It is a time for re-evaluation and re-evolution. Growing up Muslim in Saudi Arabia, I have had plenty of opportunities to pray at various mosques in the Kingdom, and sometimes even on beaches and in the desert. I have seen how the place one stands to pray transforms into a magnet with an organic congregation […]
In order to direct attention toward the fast-aging social housing, public buildings and entire urban sectors that have dated rapidly and been unable to keep up with the developmental impulses of cities in the GCC, a movement toward adopting buildings and adaptive reuse is underway to breathe new life into old shells across the region. […]
Work expands to fill the time it is given. It was a common assumption and goal during the Industrial Revolution that once we mechanized our mundane everyday tasks, we would have an abundance of free time for leisure in which to pursue enjoyable activities. Centuries on, it turns out that it’s actually work that is […]
What is a mosque? A question can serve as the starting point of a serendipitous and rewarding journey. The sacred month of Ramadan was just a few weeks away, and Hyderabad was preparing for the time when it really comes into its own. We were asked to design a small prayer space for elderly residents […]
As the world becomes smaller, every large metropolis in the world seems to resemble every other. Cities, concrete jungles filled with glittering skyscrapers and artificial beaches, seem to open doors for globalization, and adopt a universal aesthetic language. What vocabulary, then, should the residential architecture of today use? The answer, we believe, lies in looking […]
As a child, you knew how best to use your body: to jump up to reach a box of cookies on a high shelf, to slide down a banister, to leap over a rain puddle, to contort to fit into the smallest of gaps, to run towards a moving ice-cream van, to run away from […]
A decade ago, when the first movie in The Matrix trilogy was released, it was a wild addition to the genre of science fiction. The Internet was relatively new, and its inherent potential was yet to be harnessed, or even realized. The Matrix was a metaphorical representation of cyberspace, as a virtual, intangible, parallel reality. […]
Until very recently, I believed that it was impossible for teamwork to be as successful and fulfilling as working solo, especially in the studio. Teamwork posed too many unconquerable hurdles, such as reconciling with people who have conflicting opinions, priorities and varying skill-sets which inevitably led to the most loathed concept of all: compromise. I […]
Since before the word ‘relativity’ came into common usage, the concept of relativity has been applicable in all domains. The full purport of an idea is only understood when it is placed beside something which is in stark contrast to it. The qualities of the words bright, tall, heavy, and wide hold no meaning without their counterpoints dim, short, light, and narrow. Even […]
Layer upon layerSheet below sheetOnce upon a timeHistory repeatsMe upon youOld below new You are no moreNeither is your homeBut I am hereTracing you on my ownSearching for glimpses of youOld below new In the cracks of the plaster, new upon oldIn the lanes and the gulleys, a tale untoldIn the courtyard, sunken below layers […]
Takbir Fatima II 