A Traveler’s Hotel

from Architecture - Urban Design & Planning Portfolio

by Razan

Conflict Resolution Table

A provoker of emotion and an instigator of discovery

Academic | Design Studio lll Fall 2015

Location: Tripoli, Libya

Instructors: Dr. Adel Al Zaitouni

Prepared By: Razan F. Elmrayed

Curiosity have been and still is the force to mankind’s ultimate discoveries, the idea of matter and knowledge unknown is almost eerie, an element that holds great power over humans, an abstract tool that urges as well as manipulates man into marching forward to uncover hidden truths, the soil and sea are the floors to those truths, the two surfaces merged into a puzzle of a form that continues to this very day to invoke man’s curiosity, by virtue of its size, the observer could never view the land upon which he stood as whole, thus never to acquire concrete direct visual evidence of its image, always the desire to uncover the portions unseen, that yearning for knowledge stemmed from the emotions invoked during a time when man stood at the very brink of earth, gazed at the sea, awed by the vast vicious waters, mesmerized by the sinister depths of waters and compelled by that one sharp limiting line that separates the waters of the sea from the abyss of the sky.

The mindset of an exile gradually transforms into the like of an explorer’s, upon entering foreign lands, driven by questions raised by conflicting emotions that in turn stimulate consecutive movement, and together they draw up a course of conscious process known as experience, all of which are responses to the nature and effects of elements that impact during their journey, the explorer wanders upon the host to the bare external discoveries; earth, and encounters man-made elements bestowed upon that very earth, on different foreign lands, within and at the outskirts of cities, and near the line that divides land from sea, safe havens within which the explorer reflects on the collective internal discoveries.

What of a place that harbors a journey of discovery within itself, a place endowed to serve as safe haven to those alienated their surroundings, a shelter that provides the fundamental factor of contempt as well as the wonder of unique experience, for this will empower the sense of curiosity and never to entirely extinguish the sense of discovery, the safe haven would serve as a tool to further deepen the experience of the traveler through the emotions invoked, providing a visual connection to the uncertain beyond, a scene viewed solitarily of oceans filled with menace, and a scene viewed and experienced collectively of the arbitrary ripple of those same oceans.

The form of the hotel would serve to abstract the conflicting thoughts and experience of the traveler and the explorer, the conflicting assumptions of earth’s form, of curve and straight, of infinite and limited, and of open and enclosed, such conflicts were generated in ancient times from views of the natural environment, primarily from the image of the sea, thus the center form that is an epitome to man’s individuality stands to serve in solitude and to connect each and every traveler directly and solely to the vast oceans, the platform upon which the center form stands would serve travelers collectively, an atrium, enclosed by transparent walls that connect with city and nature, and lidded by ceilings bore at tremendous heights, a space filled with the expectancy of the ones below and the empowerment of the ones above, at either sides the platform provides spaces for the rituals of foreign ceremonies, of the savory of foreign cookeries, and of trade, craft and culture in a merge of individuals of both foreign as well as local decent.

VISUALY PRESENTED KNOWLEDGE, DERIVING INQUIRY

Mimickery of Nature

The absolute inhibitation of a piece of solid wood, an overlaying of the processed and the natural

Competition Entry 2018

Location: Kemeri, Latvia

Project By: Razan Elmrayed

The objective for this project is to create an environment that is accessible to anyone, we created a space that adopts the elements of nature and in using those elements the design aims to stimulate the travelers’ journey through mimicking and recreating the process of learning and discovery when done amidst nature, the design concept followed the route that the travelers take to reach the bog boardwalk, the route was further extended within the site creating an additional environment that is both separate and complementary to the bog boardwalk. The visitor center will be a multi-functional project that serves as a junction point between the nearby trails and routes which at a certain point meet within the site, creating a dynamic habitat that serves to accommodate and teach the visitor about the area, the project aims to deliver an experience that involves both those who are able to walk, and those that aren’t, providing a cultivated experience of the bog boardwalk through a network of ramps an platforms extending simultaneously along the arrival route and through a path surrounded by flat expositions along its length. As the visitor continues through the journey, the sense of nature further deepens, providing expositions that touch on the science, reality and art of nature, the building is composed of two separate forms that enclose a space that is partly outdoors and part ly indoors allowing nature to merge with the building’s physical structure, multiple linear planes along the length of the form define a particular func tion, two outer planes define a space dedicated to children where they could play and learn correspondingly, the center also provides a space dedicated to the exposition of local artist work to encourage locals to par ticipate in the protection and conservation of the Latvian natural heritage.

PROPOSED VISITOR CENTER BUILDING

CAR ARRIVAL AND PARKING

EXTENDED JOURNEY LOOP #2 ONE AND HALF HOUR

7 MINUTE ROAD CROSSED ON FOOT OR ON BIKE

FOOTBRIDGE STARTING POINT

FOREST COVERED FOOTBRIDGE

FIRST AND SECOND LOOP INTERSECTION POINT

OBSERVATION TOWER

Museum for Arab Art

The vulgar and the vague, instruments to articulate historical significance and present implications

Competition Entry 2019

Location: Sharjah, UAE

Design Team: Razan Elmrayed, Walid Elturki

Graphics: Razan Elmrayed

The design is a continuation to the chronicles of the Islamic arts, the vertical solidifies and innovates the evolution of arches in Islamic architecture, while the horizontal reinvents the significance of paradise and its expression in history through the centralized order of the Islamic garden that was later metaphorized into the intricate geometrical patterns of the Islamic Carpet. The proposed design is tied to the passing of time and history, where day presents us with a simplified identity, and night reveals the depths of the Islamic history and its architecture.

Located in the Heritage district of the UAE; Sharjah, home to a variety of architectural Islamic typology. The Museum is composed of two separate forms connected by a circular central open ground. The site boundary is conceptualized into the basic pattern of the Islamic carpet, taking in the borders and creating sub-structural forms that each rise higher than the other creating an arena-like exterior exhibition space thereby inverting the internal/external spatial relationship of the Colosseum, and forming ideal openings for the exhibitions inside. At the heart of the stepped borders, is the central cylinder form, ringed by a fountain basin with water sheets pumping from 4 arches at the main axis of the centralized design to follow the basic scheme of the Islamic garden. The cylinder form constructed with the Islamic arches and enveloped by a translucent material is seen blank by day and brightly overlapped by a spread of arches by night. The simple surface of the form allows for visual projections, to advertise exhibitions or for outdoor film screenings. Internally, it encloses platforms connected by spiraling ramps, each dedicated to a particular form of display for temporary collections.