Samer Abboud Portfolio- selected works 2018, 2021- American University of Beirut

Samer

American

Abboud

University

Selected

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of

2017-21

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Beirut

EDUCATION American University of Beirut- Architecture | 2017- 2022 (expected) Bachelors of Engineering in Architecture & Design Minor in Art History

University of California, Los Angeles| 2019 Summer Abroad| 6 credits

Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour | 2002- 2017 French Baccalaureate- Life Sciences

PROFESSIONAL Experience SAMER ABBOUD Email: samerhabboud@gmail.com Phone number: +96171411009 Nationality: Lebanese

TaraDomus, Beirut, Lebanon | 01/2021- 02/2021

2D & 3D drawings of the Reef project by TaraDomus, such as plans & facade treatments 2D drawings & detailing of furniture designed by Denise Salame

LANGUAGE Skills

Liwan Decor, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | 08/ 2020- 10/2021

Fr e n c h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N a t i v e English..................................C1 Arabic...............................B2 Italian...............................A2

Activision renovation office supervised by architect Joy Kanaan, Los Angeles, USA | 07/ 2019

COMPUTER Skills AutoCAD .............................................Advanced Rhinoceros 3D....................................Advanced Adobe Photoshop..............................Advanced Adobe InDesign.................................Advanced Microsoft Suite....................................Advanced Adobe Illustrator...........................Intermediate Sketchup...........................Intermediate V-ray...................................Intermediate Keyshot.............................Intermediate Adobe After Effects............................Beginner Grasshopper......................................Beginner

GENERAL Skills Hand drawing, sketching & watercolor Physical model making Leadership Team work Problem and puzzle solving Working under pressure & respecting deadlines

Doing the peace sign in awkward situations

EXTRACURRICULAR Activities & INTERESTS Saxophone player| Jazz, Bebop & Classical Art-history | Traveling and appreciating art Boy scout | Camping, planning & organization Cooking basics | Struggle meals yet nutritive Linguistics & Traveling | Respect & interest in others cultures & diversity

Gained opinions on the Interior design field On site experience, visiting villas & renovation projects Commercial experience, accompanying designer to furniture & tiling store Surveying offices undergoing renovation 2D drawings according to surveyed measurements Gained familiarity with the imperial system of measurements

Sabah Abi Hanna + Associates, Hamra, Lebanon | 12/ 2019- 01/2020

Designers assistant 2D & 3D designing tasks for various projects such as gallery spaces and residential complexes

Atelier des Architectes Associes, Achrafieh, Lebanon | 07/ 2016

Learning about office life in the field Meeting students studying architecture and taking advice and opinions on the matter

PROFESSIONAL Development Environmental Quality International - Siwa Oasis, Egypt | 2020

Hosted by Dr. Salma Samar Damluji, founder of the Yemen Daw’an Mud-brick Architecture Foundation.

First hand experience in the historic town of Schally On-site renovation works using vernacular mud bricks

NUSANED - Non Governmental Organization | 2020

Took part with the renovation of Beirut after the August 4th blast Team-work for maximum efficiency, reaching set goals & quickly adapting to new people Helping the community and society as much as possible

Frank Gherry Teaches Design & Architecture MasterClass | 2019

Gained an advanced point of view on Gherry’s iterative design process Shaped interest in a more organic and contemporary designs

Student Tutoring and Crash Courses | 2019- Present

Gave out classes in computer softwares such as Rhinoceros3D, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign

AUB Graphic Design & Architecture Student Society, GrASS | 2018- Present Member at Large

Lebanese American University Architecture Competition | 2017 Won second place Built a balsa wood bridge by hand and have weight put on it

TABLE of Contents [RE] Generate | Restaurants & Bars Casseopea | The Seated Queen

Souk Schally | The Missing Piece

Surveying | Preserving Lebanese Heritage

[ RE]-Gene rate

Restaurant and Bars Charles Helou Bus Station, Beirut, Lebanon B. Arch, COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN STUDIO, fall 2020 Group Work | Team of two

6 | Manifesto

Generating- Generation

The blast that happened in Beirut on August 4th, 2020 set everybody on a new wavelength: peace is a fragile notion that is often taken for granted, and never made anyone [RE] question the notion of fragility in general. It was time for a reboot. The semester was shaped by the traumatic events that went on, and so did our approach to design. With most of the lively area being destroyed, Young people were found in a blank state. Having fun was harder than ever, and no place was willing to receive visitors due to the Disastrous state of the city.

Charles Helou is a prominent highway in Beirut that was built during the fifties, allowing for a smoother circulation noting the vehicular improvements the century was experiencing. A bus station was also built on the freeway, alongside road Connections and two levels of parking. The bus station has been in a lethargic state ever since the end of the Civil War, & the two parkings are today unused and inaccessible to the public by car.

Regarding the central location of the city, the Proposal was to turn the Parkings into a Tunneled highway and Landscaping the actual highway to a public Park accessible for all, sort of like a green lung in the middle of the city. Accordingly, a tower was to be built on a plot of land next to the highway, housing offices and residential units. The building was designed taking into account the essential Need of entertainment and an affordable space for young people to finally have a sustainable access to the capital. In between each units, public spaces such as Bars and a Gym were designed to keep the Generation flow constant, counter-balancing the wrath of young people who do not find a viable way to have fun.

Site Analysis | 7

Site

STREET

HIGHWAY

ARMENIA

HELOU CHARLES

INTERVENTION OF SITE

PASTEUR

STREET

The site is located South from the explosion site, with a direct view on the remnants of the Port. Adjacent to the nightlife hub in Beirut, the site has direct access towards Mar Mikhael & Gemmeyze. It has a Northern exposure, limiting direct sunlight and temperature discrepancies.

Charles Helou Bus Station - Parking Level 2 Intervention Plots

Main Highway Secondary Entrance- Exit from Parking Connecting Streets Pedestrian Circulation

Entrance To Parking from Waterfront

Exit to Highway from Parking Towards Dora

Be

iru

tP ort

Pedestrians Staircase

Exist to Highway from Parking

Entrance to Parking from Highway

From High-Way

Strategy Three major levels were taken into consideration whilst designing the intervention. The levels gave a sort of hierarchy to the program of the intervention, segregating the private and the public, the crowded and the unfilled.

8 | Concept & Massing

Concept

After the explosion that happened on the 4th of August 2020, the area of Gemmeyze was devastated. Shops & restaurants, bars & houses got destroyed. [RE] generate builds on the history of the neighborhood to create a building community that reflects the different experiences & spaces of the area.

Corporate Wing Work

Residential Wing Technical Floors

Single Office Space

Wake & Sleep

2 Bedroom Apartment Outdoor Club Drink // Socialize

2 Office Space

2 Bedroom Apartment Bar Hopping Drink // Socialize 1 Bedroom Apartment

Large Office Space Open Air Gym Workout // Socialize Large Office Space

Duplex Apartment Ground Floor & Park Connection

Structure

Eat // Socialize

The structure of the building consisted of 4 elements: (1) a structural grid & tensile cables forming a suspended structure that allowed for open plan floors, (2) a structural truss on the roof transferring tension loads from below to the structural core, (3) an embedded truss in the structural concrete core & (4) egress stairs situated between both cores to cancel lateral loads.

Building volume

Split volumes & in-between space formation

Chamfering volumes in respect to sunlight

Shift in volume allowing northern exposure

Backwards shift in volumes creating light-wells

Formation of light-wells & maximization of natural light

Technical Drawings | 9

2 Bedroom Apartment

1 Bedroom Apartment

Section AA’

Division

The units are divided in both ‘sides’ in reverse order. On the lowest floors, the apartments are smaller & the offices bigger. On the upper floors, the apartments become bigger & the offices smaller.

10 | Public Functions

Section Through the Apartments

Section Through the Offices

3D detail of sliding louver rail

Structure | 11

Circulation Within Cores 2 private residential elevators & 1 public elevator to communal spaces

Circulation Within Core 2 private office elevators & 1 public elevator for communal spaces

Egress Stairs

Communal Spaces

Connected cores counter-balancing lateral loads

Access to communal spaces through public elevators

Ground Floor 2 reception for each core: 1 for private access & one for public access

Building Circulation

Detail of residential facade treatment

Detail of corporate facade treatment

Cass iop eia

The Seated Queen Zireh Island, Saida Governate, Lebanon B. Arch, ARCH DESIGN II, spring 2018

14 | Site Analysis

Site Plan taken at +1.20 meters

Sidon Sea Castle

Saida Old City

Saida Soap Museum

Saida Port

Site section passing through the highest point of the island

Site Analysis | 15

Site

Site Intervention

Zireh is an island located on the lower coast of Lebanon in the Saida governate. By night, the island offers extreme visual & auditory stimuli: 800 meters from the closest road, the only noises one can hear are the ones of the waves hitting the rocky shore of the island. On a good night, the lack of light allows for a bright visual of the sky for stargazing.

Conceptual Axonometric

16 | Starry Night

Starry Night | 17

18 | Shape and Structure

Concept

Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the vain queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivaled beauty. Cassiopeia was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century Greek astronomer Ptolemy, & it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today.

Strategy

The following project is named after the constellation that resembles a shell. It takes place on the uppermost northern side of the island & offers a kiosk, seating areas & a cultural center.

Section

Technical Drawings | 19

Plan

Souk Sc h al ly

T h e M i ss i n g Pi e c e Schally, Siwa, Matrouh Governate, Egypt B. Arch, VERTICAL STUDIO I, spring 2020 Group Work | Team of three

22 | Manifesto

Destination Heaven

Before arriving to our destination on February 23rd, 2020, no one knew what to expect. The only information we had was based on a research we did on a previous phase, and the Siwa Oasis on the south-western border of Egypt was a dot on the map to which no one gave real importance. The preparations were dreadful, and our destination required 26 hours in a bus from Cairo and back. Moreover, daily 9 AM workshops in which we would learn the building techniques with ma’allems were on the schedule. The cards on the table at that time could in no way be in our favor.

Our arrival from Cairo happened at around 7PM. The atmosphere was dusty, the hue of the bright night sky seemed unclear due to the high humidity and everything seemed unreal. We were accustomed in our historical hotel, the Albabenshal, which literally translates to ‘the door was removed’. The building was built from Kershif (a local sandy material) which, from afar looked like a huge sand-castle. We were accustomed to our rooms, met for dinner and went straight to bed.

Once the workshops were completed, the acquired experience was incomparable, on the one hand because of how specific the matter is and on the other hand because of how genius primitive techniques seemed. The obvious might sometimes be the hardest to see and the work definitely opened our eyes to it. What we thought would be a calvary came out as the best experience of our lives. The unimagined could not be imagined, and no one anticipated how positively the trip turned out. A special thanks goes to Environmental Quality International (EQI) and to doctor Salma Samar Damluji who rendered this unforgettable memory in our minds for ever.

Site Analysis | 23

Site

The site is located East from the Muqbil Mosque & South from the Health Center for women. The rocky texture of the site was one of the most important features to our approach, in the aim of reducing the human footprint on the site.

Muqbil Mosque

Health Center

Levels

Program

Street level ± 0.00 meter Level 1 ± 1.50 meters Level 2 ± 2.00 meters Level 3 ± 3.00 meters

1. Meeting spot, coffee & tea 2. Open garden 3. W.C 4. Market 5.Public seating 6. Indoor seating

Strategy Three major levels were taken into consideration whilst designing the intervention. The levels gave a sort of hierarchy to the program of the intervention, segregating the private & the public, the crowded & the unfilled.

24 | Program

Plan at +1.50 meters

Plan at +2.00 meters

Materiality The habitants of the oasis used a local material called Kershif, a sort of clay that was barely resistant to water and extremely site specific as it had climatic benefices to the region. Kershif is a sort of a slag mixed with salt rocks and clay, binding together with clay and drying up to the natural sunlight and heat. The process is extremely slow and highly corrosive with water.

1. Cafe 2. Garden 3. Shop 4. Bathroom 5. Courtyard 6. Exposed Seating Area 7. Enclosed Seating Area

Section CC’

Program | 25

Section AA’

Axonometric of Intervention

Sectional Axonometric of Intervention

Section BB’

26 | Passive Ventilation

Details of Test Studies for Pot Sizes leading to optimal ventilation

Pot Size 50cm- 25cm

Pot Size 30cm- 15cm

Pot Size 10cm- 5cm

Perspectival View of Pots for Structural Aperçu

Pot Size 50cm- 25cm

Pot Size 30cm- 15cm

Pot Size 10cm- 5cm

Section through Wind Catcher

Sectional Axonometric of Pots

Strategy

The mission of this studio was to mix the vernacular with the technological, giving a more contemporary aspect in resolving problems all by taking into account the available materials. The technology implied in this case is the one based of the IAAC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.

Medium Holes

Big Holes

The openings of the tower are designed wider from the outside and smaller in the inside, thus increasing the wind pressure, consequentially increasing its velocity and diminishing its temperature. Entrapment of air happens by an entrance, exit and continuous pipes throughout wall geometry to maximize airflow path in order to enhance air speed and thus lower resulting temperature.

Roofing | 27

Sectional Axonometric The load of the domes are transfered to octagonal drums that distribute the loads onto the bearing walls Salt tiling used to enhance daylight quality Picture taken at Adrere Amellal, Siwa Oasis, Egypt

Dome Section

The section is taken through one of the central domes, showing the different materials used to construct it, as well as the salt tile finish. The oculus allows light to enter during the summer and winter solstices (54o & 43o respectively).

The reflection on the cladding aids the lighting of interior spaces.

Clay & fibers for binding Pots perforating the slab Clay Palm leaf midribs Half log beams Set of primary beams

The above diagram shows the solar angle that hits the pot during the summer solstice. Barely any direct sunlight penetrates the space, and the rest is reflected into the interior as daylight. The diagram on the right shows the solar angle that hits the pot during the winter solstice. All light rays are reflected into the interior space as daylight.

Surv ey in g

Preserving Lebanese Heritage Metn District, Mount Lebanon, Lebanon B. Arch, ARCH241, Summer 2018 Group work | Team of two

30 | Elevations and Details

South Elevation, Beit Chabeb, Mount Lebanon

Traditional Window Detail

West Elevation, Bikfaya, Mount Lebanon

Elevations & Details | 31

East Elevation, Beit Chabeb, Mount Lebanon

Traditional Window Detail

North Elevation, Bikfaya, Mount Lebanon