual product in the shaping of Egypt through history into modern times as it has greatly impacted the economy, politics, society and culture.

In this project we use the cotton plant as a metaphor that grows and blooms from the Nile water.

Top, close-up photograph of model. Right, birds-eye view of model.

The mixed-use development project grows across and out of the site, with the organic buildings representing the growth of the plant.

Starting at the cultural end of the project with the museum and exhbition center it grows to the residential and administration areas and from there to the convention center.

Right, site plan. Bottom, photograph of physical model.

The design was mostly created through the manual assembly and shaping of the masses made up of the individual origami units. The overall design had a rythem and flow that makes the whole project come together in harmony.

The material allowed for the sensual curves that are present in the project. We had to be creative in how the form surved a function and how towers could stand. This lead to the use of concave and A-frame forms as a widespread language of form generation. In some parts changing the scale of the origami units created variation in the pattern and assembly of the units.

Top, southern elevation. Left, close up detail of A-frame.

Alternative 2: Triangulation

This design approach tackles the site as a mass that has triangles carved away and stacked to give a dynamic composition. Overhangs and water bodies defines the open space.

Right, site plan. Bottom, photograph of physical model.

Shade of Potential AENG 454 - Architectural Design Studio IV: Art of Structure and Technology What is a jury? - Problem Exploration An experiential model was devised to show how different people react, interpret and solve a puzzle placed in front of them. This led to developing a statement that attempts at answerinf the question of ‘what is a jury?’, the answer: a platform where dynamic minds harvest potential through dialogue. In this case the statement applies to all individuals involved in the jury.

Structural Experientialism The statement was translated into an experiential structure system, where membrane represented potential, tensile cables represented dialogue that takes place between the membrane/ potential and the frame/jury within the architectural education. The more dialogue is present, the complex the form of the membrane and the more potential within a jury.

Left, traditional formats of the jury. Right, more inclusive formats of the jury, inclusive in the design, discussion, and integrating the passer-by community into the jury, and the overall dialogue of design.

Summer 2013 6 weeks

with Nada Hany & Marina Ibrahim

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Infilled courtyard between the architecture studios and the architecture department on the first floor wings. Physical, intellectual and social connector.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Top, site plan showing the intervention within the building (grey).

Bottom left, Section B. Bottom right, Section A.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Site

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Design PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

The design aims to create a physical transparency that evokes a transparency in the educational system that allows for a new inclusive dialogue.

Flexibility of space allows for many configurations of space usage that accommodates the traditional, new and exerimental presentation methods.

Passing through the space as activities take place includes the community in the dialogue.

Left, ground floor plan. Right, sectional photo of model showing structural detail.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Right, photograph of physcial model scale 1:20. Top left, alternative layoutBYtoANthe ground floor. Bottom left, another PRODUCED AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT alternative layout to the ground floor.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Structural design

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

The bracing and stability of the frames and hence the whole system was very much designed through the physical model made up of bamboo skewers in a scale of 1:20. Through manually applying lateral and downward forces we were able to identify the points that needed bracing to prevent both displacement and buckling due to forces. The model became impecibly stable to the point where we would apply all our upper body strength and even pick up the model into the air and wave it around and it would receive no harm.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Lake Manzala: Wave Defractor AENG 455 - Architectural Design Studio V: Smart buildings & Hi-tech architecture

Fall 2013 6 weeks

group research with Alam El-Din, Hamad, Kazamel & El-Lakany

Problem Definition The lack of defined edges causes many of the problems in the lake. However, the one defined edge is the sand strip separating the lake from the Mediterranean Sea. This strip is in danger of disappearing due to coastal errosion and reclamation; a post-modern issue that evolved due to the ceased flooding that would deposit soil on the delta, protecting it from coastal errosion. If this strip disappears, so will the lake, its ecosystem and its traditions. The lake would become a salt water bay, where the current sweet water fish and plants would perish.

Concept & Design Create an ecological wave breaker inspired by the traditional fishing spiral pens but with an inverted function that lets the fish through whilst diminishing the energy of the waves. It is inserted in the water so that it does not compromise the integrity of the sand strip.

The wave breaker is made of angled bamboo tubes, when the wave passes through it, the wave is fragmented and hence loses some energy. This is material already used by the locals to let water through to their fish ponds.

The bamboo fiber rope, which competes in strength with steel tension cables, attaches the bamboo tubes to the frame. The local fishermen can maintain the units themselves. The units are placed to let boats pass.

Top, 3D render of wave breakers in place. Bottom, fabrication of the parametric model made on Grasshopper..

Acoustic Petals AENG 473 - Digital Design Studio and Workshop Spring 2013 Term project Inspired by the form of curled petals, cone like modules were designed which when put together form sound absorbing elements due to their hollow form and soft material. These elements can be combined in numerous ways to form a large variety of fixtures ranging from sculpture units, to room partitions, to ceiling installations - which can also act as a light fixture.

The design has a DIY quality of assembly similar to IKEA products. The pattern of the module is designed to roll into three variations of a cone depending on which slits are buttoned together.

Any number of modules can be assembled together using double sided buttons. The cone varieties affect how compact the overall arrangement is.

The design was fabricated as part of the course and a small sample of a partition assenbled.

Far top, render of ceiling installation. Near top, sketch of acoustic petals partition.

Right, digitally fabricated and assembled sample of partition.

with Salma El-Lakany, Ahmed ElLeithi, Reham Hamad & Maya Kazamel

Short Term-Small Scale Intervention: Religions of Durban Annual Festival The Warwick Junction and Durban boast of their large religious diversity.

However, there is little that happens to demonstrate this pride and variety.

We proposed a Religions of Durban Festival. All the different worshippers start at their respective temples and religious centers with activities and parading and network through the city until they merge on main parade path that passes through the junction where performances will take place and lead to the beach, a place of religious rituals, cleansing and blessing.

Left, conceptual diagram of religions of Durban. Right, Religions of Durban Festival at Warwick Junction.

Medium Term-Medium Scale Intervention: The In-Between The vitalization of Monty Naiker Street: In the first prototype, the in-between space under the highway is put to use through long platforms similar to existing ones, adding more market space whilst also providing WC facilities. These are elevated under the highway to maintaing the public transportation stops under the bridge.

The second prototype uses modules to create an adaptable, user based design that addresses the various needs of shoppers and drivers.

Recreational spcace

Street vendor

Barber Exbition

car washing

Top left, Prototype 1 interior shot of platform with tables for merchandise. Bottom left, Prototype 2 sketch accomodating needs of bus drivers and market-goers. Bottom right, Prototype 1 integrated into Morty Naiker street, at the Warwick Junction, with WC facilities under the platform, as the Religions of Durban festival takes place.