GID Second Issue

DECEMBER 15, 2014

LIGHT AND SHADOW AT RENZO PIANO PAVILION, PAGE 18

COVER IMAGECOURTESY: NADA DEBS.

6 THE GRAPEVINE From the launch of the the two

new stadium designs here, to the extravagant design of a new hotel-cum-convention-centre, The Silver Pearl Hotel, to the architectural news from around the world, and a concept architectural project “to mourn the dead labourers in Qatar”.

18 ANTIQUITY Kimbell Art Museum is a historical

building, an architectural wonder by Louis I.Kahn that exemplifies simplicity in form and function.

26 THE THING GID loves Geacolor, a multi-coloured

complex composition by Gae Aulenti, a limited edition of 49 art pieces, blown handmade glass realized with multicoloured glass layers from Venini.

30 FROM HERE AND THERE GID curates the best accessories

from around the region and some from undiscovered brands in the country.

32 BOHEMIAN FUN A living room should reflect your

style. This one that we feature, with products sourced from Kare, is all about individuality.

PAGE 28

BODRUM AIRPORT IN TURKEY BY TABANLIOGLU ARCHITECTPAGE 64

TOWER BABALOU, A KARE PRODUCT, PAGE 31

34 DESIGN AESTHETICS Nada Debs might not be based in

Doha but her products and design collaborations are universal.

40 THE PROFESSIONAL James Law did not come to Doha

for the realisation of a project but with his contribution around the world and his fascination for nonconformist designs, the country is surely missing his creativity.

48 LIVING WITH DESIGN Muneera Spence, the Chair of the

Department of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, tells us about the effect design has in our lives.

58 A LITTLE BIT OF YOU The advent of 3D printing has

democratised design in exciting ways and a recent exhibition in Doha showed us exactly how.

64 THE BEST IS HAPPENING HERE The scope of Tabanlioğlu’s projects is

all-encompassing, from residential to mixed-use complexes across Turkey and abroad, including a wide range of building types from high-rises to museums.

72 YOUSEF AHMED LOVES BARZAN TOWERS Qatari artist Yousef Ahmed wants

to celebrate the country and its achievements. His choice reflects the love he has for his heritage.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE EDUCATION CITY, PAGE 6

PAGE 34

JAMES LAW’STHE PAD AT

DUBAI.PAGE 40

6 GLAM INTERIORS + DESIGN

MANAGING EDITOR SINDHU NAIR

FASHION EDITOR DEBRINA ALIYAH

DEPUTY EDITORS EZDHAR IBRAHIM ALI

SRINIVASAN.V.L

SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS AYSWARYA MURTHY

ABIGAIL MATHIAS

PHOTOGRAPHER ROBERT ALTAMIRANO

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR VENKAT REDDY

DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR HANAN ABU SIAM

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR AYUSH INDRAJITH

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER MAHESHWAR REDDY B

SENIOR MANAGER – MARKETING FREDRICK ALPHONSO

MANAGER – MARKETING SAKALA A DEBRASS

ASSISTANT MANAGER – MARKETING HASSAN REKKAB

MATHEWS CHERIAN

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT PRATAP CHANDRAN

SENIOR DISTRIBUTION EXECUTIVE BIKRAM SHRESTHA

DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT ARJUN TIMILSINA

BHIMAL RAI

BASANTHA. P

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR–IN–CHIEF YOUSUF JASSEM AL DARWISH

CHIEF EXECUTIVE SANDEEP SEHGAL

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT ALPANA ROY

VICE PRESIDENT RAVI RAMAN

GLAM INTERIORS & DESIGN IS PUBLISHED BY ORYX ADVERTISING CO. WLL.The contents of this publication are subject to copyright and cannot be reproduced without the express permis-sion of the publisher and/or license holder. All rights rest with Datalog media solutions. The publisher does not

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Call us: +974 44550983, 44672139, 44671178, 44667584 Fax: +974 44550982

THAT GLAM INTERIORS AND DESIGN ENTERED A VIRGIN MARKET IS MORE EVIDENT NOW THAN EVER. THE PRODUCTS WE ARE PRIVY TO AND THE PROJECTS THAT WE HAVE SEEN ARE BEYOND COMPARE.

While some are surprisingly based in Qatar – like this handmade furniture store that is affordably priced; some are based out of Dubai - like those of Nada Debs, a clear indication that regional designs are making a niche for themselves through the play of simple Arabesque patterns and geometry. It is the same ethos of having a sense of locality that inspires the Tabanlioğlu Architects who are behind the beautifully imagined Bodrum Airport in Turkey and who are also involved in Qatar’s architectural scenario. According to them even with the most contemporary techniques and methods, there should be an element of locality in the design, or the buildings will be generic and not specific to the place. Some designers have a global aspiration, like James Law, an architect whose creations are in India, Hong Kong and in Dubai and who now wants to be a part of the architectural revolution here. There is no unifying element in his designs except for their futuristic nature but they too evoke a sensibility that is provocative and technologically advanced at its best.But there are some designs that are timeless and just when you think there is no design that can elevate the senses more than this creative masterpiece of Louis Kahn, there comes an addition to the building he designed by another architect. A building that marvels the predecessor without downplaying its own creative perceptions. The two buildings are said to be in conversation across an expanse of green space. And we thought buildings and products are inert objects!Glam Interiors and Design brings to you all these variations with one common theme - designs that evoke emotions. Wishing all readers design infused holidays.

SINDHU NAIR

FROM THEDRAWING BOARD

Pic courtesy: Haman Al Baker, Shutterstock


According to Deloitte, the Qatari government – in the run-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and in accordance with the Qatar National Vision 2030 – intends to spend over $70 billion (QR255 billion) on infrastructure and transport as well as hotels and stadia.

Another sports event was recently added to the calendar of Qatar, as the country was granted the right to host the 17th IAAF World Championships, which will unfold in 2019, boosting the construction sector further. In fact, the Minister of Finance allocated $24 billion (QR88 billion) to key projects, which represents a 16% increase compared with 2013-14, and translates into Qatar’s largest infrastructure budget to date.

GID GRAPEVINE

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy revealed in quick succession the designs of two stadia – the brand new Qatar Foundation Stadium and a redesigned Khalifa International Stadium at Aspire.

The QF Stadium design will see the use of geometric patterns, allowing it to reflect the light of the sun and thus have different colours through the day. It is expected to be completed in 2018 and will have a mall, gymnasiums, swimming pool, tennis courts, football pitches and more. The Khalifa International Stadium was used for the 2006 Asian Games and will be renovated for the World Cup. Both stadiums will have a seating capacity of 40,000.

QATAR REVEALS TWO NEW

STADIUM DESIGNS

THE ARCHITECTURE OF EDUCATION CITY

Delegates from the second annual American Institute of Architects Middle East Conference, which was co-sponsored by Qatar Foundation, received a guided tour of Education City, giving them a unique insight into its architecture which reflects and reinterprets Qatari heritage while focusing on quality, diversity and sustainability.

INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING BALLOONS

GLAM INTERIORS + DESIGN 9

A new world-class hotel and conference/expo centre has been proposed for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The Silver Pearl Hotel calls for a 1,000 plus room luxury property to be located one and a half kilometre off shore near Doha. The name of the hotel refers to a structure that will literally rise out of the sea to recall the country’s seafaring and pearl diving history.

New York-based architectural firm M. Castedo Architects designed the complex along with a team of world-renowned engineering firms. Pending approval, the project will be developed by Katara Hospitality, the Qatar hotel developer and operator.

The building will consist of two semicircular 30 storey towers separated by a vaulted, climate-controlled atrium over lush gardens with an open view to the ocean beyond. An adjacent structure will house a conference and exposition center as well as a recreational landscaped roof deck to be located above a multistorey parking facility.

A DREAM OR WHAT?

IQ , the new design exhibition for Qatar, is gearing up for a successful first edition.

Taking place from February 2-4, 2015 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), IQ is expected to attract 6,000 visitors across the three days of the show. With less than three months to go until the exhibition opens its doors, over 80% of the exhibition space has already been booked.

THE DESIGN EXHIBITION


ASTAD Project Management, the project management consultancy for building and infrastructure joined Qatar Olympic Committee in launching the Ali Bin Hamad Al

ASTAD DELIVERS

ON TIME

GID GRAPEVINE

Qatar Foundation is pioneering its way to a sustainable future. The male and female student housing complex at Education City is currently one of the only platinum LEED-certified student housing complexes in the world.

Having earned 12 Platinum LEED certifications in the category of ‘New Construction’ from the US Green Building Council, it is also the largest collection of platinum LEED-certified buildings in one area in the world.

In addition, the entire complex comprises state-of-the-art sustainable technology and energy-efficient systems. It also allows students to track their green footprint by monitoring their individual water and energy consumption, and is also equipped with a solar-panelled roof and wind turbines that generate clean energy at gusts of 10km or more. These turbines have become icons of the sustainability practices that define Qatar Foundation.

Another feature of the student complex is the special key card system that helps to save energy. When the card is removed, the lights turn off automatically and the air conditioning reverts to an average temperature in order to reduce energy consumption.

GOING GREEN

Attiyah Arena, formerly the Al Sadd Multipurpose Hall, one of the main venues that will host the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship in January 2015.

This impressive arena is one of two main venues that will host the championship, the other being the Lusail Multipurpose Hall, which ASTAD Project Management is also managing for Qatar Olympic Committee. The Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena is an Olympic-standard multipurpose hall capable of hosting a variety of sporting events including handball, basketball, volleyball, hockey, badminton, gymnastics and ice skating. The arena’s multilevel stadium is capable of seating 7,500 spectators, 500 VIPs and VVIPs, andprovides ample room for media with dedicated media and broadcasting facilities including two TV studios and several commentator booths. Additionally, the arena has a unique VVIP section, a dedicated VIP floor with 24 VIP boxes, high end restaurants, gift shops and many coffee shops.


GID GRAPEVINE

WAVES ON CAMPUSFrank Gehry’s latest building, an undulating campus structure for the University of Technology in Sydney, has been unveiled.

The Dr Chau Chak Wing Building is part of the university’s billion-dollar transformative “City Campus Master Plan” and is named after Australian-Chinese businessman and philanthropist Dr Chau Chak Wing, following his $20 million donation to the project.

The Pritzker Prize-winning Gehry, who famously flipped off a journalist who asked him if his buildings were just a spectacle, envisioned this sandstone-coloured, wavy brick façade.

Designed “from the inside out,” the interior comprises several collaborative learning and work spaces.

Gehry will officially open the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building in early February 2015. -AFP RELAX NEWS

THE UNFINISHED STORYFive of the world’s 10 tallest unfinished buildings, as of September 2014, are in the Gulf (four in Dubai and one in Doha). Some fell victim to the real estate meltdown of the late 2000s and others succumbed to the pressures of politics and culture.

SOURCE: COUNCIL ON TALL BUILDINGS AND URBAN HABITAT

I cannot work and listen to Wagner at the same time, nor Mahler, nor Beethoven’s late quartets. I enjoy listening to Chopin’s piano music when I work.

I. M. Pei


City authorities in Paris rejected plans for a 43-storey, 180-metre tall triangular-shaped building, Tour Triangle.

Though the €535 million building was to create over 5,000 jobs, the government remains wary of public reaction to tall, unsightly building marring the beautiful Parisian landscape. The Tour Montparnasse, which opened in 1973, continues to evoke scorn (It is said that the view from the top is the most beautiful in Paris, because it is the only place from which the tower cannot be seen). -AFP RELAX NEWS

NO MORE EYESORES ON THE PARISIAN LANDSCAPE

“I DON’T SEE WHAT PARIS NEEDS WITH A SKYSCRAPER”

NORMAN FOSTER

GID GRAPEVINE

With 1 week 1 project, Axel de Stampa and Sylvain Macaux challenged themselves to produce one “spontaneous architecture project” per week in 2013, i.e. 52 projects.

They finally produced 25 projects. Today in new opportunities, they continue the adventure with a different frequency. The latest offering is the Qatar World Cup Memorial project, a scalable building to “raise awareness about the number of workers who died during the construction of the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It is in the form of a tower made of concrete modules, each one representing a deceased worker. The higher the number, the higher the tower.” This is in response toThe Guardian story on the number of migrant workers killed in the country during construction.

This structure offers Nepalese and Indian families as well as families of other nationalities a site for mourning removed from Qatar’s cities and skyscrapers. The project has a multitude of itineraries for visiting, on a basis of four modules per floor and two staircases per module. The cranes will remain positioned in altitude until 2022.

This is one project that will surely remain only on the drawing board.

A MEMORIAL IN PLAN

ART ON A CAR

GID GRAPEVINE

During Art Basel in Miami Beach 2014, BMW announced their art journey award. Beginning in 2015, Art Basel and BMW will support emerging artists by enabling them to go on their own journey of creative discovery.

Functioning as a sort of mobile studio, the programme can take the chosen creatives almost anywhere in the world - to conduct research, make contacts, and create a new catalogue of work.

Artists who are exhibiting in Art Basel’s sectors for emerging artists in Miami Beach and Hong Kong,

respectively, are eligible to receive a BMW art journey.

Alongside the award’s announcement BMW displayed two of the legendary painted vehicles from their prestigious art cars series: the BMW 320i art car by Roy Lichtenstein and the BMW M3 art car by Michael Jagamara Nelson.

This initiative began more than 35 years ago and has seen leading international artists from Andy Warhol to Jenny Holzer transform BMW cars into physical masterpieces.


“In this world we are living in, 98% of everything that is built and designed today is pure shit. There’s no sense of design, no respect for humanity or for anything else. They are damn buildings and that’s it. Once in a while, however, there’s a small group of people who does something special. Very few. But good god, leave us alone! We are dedicated to our work. I don’t ask for work. I don’t have a publicist. I’m not waiting for anyone to call me. I work with clients who respect the art of architecture. Therefore, please don’t ask questions as stupid as that.”

Frank Gehry’s reply to a journalist’s question:“How do you answer those who accuse you of practicing showy architecture?”

PURE SHIT!

DESIGN MIAMI HIGHLIGHTS

F I S H Y S E ATS

T H E F E N D I H O M E

Cappellini unveils its latest limited-edition design, a violaversion of its “Fish Chair,” at Design Miami.

A run of 40 pieces has been created in the new purple-hued colour, and a model will also be displayed at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

in Coral Gables, Florida, as part of an exhibition blending art, nature and design. The chairs will be surrounded by more than 700 species of tropical

plants. The luxury Italian design brand has teamed up with Amsterdam-based creative Satyendra Pakhalé on the plastic armchair,

which features a rotund base and a white interior frame.Founded in 1946, Cappellini has become known for its contemporary,

avant-garde design, working with designers including Jasper Morrison, Marcel Wanders, Marc Newson and Nendo among others.

Italian fashion house Fendi has teamed up with Dimore Studio to create an interpretation of an ideal, contemporary Fendi apartment in Rome at Design Miami 2014.

“Roman Lounge” showcases a selection of bespoke pieces partly conceived in homage to the origami work of Akira Yoshizawa and the steel tubing designs of Ferdinando Innocenti. It encompasses luminosity, tactile colours in leather and fur and saddlery-like aesthetics. Vertical volumes pay homage to Ferdinando Innocenti, while horizontal volumes reference Akira Yoshizawa’s origami designs.

Bespoke design pieces showcased in the installation include the brand’s “Grand Square” contemporary table consisting of seven frames in black painted iron frame and one in oxidized brass and its bookcase in iron pipe painted black, featuring oxidized brass feet and colourful shelves in yellow, brown, pink and grey. -AFP RELAX NEWS


LET THEREBE LIGHT

KIMBELL ART MUSEUM CELEBRATES TWO ARCHITECTURAL GREATS — THE MOST RESPECTED MODERNIST, LOUIS I KAHN AND, IN A LATER ADDITION TO THE MUSEUM SPACE, RENZO PIANO, THE ARCHITECT OF THE SHARD. THE TWO CREATIONS, WITH THE PLAY OF SPACE AROUND, ARE ALMOST A MECCA FOR DESIGN ENTHUSIASTS.

BY SINDHU NAIR

There is nothing more celestial or exhilarating than an architect endorsing his respect for another revolutionary modern architect through a work of his own, in this case, a building revering a work of the older architect while not underplaying his own structure, not taking away any of the characteristics of the old but imbibing the focus on light, in a way that makes both buildings distinctive on their own and a work of art when placed at site, adjacent to each other, even if the spotlight will always remain on the older one for its visionary work.

The two architects are Louis I. Kahn and Renzo Piano and the building in question is the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas by Kahn and its recent extension by Piano. Piano’s extension, The Piano Pavilion, faces east and sits 60 metres from the

ALL INFORMATION AND PICTURES COURTESY KIMBELL ART MUSEUM

GID ANITIQUITY


THE GALLERY OF LIGHTNorth galleries of Kimbell Art museum

designed by Louis I. Kahn.


Kahn’s response to the Foundation’s needwas to create a building that is till today recognised as one of the purest and most perfect statements of architectural modernism and museum design.

PLAY OF SPACEClockwise from left: View of the Museum, constructed in 1969-72, from the southwest with Henry Moore’s Figure in a Shelter, west lobby and the south gallery of the Louis Kahn designed Kimbell Art Museum, Piano’s addition to the museum space, the Renzo Piano Pavilion with the Kahn building on the periphery, interior view of the gallery space of the Renzo Piano Pavillion.

GID ANITIQUITY



OLDMEETS NEW

Left and Above: North Portico with

reflecting pool of the Louis Kahn-

designed part of the museum,

view of facade of the Renzo Piano

Pavilion, both following similar

principles of light and airy design, view of the old

building from the west at night.

Kahn building. And the space dividing the two buildings is said to be akin to a conversation between two great minds across the ages.

The Kimbell Art Museum sprang from the vision of businessman and art collector Kay Kimbell and his wife, Velma Fuller Kimbell, for an “art institute” for the

people of Texas. In commissioning the museum’s building in the fall of 1966, the board of directors of the Kimbell Art Foundation proposed a number of design elements that were unusual for museums of the day: an open, flexible layout, which would encourage visitors to move easily through the museum and allow art to be installed with ease and freedom; galleries all on the same floor level; and natural light as a vital part of the illumination of the works of art.

Kahn’s response to the Foundation’s programme was to create a building that is still today recognized as one of the purest and most perfect statements of architectural modernism and museum design. Kahn’s Kimbell is best approached from the west, its glazed main entrance flanked by a grove of trees and reflecting pools and set into a recessed centre portico of the tripartite faćade. The building is structured as a series of parallel, cyclonical concrete barrel vaults with a counterpoint of three interior courtyards.

The Kimbell is famous for its “silvery” light. To achieve this quality of natural light, Kahn devised gull-wing-shaped reflectors made from pierced aluminium that reflect sunlight onto the smooth, grey, curved surface of the vaults. Also admitting natural light are lunettes at the ends of the vaults and light slots running below them along their entire length.

The new offeringFor Piano, the design of this space was an enormous difficulty to overcome. His addition to the museum could be neither

Piano’s colonnaded pavilion is surrounded by elms and red oaks, and stands as an expression of simplicity and lightness — glass, concrete and wood — to the west of Kahn’s signature cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972.

GOD IS IN THE DETAILS

Above: The Renzo Piano Pavilion has

kept most of its interior

space under the ground to let the onlooker not be

overpowered by the recent

addition, view of the interiors of

the new Pavilion.

GID ANITIQUITY



too close to Kahn’s building, nor too far. It had to solve a parking problem, yet respect Kahn’s distaste for cars. It had to respond to Kahn’s sublime play of light and space yet not overshadow it. It had to be original in structure and design while respecting the design brilliance.

As an answer to all speculation and concern, Piano’s 101,130-square-foot colonnaded pavilion is surrounded by elms and red oaks, and stands as an expression of simplicity and lightness — glass, concrete and wood — some 65 yards to the west of Kahn’s signature cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972.

The Piano Pavilion is made up of two structures connected by two glazed passageways. The front, or east wing opens into a glass-enclosed lobby leading to two simply expressed galleries: here,

Within and outside the building, Piano manipulates light and provides unexpected sightlines by dramatically slanting some of the building’s walls.

ART AND DESIGNThe gallery space and the south

view of the Pavilion.


coupled wood beams run north and south, the floors are oak, and the walls are perfect, long expanses of light-grey concrete or curtain glass. The beams support an elegant roof structure of steel and glass, fitted above with louvres that control the flow of sunlight and below with scrims that filter the light before it enters the gallery. As spaces for viewing art, both galleries benefit from the presence of this natural illumination and, through their window walls, from the changing impressions of exterior weather and light. The principal function of the

south gallery is to display temporary exhibitions; the north gallery, to show works from the collection. As always in his museum designs, Piano continues to experiment with ways to animate and direct natural light, here with a roof system that is notable for its integration of the

wood beams as the support for a system of north-opening aluminium louvres and solar cells, mounted above fritted glass and stretched silk-like scrims. Within and outside the building, he manipulates light and provides unexpected sightlines by dramatically slanting some of the building’s walls. Canted walls also channel light in two sets of stairwells connecting the upper and lower levels:

one leading from the main entrance to the underground garage, and the other descending from the upper level to the lower auditorium entrance.

Because most visitors will reach the entrance of the Piano Pavilion from a new underground parking garage, it is likely that their first sight of the new complex will be Kahn’s masterful entrance portico. By situating his structure facing Kahn’s, Piano has reinstated the primacy of the west facade of Kahn’s museum and its dramatic entrance, altering the tendency of visitors up to now to arrive at the lower-level east door, which Kahn considered his building’s secondary entry point. This intelligent reinstated Piano’s reverence for Kahn, eliminating the earlier flaw when the view was not so spectacular when approached through the parking space.

Now, visitors will emerge from the new underground lot to behold, across a lovely new lawn, Kahn’s main façade — an ideal architectural intervention.

The space between the two pavilions is Piano’s second invisible masterstroke. Neither too close nor too far, the buildings seem to communicate with each other across the ages, though in whispers. And the lawn framed by the two buildings becomes a third element in the complex — an inviting space to refresh the mind between masterpieces, or a space to admire both buildings under the afternoon sun.

By situating his structure facing Kahn’s, Piano has reinstated the primacy of the west facade of Kahn’s museum and its dramatic entrance.

NATURAL ILLUMINATIONInterior view of south gallery looking out to the lawn.

GID ANITIQUITY



PURITY OF DESIGN

Piano’s Pavilion, Kahn’s Museum beyond and the

natural beauty that surrounds it all.


THE THING


THEN THERE _WAS COLOUR

This is a limited edition of just 49 art pieces, blown handmade glass realised with multicoloured glass layers.

The artist, Gae Aulenti graduated in 1954 from the Faculty of Architecture of Milan Polytechnic. During the 60s she worked in the Universities on the courses of Giuseppe Samonà on Architectural Composition in Venice and then in Milan with Ernesto N. Rogers. Her projects have been published in Italy and abroad, and ranged from architecture to include interior design, industrial design, the staging of exhibitions and theatrical sets. Among her most celebrated architectural works are the renovation projects of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and Palazzo Grassi in Venice. She began collaborating for Venini in 1993, designing objects.

Venini was born in 1921 when two people entered the galss-factory world of Murano. They are the Venetian antiquarian Giacomo Cippelin and Paolo Venini, a Milanese lawyer with an old family tradition in glass. Under the foundation of “identity style” that still distinguishes Venini, one that evades traditional patterns and is open to avantgarde art with a mastery in techniques, the brand continues as the best glass-makers in the island and now around the world.

The designer glassware is available at the Venini Store, The Gate Mall.

GEACOLOR IS A MULTI-COLOURED COMPLEX COMPOSITION BY GAE AULENTI. THOUGH THIS CANNOT BE CLASSIFIED AS THE LATEST IN VENINI’S ART GLASS WORK, THIS IS PERHAPS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR WORK BY THE ARTIST.


THE PROSPECT

Pictures: Sylvain Deleu


THE MAKING

With only a bed inside, where the passenger can sleep while the car takes them to their destination, the car combines the handmade process of glass work with modern and future technologies to create a proposal of how transport could be in the middle of the 21st century.

"I propose that in the year 2059 it will be statistically proven that it is safer to ride in a computer controlled 'driverless' vehicle than to ride in a human driven vehicle. In fact in 2058 there were no collisions on the Digital M1 motorway where only driverless vehicles are allowed. This means that driverless vehicles will not require the typical safety equipment we see on current cars such as air bags and bumpers. We will simply require a living space on wheels. The technology of the motor and driverless, automated navigation system will be held within a standard, modular chassis, on to which any living space shell can be built," says Wilcox.

CAR OF THE

DESIGNER DOMINIC WILCOX UNLEASHES HIS CREATIVITY TO DESIGN A DRIVERLESS GLASS CAR PROTOTYPE AT THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORT FOR THE EXHIBITION ‘DEZEEN AND MINI FRONTIERS’DURING THE LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL.

Pictures: Dominic Wilcox


THE LIST

REIMAGINED, RECYCLED AND EVEN REINVENTED. CHECK OUT THE LATEST

HOME DECORATION ACCESSORIES AVAILABLE IN DOHA, FROM LIFESTYLE

LUXURY PRODUCTS TOAFFORDABLE PICKS.

Tall and stately, aerodynamic and elegant, this Beak Pitcher is a product by Maria Berntsen for Georg Jensen designed in 2012.

Its unique shape combines fullness and angularity, giving it an immediately identifiable silhouette that stands out when used as part of a table setting. Berntsen started her cooperation with Georg Jensen in 2000.

The new Tanagra showroom in Villaggio is only for those who consider gift giving an art and for those seeking the finest expressions of luxury and perfection in gifts and home décor under one roof. This beautiful Baccarat candelabra is a thing of beauty and perfection, a perfect gift for someone you value.

B E A K P I TC H E R D OY L E ’ S T RU N K

C RY S TA L C RU S H

Furniture and home-made accessories made from recycled

wood sourced from second-hand shops in

Najma, Doha. The creative team at CREU Qatar

recreates old furniture to give it a unique character, tailor-made to

customers’ requests. And they are affordable too. More details at www.

creuqatar.com QR 1700

H A N D M A D EI N

D O H A


C U S H I O N Y C O M FO RT

T H E Z I G Z AG D R AW E R Choose from an assortment

of cushions from The One; the easiest way to change the interior

theme in your room. Prices range from QR250 to QR500.

A tumbling drawer from Kare, the Tower Babalou,

is made from lacquered mango wood. QR2,200.

Q U I R K Y S TA N D S

S O U N D S L E E P

Katherine Pooley Chinese necklace on stands to adorn

your living space.(price on request)

For colourful home furnishings that reflect

a youthful vibrancy, Kas Australia’s range includes

coordinated bed linen, cushions, throws, and

comforters that are designed to complement each other.

A vintage piece that will make your living room’s corner look inspired.

This Arab-infused design from The One comes with a dash of colour, to make it

irresistible. QR1,675

A R A B G L A M O U R


VINTAGE MEETS BOHEMIA

COFFEE TABLE MAMMUTHQR2575

BOX KEYBOARD COLOUR ASSORTED

QR175

MONEY BOX CADILLAC ASSORTED

QR85

MONEY BOX, TYPEWRITER ASSORTED

QR170

GID DECONSTRUCT

Photo shoot: Robert A


HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR LIVING ROOM TO BE?LIVED IN, WITH A DISTINCT CHARACTER, A QUIRKY TOUCH,

A LOOK THAT REFLECTS YOU? IF YES, GO LIVEN UP YOUR ROOM.

(ALL PRODUCTS FROM KARE DESIGN.THE LOOK IS CREATED BY KARE INTERIOR DESIGNER DONALDA LEGISI)

PICTURE IRON MAN 180X138CM QR 1080

CUSHION ROYALQR130

PENDANT LAMPQR3465

DECO HANDSERVUS POP ART PINK

QR75

DISPLAY CABINET VALENCIA QR6830

SLIM CHESTQR3885

ARM CHAIR ANGELS WINGS

QR3670

TABLE CLOCK SCOOTERLIGHT YELLOW

QR285

OFFICE LAMP YELLOWQR1125


FUNCTION PAVES

WAY

FOR L O N G - L A S T I N G

D E S I G N S

NADA DEBS IS FROMTHE NEW GENRE OF ARAB DESIGNERS WITH A SENSE OF PURPOSE AND LOVE FOR THE EXTRAORDINARY INFUSED WITH PRACTICALITY. FROM INTERIORS TO PRODUCT DESIGN TO THE REFINED REINTERPRETATION OF DESIGN AS AN ART FORM ARE HER WORKS’ CHARACTERISTIC HIGHLIGHTS.

PAVED INAbove: Concrete carpet by Nada Debs is a collaboration with Huda Abi Fares of Khatt Foundation.

THE FOCUS

FUNCTION PAVES

WAY

FOR L O N G - L A S T I N G

D E S I G N S

ARABESQUEAbove: Nada Debs poses sitting on one of her signature products.


Debs’ almost subtle form of decorative instincts can be traced to her upbringing in Japan and her studies in Interior Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States.

Debs started her own design company in the UK designing and producing custom furniture, blending the rich Middle-Eastern craft with the Far-Eastern ideals of purity of line. Debs is the creator of the ‘East & East’ concept in furniture design. The multiple Easts represent the cool minimalism and restraint of Japanese aesthetic combined with the lavish warmth of Arab expression. Her commitment to quality workmanship ensures that each piece exudes the air of an instant classic. She also remains at the cutting edge of the international design scene, using materials very much in vogue, such as acrylic and concrete. At the heart of her work remains an idea ever present in her designs – that of preserving one’s cultural roots, while forging the identity, for herself, her compatriots, and for the world, of the Modern Arab. GID quizzes her on her design aesthetics.

Debs has had design collaborations with artists and one of them has resulted in an

At the heart of her work remains an idea ever present in her designs – that of preserving one’s cultural roots.

EAST MEETS WESTLeft: Nada Debs’ vintage strand console. Right: Vintage strand chairs, and Below: East & East Diwan bench.

THE FOCUS


art form, which is also part of a museum collection. Yet she still believes in the fundamental that furniture designs should have a purpose and a function, following the need of the person who will use it.

How popular are Arab-inspired designs? Arab-inspired designs have a very distinct voice and are becoming popular. In the past, they had a more One Thousand and One Nights feeling – very cozy, dark and romantic but now as we Arabs are exposed to the West, a new identity is being forged.

What are your trends for the next year? What are the designs that you feel will work for a long time?I keep exploring craft and try to push the boundaries with it. We have a lot of material and patterns to work with – it is about taking it and making it appealing to the public in an inspiring and functional way. When the objects are functional and fulfil the needs of the people, the designs will remain for a long time.

What do you enjoy most, designing spaces or furniture? How does each satisfy you as a creator? I enjoy designing furniture as we have to consider the use of the human body and

the interaction with the piece. I am always concerned about the human element, trying to evoke a certain feeling through the pieces.

Designs transcend space, time and material. Do you agree? Definitely!

Who are the designers you love and architects that you look up to? I like designers whose work evokes feelings of spirituality – most of the designers I like are Japanese – such as Tokujin Yoshioka or Naoto Fukasawa.

How important is product design in the years to come? People are becoming more and more aware of design and are enjoying what product design evokes in them.

How do you incorporate Arabic elements in modern-day design? Did the East & East originate from this desire to bring Arabic elements to life? Yes, I was interested in taking our aesthetics such as the repetitive geometric patterns that have been used for many years in modern furniture using modern materials.

“I am always concerned about the human element, trying to evoke a certain feeling through the pieces.”

Tell us about one important collaboration you have had and the lessons learnt from them? I have designed a ring with a jeweller, Wadih Sayegh, and we came up with a very intricate piece. On a much larger scale, I have also worked with Huda Abi Fares of Khatt Foundation to create the concrete carpet, which was shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum and was bought by the Arab Museum of Modern Art: Mathaf.

Should furniture be considered as art? No, I believe it should remain functional.

The design motto you live by?Listen and design. (Basically we should listen to what people’s needs are and design accordingly!)

MODERNISMAbove: From the Draw the Line collection of furniture.Right: Rose cabinet and Below: The famous Pebble low table from East & East.


Porcelanosa Group was founded in Vila-real, Spain, in 1973 and is today a major reference on both the Spanish and the international markets.

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The kitchen is becoming a social area in each home. A place where you can enjoy with your family and close friends, a place where you can exchange experiences,

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Paris, London, Shanghai, Delhi, Sydney and New York are some of the locations in more than 70 countries where one can find its products. Now, Porcelanosa Kitchens has just arrived in Doha to fulfill the expectations of the most demanding consumers.

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THE ARCHITE CT OF

TOMORROW

IT ALL STARTS FROM HERE

Left: James Law stands beside

a model of Technosphere to be built in Dubai.

Right: Concept design of The Pad in Dubai.

THE PROFESSIONAL


Architect James Law, the owner of the firm Cybertecture in Hong Kong which works on projects internationally, has a curious fascination.

For the mystical sound of Hindu origin, the Om that is said to embody the essence of the entire universe. This fascination started almost ten years ago when Law was on a history-inspired sojourn to Sri Lanka, which steered him to the design of the most controversial residential building in India. “My friends, some of whom were historians, told me that the ohm embodies a sense of total-ness and instils timelessness. It was this sense that I wanted in my building, to remind us of the core values of mankind, bring in the elements of nature (water in this building) and dwell on the harmony that the building wants to achieve with the coming together of the elements.” Law aspires to bring in value through his buildings and, in this age of instant gratification, to understand the strong value of beliefs and cultural principles.

This is the level that architects aspire to in their career, buildings that transcend space and time, and that is the level that Law intends to achieve. “It is close to

what we can see at the I.M. Pei building, the Museum of Islamic Arts, that I aspire to create.” The building, according to the architect, transcends all notions of age and time and will stand testimony to the greatness of the architect for years to come.

While the residential building, Bandra Ohm, is stalled due to property deal concerns, this creative exuberance, which is ingrained in James Law, explores the depth and the power of the Om and its origin.

Bandra Ohm, a 140-metre tall residential tower in Mumbai, India, is a design concept inspired by the flow effect generated by water drops, which is also known as the capillary wave.

The outline of the tower demonstrates the fluidity and dynamic nature of the ripple. The outline and the ripple pattern can be imagined as an abstract representation of the Ohm symbol. The design features a central void containing an orb-shaped clubhouse. Even more striking, however, are the glass-walled swimming pools on the balconies with each unit featuring a narrow vertigo-inducing infinity pool with no railing. The dynamic

THE ARCHITE CT OF

TOMORROW

JAMES LAW DOESN’T BUILD TO STUN, BUT HIS BUILDINGS ARE ALL STRIKING NONETHELESS. HIS DESIGNS ARE A MARRIAGE OF TECHNOLOGY, ARCHITECTURE AND INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING.

BY SINDHU NAIR


nature of using water as the design feature and as a safety aspect is a concept that hasn’t been explored before and that naturally brought forth reservations and criticisms.

Many questioned the safety of these “whimsical ski-fi inspired designs”, and some commented that such futuristic designs both overwhelm the imagination and challenge our understanding of material strength.

Are we seeing in the plans of the Bandra Ohm the design trends of the future, asked some. Can this building be constructed as designed, and more importantly, should it, asked a blogger.

“More than any buildings that I had done, this one catapulted me from someone who does innovative stuff to someone who transcends material and design constraints to create residential spaces that are more than just functional buildings,” says Law. “The building broke the mould for typical conventional residential buildings in Mumbai, all of which were square or rectangular, safe and functional driven buildings. My design was to embody a unique kind of architecture, a deeper feeling to the meaning of architecture.”

That in its true sense has been achieved, but looking at the history of architectural work from Law’s drawing boards, the need to exhilarate, to surprise and to surpass the ordinary has always been present.

His architectural firm, Cybertecture, is the point where architecture, technology

and innovative engineering get together, in order to sculpt the urban environment. Another building of his, the Cybertecture Egg, in Mumbai, India, is an astonishing egg-shaped building with 33,000 square metres of office space, stacked in 13 storeys with highly intelligent building management systems and three levels of basement providing 400 car parking spaces.

But Law doesn’t aspire to create “controversial” projects for the sake of recognition or notoriety, since that would be “a very hollow way to live one’s life” for “artists love their work and that is the essence of their life”.

Law’s fascination for architecture started at the early age of 7, after watching the movie The Fountainhead and it is his love for the profession that guides his entire life.

“That movie has many interpretations but it gets to the heart of the matter that the creator has to create to satisfy his own inner convictions. Society can either put him on the pedestal or destroy him, but that doesn’t mean you create for the society but incorporate the need to match your convictions,” he says. “Stay true to yourself and some parts of society will appreciate your work.”

Elliptic loveMany of Law’s buildings seem to follow a very organic pattern; they seem to take the elliptical or the egg-like shape (Technosphere building in Dubai and the

THE CENTRE left: Most of Law’s designs follow either an elliptical design or a circular form. Right: The Capital building in Mumbai and Dickson Cyber Express in Hong Kong

THE PROFESSIONAL


Mumbai Convention Centre) and this, according to Law, is part of his breakaway from the conventional.

“I am a futurist. We live in a world of octagonal structures. The future will be about new forms, whether they are in the shape of eggs, elliptic or hexagonal, I am not sure, but I want to keep doing what we haven’t been doing so far,” he says.

“We have been very stereotypical in our reflections of spaces; confined by the floor and set in by walls and contained by ceilings,” he says. “Isn’t it time we think beyond the norm and conceptualise spaces like in the international play (space?) stations where there are no strict walls or ceilings?”

Law emphasises that he doesn’t say this in a patronising voice but as an encouragement to himself to innovate and go beyond the set structural perimeters like in the elliptical structures, where there is no need for columns and where the ceilings seamlessly continue to be the flooring.

“We are living in a renaissance period where art and design oscillate around every object of our daily life. Everything is designed, measured, processed and photo shopped. There is an immense consciousness of the aesthetic, of functionality and the dynamics of design.”

Design out the warsLaw gets more passionate about the possibilities of design in this new age and goes as far as to emphasise that we are constantly weaving the very fabric of mankind, of manufacturing processes and ability. “We are living in an urbanised age where we build to our convenience. Design is at an incredible age of development; we have reached the threshold where design can shape our lives and we should now think how design can be used to drive out poverty, to design out war and terrorism and to design in education,” he says.

He considers the possibility of designing out wars and using design to solve world issues and not just become an aesthetic principle in the world. “There is a possibility design can answer and solve these issues,” he says confidently.

These are the questions that architects should be asking and even working towards, says Law: “Can design be used

A NEW FORMA computer generated image of theTechnosphere, the love for elliptics continues here.

“The future will be about new forms, whether they are in the shape of eggs, elliptic or hexagonal, I am not sure, but I want to keep doing what we haven’t been doing so far.”


to solve the world problems instead of designing just for us?”

And this is the latest venture that Law has stepped into, Cybertecture for Humanity, to formulate a meeting of like-minded people to contemplate on issues as simple as providing technology for humankind and doing it in a way that information is made available to everyone.

“We may go to poverty-striken countries to educate, innovate and help make the lives of the people easier by harvesting water, providing technology,” he says.

Law has a grand vision of things to come; in fact, he has always had it, as reflected in his earlier designs. Combining technology

and architecture, Law has designed some of the most innovative projects in the world, including the world’s first artificial intelligent media laboratory for the Hong Kong

government; the world’s first “Bricks & Clicks” shopping mall called Dickson Cyber Express, also in Hong Kong; and the world’s first “morphable” house in partnership with IBM in Denmark.

He was also responsible for the world’s first Electronic Arts Experience where he brought a unique and innovative entertainment experience to millions of visitors at The Peak in Hong Kong. This two-storey architectural edifice, built in the foyer at the top of the shopping centre, is more than just an architectural marvel. It enables visitors to take part in various game simulations by Electronic Arts that bring entertainment to a whole new level.

Taking architecture to a whole new level of technological innovation is something Law excels in and so it is no surprise that Apple Inc. got in touch with him when he envisioned the IPAD building in Dubai long before the iPad was launched by Apple.

To comply with the laws of copyright, Law had to change the name of his building to The Pad in 2006, the design of which was handed over to the architect after a competition that had design participation from architects Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster.

While The Pad is being constructed in Dubai and is a clear representation of the technological marvel whose name and shape it replicates, Law is waiting to leave his creative stamp on Qatar, a country he has close ties with because of his involvement as a jury member in the Stars of Science project. “It is also the country that houses one of the most inspiring buildings from I.M.Pei,” he says.

THE CONTROVERSYLeft and Above:The Bandra Ohm has created a lot of reaction from around the world on its futuristic and seemingly dangerous design, the swimming pools overhangng on each of the floors in the residentail building is the point of discussion. Right: Law has executed many buildings inThe Bahrain Business Bay.

“Stay true to yourself and some parts of society will appreciate your work.”

THE PROFESSIONAL


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WHEN I WAS 12, I DECIDED TO PURSUE A CAREER IN THE FIELD OF DESIGN. ALL I KNEW THEN WAS THAT THE CHOICE WOULD BE A GOOD FIT FOR ME BECAUSE I SIMPLY LOVE WORKING WITH PEOPLE TO CLARIFY, BEAUTIFY AND FRAME THE MESSAGE THEY WANTED TO CONVEY. I ALSO KNEW THAT THE FIELD WOULD PREPARE ME TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE OF MANY CULTURES AND SOMEHOW ENABLE ME TO HELP COMMUNICATE IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS.

LIVING WITH

DESIGN

Muneera Umedaly Spence MFA Yale University Graphic DesignTaught at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the field at university level for 26 years. She is presently the Chair of the Department of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar for the past seven years. She leads a Graphic Design team of ten faculty in a contextualized BFA degree programme. She has participated in and led conference development and presentations, including Tasmeem Doha 2011: SYNAPSE: Designer as Link (tasmeemdoha.com), and Icograda Design Week: Mousharaka: Collaboration in 2009.

Her interest lies in team generative methodologies, collaborative teaching and learning dynamics especially pertaining to design education in the international context. Her interest in international development/design projects have manifested in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and now in Qatar.

THE EXPERT


You see, I realised this because this need was apparent to me everywhere that I looked. I am of Indian descent, born in Kenya, lived my early and formative years in Uganda, immigrated to the USA then lived in ten places around the USA and on four continents.

Little did I know that I had made a choice that would amaze me all my life, with the fast-changing field, the people with whom I would work, the changing purposes for which a designer is well suited, the topics and fields to which I would get connected, the new technologies and so much more. It has indeed been an exciting journey.

Living with design is a way of life. I see design as a language that enables us to read into the needs and desires of people, to help raise awareness of the true needs of the environment, understanding health and culture, and so much more as there are many issues that need thoughtful responses. The field of design has no boundaries. When one opens their eyes in the morning, one may look at their watch or turn off their alarm on their well-chosen phone or clock. They may reach for their robe and enjoy the look, feel and fit as they sleepily slide into their perfectly personal slippers. Pull up their beautiful bed sheets, fluff up their lovely pillows. Then walk into the bathroom and pick up their well-designed toothbrush and smear on some toothpaste from a perfectly ergonomic dispenser. Turn on a tap that was designed and chosen perfectly for its look and feel, notwithstanding the utility of your bathroom. Pick up a towel to wipe your face and look into a mirror chosen to grace the wall of your bathroom.

And that is in just the first few minutes of your morning. You may open a cereal box that was chosen because you were attracted to the packaging or for the contents so well-articulated on the box; then pour the milk from a container that feels just right in your hands, and so on and so forth..

Design embraces us in our daily lives and touches us in so many different ways and most of us are not the least aware of its effect on us.

All of us live in design, so much so that, we notice design if it is aesthetically amazing or completely displeasing, contains incorrect information or simply does not work well.

I was investigating an amazing quote that describes this condition and found that it is actually attributed to Albert Einstein. He said, “Of what is significant in one’s own existence one is hardly aware, and it certainly should not bother the other fellow. What does a fish know about the water in which he swims all his life?” Then Dr Marshall McLuhan said in a symposium called “Technology and World Trade”, “... Someone said once, ‘We don’t know who discovered water but we are pretty sure it wasn’t a fish!’ We are all in this position, being surrounded by some environment or element that blinds us totally; the message of the fish theme is a very important one, and just how to get through to people that way is quite a problem.”

This is the condition in which we live, surrounded by design; in fact, we find our way in the world with the help of design and only complain when we get lost because a designer has missed something.

What we see of the designer’s work is the culmination, or tip of the iceberg, of their actual creative process. I would like to reveal to you what the process might include. I have gathered the process work of the Virginia Commonwealth University of Qatar (VCUQatar) alumnae from Fashion Design, Graphic Design and a current student in Interior Design. I want to share the inner workings; the behind-the-scenes of a designer’s concerns as they work.

Designers of today ask questions first, delve into the meaning of things, and seek to understand the needs, conditions and experience of their audience. We use design thinking and many complex

processes to capture this information before we march forward to use our design problem-solving skills to embark on the aesthetic experimentation leading up to the production of anything that you see and experience. The processes that a designer engages in are complex and multi-layered. They are visually amazing too. I am sharing some of the visible ways in which we teach students to manage the creative process at VCUQatar.

The process may begin with a meeting with the client or extracting the purpose of the work from a self-initiated point of view. The designer may initiate the visual process by taking notes and collecting inspirational material while researching precedenct (what has been created before.)

Understanding the audience and framing the experience of the audience is a critical part of the creative process. Once the designer has determined the most creative and appropriate direction for the development of the project, they then embark on a process that helps them define, the message, content, colour, form, unique elements and experience to name a few attributes of the creative experimentation.

The designer then will need to go through a reflective and evaluation/critique phase to bring a deeper understanding of the progress being made while on the journey towards completing the project for presentation to the client or to their collaborators. The project then may move into the stage with which people are most familiar. The aesthetic look and final feel of the work.

I asked three designers, two of them are alumnae Leila Natsheh (Graphic Design) and Alanoud AlNuaimi (Fashion and Interior Design) and the third designer Mark Follack Bermejo who is a current student in Interior Design, to explain their creative process. The pieces that I have chosen to show are from their process files. Clients rarely get to see this work. They represent the designer’s thinking and experimentations.


“I am continuously learning and observing the w orld around me. My curiosity has led me to explore many areas of visual communication,and yet, I intend to investigate more. Whether I am engaging in graphic design, screen-printing, jewellery or photography, I alw ays explore the process and attempt to gain as much knowledge as possible. My main objective, no matter what media I choose, is to communicate experiences and tell stories that resonate w ithin us all.”

L E I L A NA T S H E H

THE EXPERT


“What I appreciate about fashion is how it can define you as a person – from the colours you choose to the styles and accessories. These aspects blend to give you an overall style that is unique to you. That is why I love street wear! It is personal and alw ays original. One can continuously mix and match pieces and accessories to create their own original look.

Alanoud graduated from VCUQatar with a double major in Interior Design and Fashion Design in 2014. Her collection won the most creative senior award. She has created her own brand Corvus Cora.

cargocollective.com/morbidbeauty87

A LANOUD A L N UA IM I

My collections and my designs are highly influenced by the underground punk scene and from the music I listen to which happens to be 80’s heavy metal fashion as well as the bold colours and prints of street graffiti.”


MARK F O L L A C K B E RM E J O

“My professor once told me:“Creativity is in the process and innovation is the result of creativity.” I knew that this w as true since I could relate to it when I designed. I alw ays start quite broad, brainstorming and coming up w ith a dozen crazy ideas that I’m not sure I’m ever going to use anyw ay. To me, it is imperative to have more ideas than needed because it helps me to think in w ays I w ouldn’t have, which results in creativity. Boiling my ideas down to a few main ideas is a whole other adventure. Sometimes it’s quick, but sometimes it can take quite a while but it is alw ays fun! Selecting the best ideas, refining the design and getting into the details is probably my favourite part of the design process. When I’ve come down to my final design or solution, something innovative is produced and this moment is very satisfying.”

Mark Bermejo is a current student at VCUQ majoring in the Interior Design. Born in the UAE, Mark and has lived in Qatar since 1999. Since a young age, he was interested in drawing and later it developed into a passion in design and animation. He aspires to either be an interior designer or an animator who works for Japanese animation companies. His interests outside of design include music and anime.

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Lemya Osman is the regional communication and interior design leader for IKEA UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman. She has been part of the IKEA family for 10 years and she believes that beauty and commerciality are equally important in all furnishing inspirations. “This means mixing home furnishing competence with retail skills to create smart solutions that appeal to people. Commercial solutions that combine function, beauty and value for money are highly inspirational to create satisfied customers who return again and again,” she says.

THE EXPERT

COLOUR

WASH

PICTURE: SHUTTERSTOCK


Can you help me with choosing a rug for the front room? I have white walls and white sofa sets in my living room.Rugs and mats serve both functional and decorative purposes. They provide warmth, comfort and sound dampening functions, they protect floors from damage and moisture and they visually “tie together” furniture groupings. They also contribute to colour and style schemes and help to organise space in a visually comforting manner.Given your description of requirements, I would suggest you use your rug as an effective focal point in the room. Use a patterned rug matching your colour schemes and textiles on a plain floor to maximise the effect. While it will carry a common thread with your current surroundings, it will still stand out with an independent character.

I have a rectangular long living room. How should I furnish it, should I break it into two seating spaces or make the room long with scattered seating?The answer to your question depends really on your personal lifestyle. Both, the two clear seating spaces as well as a scattered seating area are workable options - but we should design the room on the basis of your socialising needs. The space for socialising needs to be functional, comfortable and convenient.

If you entertain large groups of people it is better to have one large island of seating but if you have small groups

you could go with two different seating arrangements.

Is it advisable to have an open kitchen?When designing kitchens, we focus on the functionality of the area. Work in the kitchen area includes three basic cooking functions: washing up, storing food and cooking. Work in the kitchen is easiest when the path between these three points is clear and at a comfortable distance. So, as long as we are careful about these functional needs, it doesn’t matter whether it’s an open kitchen or a closed one.

An additional question to ask yourself when children want to be part of the action in the kitchen is that whether this is a part of the house where they often interact with adults and learn from them? This means kitchens should also be safe and adapted to children.

Here are some tips you might want to keep in mind:

+ There needs to be a safe surface to place hot pots and pans out of children’s reach, and ideally hot pots and pans should never be moved over open floor space. This can be avoided by placing the cooking unit and sink on the same side of the kitchen combination.

+ Chemicals and sharp, dangerous and fragile items need to be kept out of reach of children. Child-friendly kitchen utensils can be kept handy.

Children’s storage should be placed away from the cooking unit.

+ A highchair or baby bouncer is a safe solution for having small children nearby but away from the cooking unit

Which colours suit the living room walls? Can you give us some options for wall decoration?There are no set rules on how to use colour. However, basic knowledge about how colour works can help achieve the desired effects. Different colours in a room can alter the character in many ways. It can visually change the size of a room, affect the atmosphere and how light is reflected.

Warm colours such as reds, yellows and oranges make spaces seem cosy, welcoming and intimate. However, they can also make a space look smaller - so it isn’t a good idea to use these colours in small spaces.

The same effect can be achieved with dark colours. Keep in mind that dark colours absorb more light, so the room will appear darker and will require more lighting.

Cool colours such as violet, blue and green seem to recede or feel more distant. They can create a sense of space and a cooler atmosphere. The same effect can be achieved with light colours. A cool colour in a light tone will create the maximum illusion of space. So if you want a small room to appear bigger, you might want to paint it a light colour.

W R I T E TO U S

I F YO U N E E D E X P E RT A D V I C E , D R O P YO U R M A I L TO

S I N D H U @ O M S Q ATA R . C O M

A rug for your living space, or the space and colour ethics of the room, and the functional aspect of an open kitchen; there is no one

who answers all the questions of spatial constraints of a house than IKEA with its innovative designs.

Here the expert answers all the questions that youhave while decorating your space.


While offering fine classic and traditional designs, Home r Us constantly strives to bring inspired and exciting new concepts as well. Homes r Us is built to keep in mind modern-day home décor needs and changing customer lifestyles.

Homes r Us showcases contemporary and classic styled furniture, cutlery and crockery, home décor and gift ideas all of which will make any homemaker smile with pride. With a variety of themes and expressions, Homes r Us caters to a wide range of clients from interior designers to homemakers, network stores, galleries, hotels, offices, etc. The showrooms are spread across the region, adapting to the varied cultures and providing a vast treasure trove of possibilities.

Creating exceptional value for all its clients, Homes r Us has grown from just one store in 2003 to thirteen across the region, providing a high standard of service, quality, innovation and professional expertise, assuring satisfaction to build long-term customer relationships. The unique nature of contemporary and traditional designs

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When it comes to home décor, there is one place that lives up to its name – Homes r Us. The name has become synonymous with homemaking with its complete spectrum of products and services for home interiors.

available at Homes r Us has ensured continued success for the brand, paving the way for its expansion. As a brand, Homes r Us has constantly delivered on its promise of creating inspiring home décor trends that help customers find furnishings that either define their personal style of home décor or accentuate the living spaces they have already created.

Homes r Us was established almost twelve years ago with the vision of being an exclusive conceptual lifestyle store


designed with open spaces for easy browsing, high ceilings and stunningly colourful display areas. The first outlet was opened at Madinat Zayed Gold Centre in Abu Dhabi and subsequently the brand expanded its base to thirteen stores across Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, Al Ain, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, where it is known as the ‘Home Store.’ The initiative to focus on key growth opportunities has strengthened the brand’s position in the market, allowing it to be the one-stop-shop for home furniture, furnishings and lifestyle accessories. Homes r Us has been awarded the Superbrands award by the Superbrands Council of UAE five times in a row.

Housed in a contemporary set up, Homes r Us offers a distinctive shopping experience to its customers. The store offers some of the most exquisite furnishings promoted by qualified, courteous and warm store staff who provide professional consultancy solutions to customers making it a homemaker’s paradise. With clearly customized departments for each part of home furnishing, Homes r Us offers a variety of bedrooms, living rooms, kids rooms, dining areas, TV units, kitchens, rugs and accessories to ornament the décor of your home.

Every room is a living room, as the brand’s recent campaign states. So, whether it is about having breakfast in bed, or sharing a cup of tea with friends, or watching a favourite show with the kids on a comfy sofa, Homes r Us creates elegant and thoughtfully created living spaces out of every room. Offering a fine collection of traditional and contemporary furniture, the living sets at Homes r Us will fit flawlessly into the décor of your living area. So whether you

want to create a warm ambience or add a sophisticated feel to your home, the living-room inspirations from Homes r Us will help you leave your signature in every inch of your home!

Symbolising elegance and style, the dining sets from Homes r Us are a perfect accompaniment for any dining area. From conventional designs to fun-filled themes, you will be sure to find one that matches your style and comfort. So whether you want to create that comfy spot in your home or lounge with your friends and family for hours, the dining tables at Homes r Us are a perfect fit for every home.

Your bedroom is a restful oasis. The artistic and elegant bedroom sets from Homes r Us are perfect for a soothing bedroom space. Whether choosing the entire set, or an individual platform bed, or simply pillows and mattresses, you can rest assured that the quality furniture and furnishings at Homes r Us are meant to last.

A young brand, Homes r Us has a Facebook following of more than 100,000, in a short time. The brand sustains the online interest through several engaging contests and communication. More information about Homes r Us and the various offers or promotions through the year,may be accessed at facebook.com/HomesrUsgroup

Twitter: Twitter.com/Homes_r_Uswww.homesrusgroup.com

Qatar: Hyatt Plaza, Entrance1,Near Khalifa Stadium, Doha

+974 4469 8999


A LITTLE BIT OF YOU IN EVERYTHING YOU OWN

THE ADVENT OF 3D PRINTING HAS DEMOCRATISED DESIGN IN EXCITING WAYS AND A RECENT EXHIBITION IN DOHA SHOWED US EXACTLY HOW.

BY AYSWARYA MURTHY

AROUND DOHA


Organised by the Embassy of the Netherlands, Dutch Design in Doha gave students and design enthusiasts the opportunity to witness the future of 3D printing.

Her Excellency the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Qatar, Yvette van Eechoud, took to the floor talking about the potential of 3D printing in sectors as diverse as healthcare, automobiles, food, architecture, product design and more. At the exhibition, which was on at the Katara Art Center through November, students from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and Texas A&M Qatar showcased several 3D-printed objects like compressor wheels for turbofan engines printed with titanium, variation geometry wings to be tested in wind tunnels, patient-specific kidneys and tumors to understand localisation, home accessories, jewellery etc.

But perhaps the most exciting insights into how 3D printing can change the way we look at design and customisation came from one of the Dutch students – winner of the Dutch Designs in Doha contest who was one of the two students flown in from the Netherlands to present their design

ideas in the presence of HE Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage. Mark Brand is a student at Eindhoven University and describes himself as a multidisciplinary designer. He converts lines and lines of inscrutable code into unique 3D-printed objects. What particularly caught our attention was his idea of incorporating a small personalisation into the coded design to create pieces that are truly one-of-a-kind.

This holds an interesting potential for the future of 3D printing and design, where each consumer can be made to feel like he or she is an integral part of the object that they own. “Mass customisation” has always been the central appeal of 3D printing. This means assembly line mass production of objects which has hitherto driven our consumer culture might as well disappear. Manufacturers have had to produce the same lamp or cup with the same dimensions and characteristics in the hundreds of thousands because that’s the only way production could be cost effective. But 3D printing removes this constraint; the printer doesn’t care if you are producing thousands of copies of one

thing or one copy of thousands of things. While designers will still be pivotal

to the process, more and more user inputs – even passive ones – will start to be built into the design. Names, dates, sayings and even location coordinates of personal significance can be molded into everything from flower vases and rings to mugs and photo frames; colour and materials are no bar. Want to leave a more subtle imprint on the objects in your home? A little randomisation in the code will result in a quirk in a design that’s literally one in a million. This random number can be generated by the code itself or be inputted externally. One of Brand’s projects, Mu, is an asymmetrical cylinder with unique and random ridges and projections. The process of customisation was interesting in itself. Volunteers were invited to stand on a platform that measured their weight, which was then used as an input for the programme. So by merely standing in one place and doing absolutely nothing at all, you are helping the designer create something for you that no one in the world has!

DUTCH DESIGNSLeft: HE the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Qatar, Yvette van Eechoud, with HE Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage (centre); Right: Mark Brand’s Mu; Below: Dutch design student Ralph Zootjen’s entry for the contest


WANT TO GET A 3D-PRINTED TRINKET IN DOHA?

Hany Zakkout runs a 3D hub (currently the only one in the city) and will help bring to life your virtual designs. He specialises in prototypes and your design can be ready for pick up in 2-3 days (or be delivered through postal). He charges per cubic centimetre, however, complexity and materials might add to the price. You can get in touch with him at www.3dhubs.com/doha/hubs/hany-zakkout

+ A personalised ring on which numbers of your choosing can be encoded. The message becomes visible only when you take the ring off your finger and either shine light, or look, through it at the correct angle.

+ Say something nice at the dinner table. Write a message to welcome your guests, personalise place settings, or commemorate an event.

AROUND DOHA


+ Create your own 3D-printed replica of your favourite part of your country’s beautiful landscapes.

+ A 3D object that spells different words from different perspectives could be perfect as return gifts at weddings and birthday parties.

+ Turn children’s wild and beautiful drawings into colourful figurines; bring their artwork to life by modeling it into a digital object and turning it into a real thing.


Advertorial

Award winning designs

Katharine Pooley creates sumptuous, inspiring interiors for the most discerning clients. Her refined yet eclectic aesthetic has earned her a position as one of the most sought-after interior designers in London and commissions for landmark commercial and residential projects around the world.

An innate sense of adventure has defined Katharine’s life and shaped her design philosophy. Katharine is an intrepid traveller and has visited more than 250 countries.

However, what may come as surprising is the fact that she has summited many of the world’s highest mountains, driven a team of dogs on a sled to the North Pole and crossed the Sahara on horseback, so one begins to form a picture of a truly original and adventurous interior designer.

Her unrivalled personal and seamless service is characterised by charm, humour and an obsession for detail. Katharine and her talented 20-strong team deliver projects on time and within budget, without ever compromising on craftsmanship or style.


The Far Eastern influences are explained by living and working in Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. Returning to England after more than two decades abroad to pursue her passion for interior design, Katharine’s talent for understanding and marrying diverse cultural influences with elegant interiors quickly gained her a following among London’s international design cognoscenti. After establishing her design office and eponymous boutique in Knightsbridge and a prestigious concession in Harrods, Katharine has worked tirelessly to be at the top of her profession.

Recent London assignments include properties in many of London’s most prestigious addresses, the interiors for the Royal and VIP Lounges at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, a large apartment in the heart of Singapore, a chalet in Verbier and palaces in Kuwait and Qatar. She has won two esteemed Decorex awards and is consistently featured in the Andrew Martin Top 100 international interior designers.

From interior design, home styling and furniture Katharine Pooley is able to provide clients with the expertise and tools necessary to realise the vision for your space. At the international design and architecture awards Katharine was shortlisted in the Residential Category in 2011 and 2013. Katharine Pooley also shortlisted for the BIID Interior Design category in 2011 and was awarded the coveted Best Stand Award in 2005 for the Decorex awards.


THE ARCHITECTS


THE BESTIS ALWAYS

ON THE

DESIGNINGTABLE

FROM THE BEGINNING, TABANLIOĞLU ARCHITECTS HAS PLAYED A PIVOTAL ROLE IN

THE BUILDING OF A CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURAL LANDSCAPE IN ISTANBUL.

NOW THEY CONTINUE TO SPREAD THEIR CREATIVE WINGS AROUND THE WORLD.


From the Atatürk Cultural Centre (1969-1977) in Istanbul, the focal point of Taksim Square, which is not only a multi-purpose cultural centre and opera house, but an icon of Istanbul, to the modern Selcuk ECZA Headquarters and the recent retail developments in Dubai, Tabanlioğlu Architects has now entered the Doha construction space though the two architects are reluctant to tell us about more about this local project.

The scope of Tabanlioglu’s projects is all-encompassing, from residential to mixed-use complexes across Turkey and abroad, including a wide range of building types from high-rises to museums. Murat Tabanlioğlu, founded Tabanlioglu Architects in cooperation with Dr. Hayati Tabanlioglu in Istanbul in 1990 and Melkan Gursel Tabanlioglu joined the firm in 1995 as the partner. Tabanlioglu Architects scooped its latest award at the RIBA Award Ceremony

where it was included among the 12 winners of the International Awards. The awards are for buildings outside the EU by RIBA Chartered Architects and RIBA International Fellows for their project, the Bodrum International Airport in Turkey. Murat Tabanlioğlu and Melkan Tabanlioğlu talk to Glam Interiors and Design about their projects and groundbreaking concepts.

Tell us more about your projects in Doha and Dubai?It’s been more than three years since we located in Dubai. Our first of the two realized UAE projects, the regionally anticipated and prestigious Crystal Tower, by the developer Al Fattan, located at Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR), the only walkway in Dubai. Crystal Towers provides a unique vision, offering a harmonious combination of a variety of different spaces including a hotel, shopping, restaurants, a beach club and a modern mosque, a first of its kind for the region. Although it is a private investment, the project claims to be a part of the city life, and welcomes the public in a natural flow. I believe that was something missing

GRAND SPACESBodrum International Airport Turkey.

THE ARCHITECTS

in Dubai projects. We added an urban vision and built a natural connection with its place and people, direct and indirect users, and even with theose who moved around the building. The city and its resources, including buildings, should be reachable and this is what we have tried to achieve through this project.

We are also involved in an ongoing cultural project in Doha, yet, due to a confidentiality agreement, we cannot announce it. As we have an active office in Doha, we are willing to perform new projects in the country.

How do you think the architecture of the Middle East is emerging? Does it have a distinct voice or is it emulating other cities like NY?During the previous decade, the city of Dubai, being the leader of the Gulf

“We are also involved in an ongoing cultural project in Doha, yet, due to a confidentiality agreement, we cannot announce it.”

A MIXED USE PROJECTThe ESAS Aerospace building in Istanbul. The main construction consists of two separate blocks with seven and nine floors, respective to the site topography.


region and Middle East in general, has gone through a rise in contemporary constructions. After a stagnation period, investments continued and the market values were revised. Iconic structures, along with projects that became magnets and widely used by the people, will be more attractive. So the new investments

should be embraced by the public. Cities will be more liveable and people will enjoy being a part of them, the local values need to become more emphasised next to contemporary possibilities. Investors have gained valuable experience and they can now decide on the most feasible project. They are more selective in searching for

the unique and beneficial projects, both financially and socially. A local-smart approach will bring new opportunities as it pays a respectful attention to the existing values.

How local are your designs? Explain

with regard to each of your designs in different cities?Despite the most contemporary techniques and methods, there should be a vital element of locality in the design, or else the buildings will be generic or not specific to the place. Local values, from vernacular heritage to natural resource, should always take the reference from the existing texture and be a part of your project. The spaces created need to be adaptable to different needs whether over a day or to evolve over a longer period

of time. At the same time, what we are building – or rebuilding – are links to the memory of the city and its public. For example, having very similar programmes, Tripoli Congress Center, Sipopo Congress Center and very recently Dakar Congress Center, all located in different cities of Africa, are strictly unique and special to their land and culture. In the same manner, design of a high rise in Istanbul or in Dubai is not an adaptation of a European or American tall structure, except maybe the building method, that is of course, universal.

What is your design ethos? Is sustainable architecture a part of it?People have equal rights to access safety, security, well-developed infra-structure and humane spaces in well-designed “places”, benefiting smart-local solutions. We develop projects with reference to the local needs and improving technologies of our era, at the same time. Being Aaware of Earth’s limited resources and escalating population and accordingly the need for building long-term policies in using re-usable, renewable and locally produced materials will reliably deliver social, environmental and economic contributions to the health and quality of human life, together with the life of nature.

Tell us more about the ESAS Aeropark? The ESAS Aeropark construction consists

Cities will be more liveable and people will enjoy being part of them. Local values need to become more emphasised along with their contemporary possibilities.

THE LOFTAbove: Loft Gardens in Turkey. Comprised of loft apartments at various size and forms, with large wall of windows and high ceilings, the residential offers alternative layouts. below: Exposed ductwork, plumbing, beams, concrete flooring, masonry and corrugated steel elements are kept in the spirit of openness and creativity that are integral to loft design.

THE ARCHITECTS


of two blocks with 7-9 floors, respective to site topography. Curvilinear parallel facades of buildings produce a pedestrian link that forms an integral part of the network of neighbuorhood connections. The anchor of the building is Pegasus Airlines, which has a direct entrance at the street level; above are the office floors and uppermost floors are designed as residential units especially for airline professionals. Soft curves of buildings, spaces and their connection arcs create a smooth flow. The height of the buildings and their form principally come from the idea of breaking the strong north-east wind and benefiting from the daylight.

How is architecture an integral part of the cultural stamp of the country?The architecture is not only focused on planning and technology but concentrated

TOPOGRAPHY DEFINED

Above: The Crystal towers, Dubai, Selcuk

Ecza Headquarters, Turkey which won the

‘World’s Best Future Office Building’ award at

the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards 2013.

on people and society, and not only today but also in the future. Culture is a permanent tool for making place, it guides the design and sometimes it is possible that design leads the culture, in return. Buildings, the spaces around them and important places are also elements of “belongingness”.

The best buildings you have completed according to you.We believe in our projects, so it is not easy to name one. But I can say that the most important project is the one you just begin to think about. It is a new world, a refreshed thought process, and a process to create and learn.

Quality over design and function over form. What do you say?We want to plant a seed that will germinate into a sense of community, so quality and function are more important, yet these concerns naturally end up with good design and form. A building is the highest expression of communication and has to push forward new ideas in the society, because not only those who live in the building but also those who visit the building are influenced by it, accept it and become a part of it. Claiming a more transparent and interactive society, our buildings provide such a medium and signify the will. With reference to vernacular wisdom and state-of-the-art technologies at the same time, we develop projects for today and the future, referring to the existing values and capacities in a smart-local approach. We prefer to contribute to cities, to environment, to the public in general and make people happy in the places they live.


Advertorial

Chester, the new ceramic parquet by Porcelanosa

Ceramic parquet offers all the warmth and natural beauty of wood flooring on tiles with a high resistance to constant use, sunlight and moist or wet atmospheres.

Porcelanosa extends its range of Par-ker ceramic parquet with the Chester collection, characterised by its exquisite white veining which highlights the noble quality of the material which has inspired this series of ceramic coverings and porcelain tile flooring.

Thanks to the masterful reproduction of the “white wash” stripping technique used on natural wood surfaces, the Par-ker Chester collection from Porcelanosa produces the characteristic veins and cracks of wood with whitish tints. This effect brings a warm vintage atmosphere to spaces where these ceramic and coverings are installed.

All the models of the Chester collection of ceramic parquet are presented in four elegant colours, nuanced with white


to soften their finish, which perfectly combine the tonal versatility of wood: from the intense Chester Antracita, to the moderate tone of Chester Leño and the greyish Chester Acero, to the warmth of Chester Castaño.

In terms of formats, this new Par-ker design has models of porcelain flooring tile in 22x90cm and 14.3x90cm; while the Taco and Line model versions for wall coverings are available with dimensions of 31.6x90cm. The Chester Taco ceramic covering recreates a mosaic of irregular wooden cubes of different textures and tones. The Chester Line Par-ker is made up of superimposed strips to achieve a very stylish overlapping effect.

With a presence in almost one hundred and fifty countries worldwide, Porcelanosa Group products are now also available in Doha. Visit the brand new showroom located on Salwa road, near Qatar Decoration interchange next to Al Tayseer Petrol Station.


Qatar’s most prolific artist, Yousef Ahmed, wanted to work on an art form that was strictly his own and that carried his name and his country’s.

“I wanted the smell of Qatar in my work,” he says. And he did that, by manufacturing paper from the country’s own palm trees and used this paper

to redefine his genre of work. To him, change is imminent but not without a strong sense of one’s history and that is the reason he picks his favourite

building in Qatar as the Tornado Towers, for the glass and curiously twisted façade that gives a sense of movement with which we can associate the

developments of the country. This explores the emotion of comfort that runs deep in our sensibilities and also paves way to our love for historical structures.

He smiles as he adds, “My office is in that building.” Ahmed does not resolve on one, he has to remember his roots and for this he chooses the Barzan Tower,

a heritage building in Qatar, that stands 14-metre high, a slim structure in Qatari stone, rigid, stoic, withstanding the onset of time.

FROM THE PAST TO

THE FUTURE

CONTRASTYousef Ahmed loves the Barzan Tower for its construction and aesthetic value even now, while the Torando Tower is where he works.

THE SPACE

Pictures: Sema Panther, Qatar Museums, Shutterstock

GID Second Issue

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