MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT AWARD JURY

design MENA Summit 2019

Is architectural education nowadays still relevant to the profession? Why do we have so many fresh graduates who lack basic skills? What academia should teach to students? These are long-lasting questions, and to provide answers, one has to face the complexity of such a pedagogical dilemma. At design MENA summit 2019, I tried to address this issue together with esteemed colleagues both from practice and academia.

THE TRIP TO IZMIR UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS - DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

It has been a great pleasure to take part in the pre-final reviews at IUE and talk about the urban phenomenon of Dubai. Good work, fun students, great place and people!

SPACE[LESS]CITY ARC501_F19 - URBAN REGENERATION AL NASSERYA FINAL REVIEWS

“It was incredibly rewarding to debate and discuss the projects with the students and witness the emphasis placed on creating livable, human-centric places and spaces with consideration to the wider context.” Richard Fenne

The ARC501 fall course has ended with a successful final review day. For the first time, at AUS, a design studio developed the work of a MUP (Master of Urban Planning) course conducted in a previous semester.

Moreover, for the first time, the whole class worked as a single team in defining a holistic and sustainable strategy for the regeneration of a large area of Sharjah. The prestigious invited critics highly commended the outcomes. I am very proud of my students. Well done guys!

Guest Critics:

Yoonju Kametani - Principal Landscape Architect at Landscape Architecture Consultancy

Richard Fenne - Principal and Regional Executive Chair Middle East Region at Woods Bagot

Tariq Khayyat - Principal at Tkdp

Rafael Pizarro - Professor at AUS

Chris Wan - Head Design Management at Masdar

Cityscape Global Award 2019 Judging Day

with good friend Kourosh Salehi Design Director – LWK + PARTNERS

PechaKucha Night | Green Vision is our Possible Future

It was a great night at Al Serkal Avenue. Very interesting presentations given by dedicated scholars researching on sustainability.

designMena Summit 2019

I am very glad to be invited to talk about Architectural Education in the Gulf at designMena Summit 2019

Panel Discussion: Bridging the gap between industry and academia

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CITYSCAPE GLOBAL AWARD 2019

With the award ceremony the 2019 edition of Cityscape Global Award has ended. It was a really interesting experience to serve as judge for the residential, retail, and sustainable categories evaluating projects coming from different areas of the world.

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ARC501 Fall Semester / Urban Regeneration - Al Nasserya / Sharjah - Prof. Cristiano Luchetti

Urban Analysis & Design Reviews

“The Sharjah Department of Planning and Survey and Sharjah Urban Planning Council have recently started independent initiatives to explore and propose ways by which deteriorated neighborhoods can be enhanced. The mandate is to maintain the existing housing stock (structurally intact ones) and propose enhancements to the public realm and social infrastructure of those areas based on the needs and specificity of each neighborhood. One of the mandates is to find ways to attract Emirati families back to these neighborhoods without necessarily displacing the existing population.”

In this phase students investigated through mapping, surveys, and fieldwork the existing conditions and proposed innovative urban design solutions grounded on the findings of the research.

Guest critics:

Ahmed Bukhash - Director of Urban Planning at the Dubai Creative Clusters Authority

Islam El Mashtooly - Director / Design & More International

Rafael Pizarro - Professor / Master Urban Planning

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IX AISU CONGRESS - THE GLOBAL CITY AS PERVASIVE PHENOMENON

My paper on Dubai’s POPOS was presented at the IX Congress organized by the Italian Association of Urban History. In the paper I analyze how in Dubai, in recent times, different urban strategies aimed at defining a new offer of exclusively pedestrian play / commercial spaces. They focus on the design of the urban "public" space as a promoter of real estate value. (Photos Stefania Mangini)

STUDENTS' PROJECT PUBLISHED ON ILLUSTRARCH

The project “Social Housing In Abu Shagara” by Fatma M. Ibrahim + Mariam E. A. Ashwal students of my ARC502 course in Spring 2019 has been selected for publication on IllustrArch web zine. Link HERE.

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UAE MODERN - 2019 EDITION

Cristiano Luchetti is among the members of the scientific panel for the Nature Based Generations - Call for Entries

with:

Samantha Cotterell, Director of Design and Overlay, Expo 2020 Duba

Mario Cucinella, Founder MC A, SOS - School of Sustainability Hon FAIA, Int. Fellow RIBA

Stefano Mancuso, Associate Professor, Director LINV

Layton Reid, Founding Director of Desitecture

Stefan Uhlenbrook, Director, UNESCO, Water Assessment Program

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