I am invited to present my students’ work and my research on affordable housing in the UAE to the students of the ARC584 course led by Prof. Apostolos Kyriazis. It is a great opportunity to discuss new housing typologies and urban regeneration strategies for the suburbs of Arabian cities.
MY PIECE ON ARCHITECTURE CRITICISM IN THE GULF PUBLISHED ON COMMERCIAL INTERIOR DESIGN
"THE EXTRA URBAN HOUSE" / 1ST LECTURE @ HERIOT-WATT
We enjoyed hosting Prof. Attilio Petruccioli, who gave a super exciting lecture on traditional courtyard houses in the Middle East. Prof. Petruccioli, former Professor of Design for Islamic Societies at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT, gave the first lecture of the "Extra-Urban House" design seminar within the first-year course at Heriot-Watt Dubai in Spring 2021. Deep awareness and knowledge of history and traditional typologies are essential to elevating young architectural designers' intellectual development.
"The extra urban house" design seminar featured on CID
Commercial Interior Design published an article with an interview on the design seminar I organized for Heriot Watt
LECTURE @ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO
I am very grateful for the invitation to talk about the urban regeneration of Al Nasserya at the University of California San Diego. The course “Designing Urban Ecologies” offered by Prof. Kyong Park is among those participating in the CoolCity project for the Future School / Korean Pavilion at the Architecture Venice Biennale 2021.
The Iranian Palazzina / C34 Compasses Architecture & Design
The new issue of Compasses is finally published after a very difficult period. I curated a 44 page focus on the multi-storey residential buildings in Iran. Here is an excerpt from the editorial text:
“ In the midst of all this, the [focus] on the Iranian Palazzina is like a fulcrum on which the suggestions just recalled leverage, an in-depth study by Cristiano Luchetti, who deals with a recurring residential typology in the metropolis of Tehran and beyond, detecting the legacies of memory. As well illustrated in the introductory essay by Attilio Petruccioli – a great expert in Islamic architecture, and Iranian in particular – the fil rouge is highlighted even here, holding together the nine projects specially selected for this issue, all characterized by high quality architecture, which recovers elements of the Iranian construction tradition by reinterpreting them in a contemporary key. The result is a panorama of emerging and/or already well-established architects (among the latter Hooba design, Keivani Architects, New Wave architecture, White Cube Atelier, NextOffice, Habibeh Madjdabadi Architecture Studio) that certainly makes us reflect also on the Italian tradition of Palazzina, not always equal in quality if compared with the beautiful projects selected here.” C34 editorial by A. Pane
DESIGN SEMINAR / THE EXTRA URBAN HOUSE @ HERIOT-WATT / DUBAI
Even if the current global and local economic conditions have directed the real estate market towards adopting more cautious strategies, the expansion of Arab cities still seems unstoppable. Peri-urban and desert areas seem to be the new frontiers of accelerated urban development. For this reason, a moment of reflection is necessary to identify best practices and suggest sustainable strategies in the design of residential typologies in the extra-urban context. The Architectural Design course 2, I lead at Heriot-Watt University / Dubai, will undertake this research through a series of lectures and workshops offered by some of the protagonists of the regional contemporary architectural scenario.
I am pleased to announce the design seminar: "The extra-urban house. Forms and typologies of desert-side dwellings in the UAE ". With co-tutors: Andrew Shaw, Katarzyna Tracz, Guest lecturers and critics: Farid Esmail, Islam El Mashtooly, Farah Naz, Attilio Petruccioli, Hannes Werner.
URBAN WALK @ HERITAGE AREA OF SHARJAH
Within the Art & Culture Tour initiative organized by Agenzia Malatacca I led an urban walk with a group of 20 art enthusiasts in the heritage area of Sharjah. An opportunity to talk about the historical urban form of Arabian cities, and the relation between contemporary and vernacular architecture.
JURY CRITIC @ INTERIOR DESIGN GRADUATION AJMAN UNIVERSITY
I am delighted by this invitation and looking forward to evaluating the work produced by the Ajman university / College of Architecture Art & Design students.
Art & Culture Tour / Sharjah
Thanks to Michela Spugnini and Agenzia Malatacca for the invitation to lead this walkthrough of Sharjah's heritage area.
It is a great opportunity to talk about my research on the urbanism and architecture of the emirates' cultural capital.
CoolCity for Future School / Korean Pavilion @ Venice Biennale 2021
With the first trans-oceanic meeting we started again the Cool City project that will be part of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021.
The project statement and research schedule will be available soon.
CID ARTICLE / THE AUGMENTED CREATIVITY OF INTERIOR DESIGN
My article about differences between interior design and architecture was published on Commercial Interior Design
2nd Lecture for Archinet
With more than 300 registered attendees the lecture about the Dubai’s desert side was very successful. Thanks again to Archinet for inviting me to talk about my research again .
Al Nasserya - Winner Architecture Masterprize 2020
My students' project "Urban Sustainable Regeneration of Al Nasserya" is one of the winners in the Urban Design Category Architecture Masterprize 2020. Another important recognition of our research on how urban design and architecture can provide alternative solutions to the re-qualification of Arabian cities' problematic areas.
The project already received the following prizes in 2020:
-Critic's Award / 30th International Seminar and Award for Architecture and Urban Culture / Camerino 2020
-Honorable mention / World Design Awards 2020
-Shortlisted / Future Generation Competition at Middle East Energy 2020
-Selected for presentation / Sharjah Engineering Forum 2020
-Aqua Care Machine Park, one of the projects developed within the Al Nasserya masterplan, won the "Sustainable Architecture Design in Buildings Outstanding Team Award" at the 8th Sharjah Sustainability Awards 2020
LECTURE SERIES / CITIES OF THE WORLD
I am very thankful to Prof. Massimo Angrilli for the invitation to be part of this exciting lecture series and to speak about my research on Dubai. I look forward to hearing about other cities!
ORDINARY LEGACY DESIGN WORKSHOP / NEW ECO-MUSEUM FOR THE MARITIME CULTURE OF PORTO SAN GIORGIO
I am thankful for the invitation to be one of the two critics for the final reviews of this interesting design workshop. I designed a project for the same area for an invited competition back in 2004. I look forward to see the new concepts proposed by the students.
Commercial Interior Design / Italian and UAE universities to collaborate on joint design research for project at Mina Zayed
CID featured the ongoing UNIVPM / ZU -CACE design research on Mina Zayed in Abu Dhabi
Architectural Design for the Enhancement and Conservation of the Architectural Heritage @ UNIVPM
Within my Ph.D. program activities at the Universita' Politecnica Delle Marche, I will be co-teaching the 4th year course "Architectural Design for the Enhancement and Conservation of the Architectural Heritage." This year's theme will be the re-qualification of an industrial area in Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi. We will start next week with two exciting lectures. The first one given by Prof. Apostolos Kyriazis will be about the existing context; in the second one, a freshly graduated student from Abu Dhabi University will present her thesis project supervised by Prof. Basem Eid Mohamed.
The Global Undergraduate Awards 2020 Programme
Malak Hawamdeh, one of my students of the ARC302_S20 course, submitted her entry 'Al Zorah Coastal Institute of Ajman' to The Global Undergraduate Awards 2020 Programme. From the email I received: "The judging panel has deemed Malak a Highly Commended Entrant in the Architecture & Design category. Her entry emerged as among the top 10% of entries submitted to that category. With 4,148 submissions to The Global Undergraduate Awards this year, this is a truly remarkable achievement." It is worth to note that while the almost totality of the projects were either thesis or 5th-year work, Malak achieved this outstanding result with a 3rd-year project. Congratulations to this talented young designer!
Spaces and Places 2nd Global Inclusive Interdisciplinary Conference
We received a confirmation on acceptance of our submission “Adaptive Space” for presentation at the “Spaces and Places: 2nd Global Interdisciplinary Conference in Lisbon” on 14-15 March 2021. The video/ performance was conceived and realized in collaboration with Zinka Bejtic.