American University of Sharjah’s College of Architecture, Art and Design takes center stage at Dubai Design Week 2024

In addition to the successful debut of American University of Sharjah’s (AUS) Six Degrees Offsite exhibition at Dubai Design Week, the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) is delighted to showcase twenty-six works, projects and installations by AUS students, faculty and alumni at Dubai Design Week 2024. 

This year, a significant number of exhibits led by members of AUS’ College of Architecture, Art and Design community will be peppered throughout the streets and buildings of Dubai Design District, showcasing over two decades of excellence in design education emerging from AUS’ College of Architecture, Art and Design.

"Events like Dubai Design Week offer invaluable opportunities to bridge academia and industry. By fostering this exchange, we hope to provide students with impactful exposure while empowering them to shape the future of the design field," said Dalia Hamati, Visiting Assistant Professor at AUS and Dubai Design Week participant.

“We are delighted to see the wide range of students, faculty and alumni from AUS’ architecture, art and design programs showcasing their work at Dubai Design Week this year. It is inspiring to see that many of these projects also tackle important contemporary issues such as sustainability, forced displacement or the preservation and celebration of Arabic language and culture. Our contribution to this year’s event reflects AUS’ commitment to a holistic and socially-conscious education,” said Dr. Varkki Pallathucheril, Dean of CAAD.

The events are open to all members of the public looking to partake in experiences that celebrate the transformative power of design.

Below is a round-up of some of the key projects, installations and exhibitions featuring members of AUS’  architecture, art and design community.

Projects featuring AUS students

Project name: Six Degrees Offsite Exhibition
Location: Building 6, Atrium

Six Degrees Offsite represents the first time AUS’ annual exhibition of works by graduating CAAD students will be showcased during Dubai Design Week. The exhibition will be on view at Building 6, Dubai Design District, November 5-10 , between 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. each day. The full details of the exhibition can be found here.

Project name: S'ILA
Location: Between Buildings 4-5, near Vicolo

S'ILA is an installation by architecture students Maryam Bin Bishr, Nuhaila AlHemeiri and Salma Ali Hani created for Dubai Design Week. Inspired by themes of richness and cultural heritage in the Arabic language, the project explores the connection between ta’abeer (expression) and Arabic, influenced by personal reflections on its beauty. Utilizing recycled wood panels linked by steel rods, the design symbolizes diversity within Arabic while showcasing individual expressions that form a cohesive whole. The geometric wooden base represents the foundational nature of language, celebrating the shared cultural legacy of Arabic. Read more or get the location for the S’ILA installation here.

Projects featuring AUS students and faculty

Project name: RIBA Gulf Future Architects Student Exhibition
Location: Building 5, Atrium

Ahead of Dubai Design Week, RIBA Gulf invited AUS architecture students and students from three other UAE-based universities to participate in a competition. The resulting exhibition will take place during Dubai Design Week and will officially open on November 6, 2024, with an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. 

More information can be found on Dubai Design Week’s official website.

Project name: ENSIAB x DXBDW24
Location: Between Buildings 5 -7, near The Espresso Lab

EN-SI-AB is an installation created by Tania Ursomarzo, AUS Assistant Professor of Architecture and Interior Design, alongside AUS alumnae Sara AlMahmoud and Maryam AlQassim. It was constructed using over 1000 wax masonry blocks and uses soy wax, a vegetable wax derived from soybean oil, making it a natural, renewable and biodegradable alternative to conventional building materials. The project studies the use of soy wax masonry in a load-bearing capacity and is the formal outcome of a structural study that experiments with rotations in the assembly. Following Dubai Design Week 2024, the wax blocks will be recycled into new building blocks for further exploration. This installation has been supported by Golden Wax, AAK INDIA PVT LTD, resinarthub.ae, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and Proto21. More details about the project can be found here.

Projects featuring AUS alumni

Project name: IWAN Pavilion

Location: Close to Building 4, near Vicolo

Hayat Almousa and Lama Dardas, AUS architecture 2020 alumnae, are presenting Iwan, the winning pavilion from the Tanween Foldable Pavilion Challenge, a collaboration between the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Mamou Mani Studio and ABYWAT. Designed in collaboration with other emerging Saudi architects Abdulqader Alsuwaidan, Nawaf Alghamdi, Iwan draws its inspiration from Islamic architecture, in particular iwan, a distinctive transitional space, and muqarnas, a form of ornamental decoration. Iwan is crafted from folded aluminum panels and will offer Dubai Design Week audiences an immersive experience, as a symbolic gateway to vernacular architecture set in a contemporary context. For more details about Iwan, please click here.

Projects featuring AUS faculty 

Project name: ReRoot
Location: Between Buildings 6-7, next to THEA

AUS Visiting Assistant Professor and 2024 Fellow Dalia Hamati has been commissioned alongside Dima Al Srouri, Andy Cartier and Rosa Hämäläinen for one of Dubai Design Week's focal projects, Abwab. Their project, titled ReRoot, prototypes a customizable shelter for displaced communities using mycelium, a sustainable material derived from fungi. This innovative design empowers individuals to build their own shelters, and is adaptable for schools and clinics. Hamati involved several current AUS design students in the landscape design process through a special design charrette titled “Pallets-to-Planters,” providing them with a unique opportunity to work on a real-world project that will be viewed by design audiences globally. For more details about ReRoot, please click here.

Project name: IMR Tower
Location: Between Buildings 2 - 4

Dr. Christopher Kaltenbach, Associate Professor at AUS and the founding director of the interdisciplinary design studio actionfindcopypaste, will present the IMR Tower, inspired by UAE watchtowers. This structure repurposes a car shell for monitoring insect migration, integrating a radar system developed by AUS faculty to support sustainable agricultural practices. The tower will serve as a functional research installation and a public educational resource. For more information on the IMR tower, visit the Dubai Design web page about the project.

For the full list of events taking place at this year’s Dubai Design Week, please visit the official Dubai Design Week 2024 website.