"a memory from a dream"

Dancing Bears
Painted Wings
Things I almost remember
And a song someone sings,
Once Upon A December

Someone holds me safe and warm
Horses prance through a silver storm
Figures dancing gracefully
Across my memory

Far away,
Long ago,
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart
Used to know
Things it yearns to remember,

And a song someone sings,
Once Upon A December

2008

The 53 Places to Go to in 2008


[check out number 32]

Art Agenda

Event: Architectural Photography Exhibition
Holders: Art & Design Department, KU
Location: Dar AL Athar AL-Islamiyah, Historic American Hospital
Gulf Road (Near Parliment)
Date: 2 Jan. 2008 [3 Jan.-12 Jan.]
Time:6:00 PM

Book Recommendations

Dalal Arch:
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software

The Simper:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

EarthQuaker:
Little Nemo 1905-1914

Purplecious:
جروح الذاكرة-تركي الحمد

Someday:
Identity: A Novel

Beautiful Day !

عوض دوخي

أغدا ألقاك


فيروز

أنا لحبيبي-لا تسألوني ما اسمه حبيبي

reading:

Bernard Tschumi, Architecture and Disjunction

December

December 2007

Years are nicely put
Number after number
I can’t recall any mess in count
Today I missed a meeting
But the following year is a common sense
I forgot to set my alarm
Over-slept!
Which day is it?
What time is it over there?
It’s 9:45 over here!
But the following number
Orderly follows
Until next year

ديسمبر ٢٠٠٧

سنة الألحان المتداخلة 

و الأسماء

تراكمت عوالمي 

و أدركت معنى المكان

و كيف أنه يفوق الزمان

لنقل

في أحيان

سفينة نوح أخبريني

متى

و كيف أغويت الطبيعة؟

حدثيني

عنك لما استهويت الطوفان

عن الشطآن تشرب البحر 

في ذل مرسى

آملة بلذيذ الذل الذي لا ينسى

أيا طوفان ما أنت أرديت البيادي زائرا

والرمل لم يشرب مالحا عطشا

في الكون دوما ما يلي

و بعدها حتما يختفي

Art Agenda

Dar Al-Athar al-Islamiyyah

Cordially invites you to a Musical event

Gala Opera Night

(with Guest artists from Uzbekistan)

On

Date: Wednesday, 26 December 2007

Time: 7:00 pm

WINTER

APPLE PIE RECIPE

مبارك عليكم دورة الهوا شمال

و المطرة الزينة

اللي عسى تاليها ديمة

*reading*                 

                

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A University Without Charges!

Kuwait University has a reward for the rare academic studies such as mechanical engineering and medicine to encourage students to assign in them. In 1997 the department of architecture was established. it has very limited spaces and facilities compared to what is required but it functioned after all, and to compensate with the departments shortage of needed supplies. the university committee offered 300 KD per season for each student to manage his/her financial issues. 

100 KD is another financial offer by the university as a  social support, which the students can take according to an application they fill about their personal status.

However, since last year, there was a lot of moving forces "appeared to be" driven from the students association towards offering the 100 KD to everybody, and -if I'm not mistaken- followed the civil denied demand from the government to cover all their loans. 

and just recently, we heard of a new slogan: "A university without charges!". every student now goes home with good income compared to the effort of studying, and no thought whatsoever about how many more important things we need as students for a better flow to achieve what we plan to do. the biggest achievement in Khaldiya (the engineering campus) for example is a new fence around the university to stay secure from any student in holidays. another achievement is erecting a new expansion floor to allow more space -i think- to the department of architecture, which is something i really do appreciate. yet it is a very slow process compared to the fence and the financial offers to the students, which was fast enough to exceed ,also, the time was taken to convince the university in offering the department of architecture financial support due to the vast amount of money we pay from the students pocket money because of the lack of enough workshops and materials in which they made us collect all our payment bills and give to them as if we ask for charity.

i understand that just giving us money is a faster solution to make us satisfied, but we are not responsible to make the university a better place when the money is transferred to our accounts. besides it won't take a lot of effort to make it so by the enormous number of employees enjoying their buffets or checking their emails in their time of work. 

EID

Bad Day

Daniel Powter





i hope everyone smile to everyone, react positive, open their hearts to the geographies of community, and produce at the end of the day.

LINK

Modern Mechanix

Yesterday’s tomorrow, today.

For example: [1939]

and many more!

A Vision for Parametric Design, by Kevin Rotheroe

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

Arch. Bernard Tschumi

Bernard Tschumi in Charlie Rose TV show
(the show includes two other subjects, one relating to sports and the other relating to drugs)

على العصاري

فيصل عبدالله- يا من يبشرني

JEWELS

© Cartier

Panther Brooch
$1.1 million

_____________________________________

In love with antiques?

_____________________________________

MEN'S TURN!

_____________________________________

Dedicated to arch.Dalal Senior

[Dec. 2007]

a typical unusual confession
over-heard
by the room i never entered
nor wanted to
in a place i would rather be forced to go
and unfortunately, i got a choice
words play smart around silence
disturbed reactions
spontaneous acts
loosing the nomadic soul
'why' is now taking over 'what'
the beauty of questioning
  is hard to find sense
  is hard to live with
simply asked, wasn't it?
but that i saw the shadows on the ground
and saw the dust after rain
  i saw the hatred of matter
  i saw theories controlling the private layers of me
  i saw my layers becoming private to avoid the controlling theories
and i simply asked:
why should we live with each other?

Beautiful Healing II [rather a solution]

Life for Rent-Dido

Beautiful Healing

(قد أتاك يعتذر - طيري يا طيارة - علموني ملاك)

MISSING

I realized that while I was walking to my class where I had a presentation for thesis, it was possible for me to find it coz it was just fallen, but I had to get prepared as well for some missing points that I had to add until my turn will come. I decided to let go searching for my brooch and just get my work done. although it was a gift from a very dear friend.

I attended, and heard all the presentations but couldn't involve in any discussion, for i was sooverly  occupied. UNTIL the presentation that comes before mine had finished, when our Doctor stood up and told us that we can have the next four students for the next class.

Conclusion:

-Numerical: zero

-Literal: empty handed

[I've traced my path from my car to the department of architecture, with no result]

I will search one more time when the college is quiet_and hopefully (...)

eeeeeeeh

I've noticed that only in architectural comics, there is nothing exagurated.

Laws of DIStraction

source

Update: when i showed this illustration to my friends in architecture, they [ehm..ehm] we were seriously discussing those possibilities, coming up with reasons for each proposal.

SLEEP!

GREAT ARCHITECTURAL LINK

Questionnaire

Dear WWW,

I will be very grateful if you wouldn't mind spending 5 minutes on this survey I am doing for my final project.The problem, generally, is that Kuwait City is demolishing older buildings and building new ones with higher rents, and almost %80 percent of the residents who live there cannot afford this rise in rental cost, and cannot manage to find another place after the building they live/work in will be demolished. what they do now is basically circulate inside Kuwait city according to the "destroying list". they don't want to leave, they like it in the city but i need to get a Kuwaiti view over this issue,therefore I made a questionnaire and I will be thankful for those who can solve it and send it back to me or you can give me a quick comment, information or a question regarding this issue. 

Age: ……………..

Religion: ……………….

Gender:  Male  Female

Marital Status:  Single  Married  Have Kids

Education Status:  Elementary  Secondary  High School  Diploma  Bachelor

 Other ? ………………

Which governorate do you belong to?

Kuwait City Capital Hawalli Al Ahmadi Al Jahra
Al Farwaniya Mubarak Al Kabeer

1.Do you work in Kuwait City?
 Yes  No

2.How many non-Kuwaitis [expatriates] assist/work with you? ……………

3.How many of them minimal salary? …………….

4.Where do you think those people live? …………………………………………

5.How many of them are single, how many of them are married?
Single ……………. Married …………..

6.Do you prefer they live next to your work?
 Yes  No

7.Do you think allowing them to live in the city will decrease transportation rush hours?
 Yes  No

8.Would you want to live in the living spaces for those foreigners if you find them appropriate?
 Yes  No  Maybe

9.Do you think they should be only for single foreigners or can include foreign families as well?
 Single foreigners only  Foreign families

10.Do you think that the foreigners who work in the city should live away from it?
 Yes  No

11.Can you imagine Kuwait City without non-Kuwaitis?
 Yes  No

Any comment regarding any question?
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..

*Your answers are very appreciated, thank you*

www.amazon.com>books>(!)

Art Agenda

Art Agenda

Canvas Magazine and Guide

[Nov/Dec]

--------------------------

Dar AL-Athar AL-Islamiya

Prof.Dr. Ali Radwan

"The Pharaonic Motifs in Arts and Crafts of the Ancient Near East"

[Lecture in English]

Date: Monday 26,November 2007

7:00 pm

A Useful Link

Global Incidents Map

bed time: "The Story of a Monkey"

EarthQuaker asked me -very politely- to tell him another story after he had read AL-Sultan Sulaiman story that I wrote back in July (when I had a lot of free time). and I suddenly shifted -after his polite request- from writing about Kuwait City, the building codes and integration (I hope my T.As never read this) to "The Story of a Monkey" (!)

I hope this will make you sleep faster Mr.EarthQuaker ;)



Once upon a time there was a giant sad monkey who used to be in a circus, but the circus couldn’t afford his transportation so they just left him on the road. The monkey was sitting lonely down a big cliff, he was crying out loud creating a symphony of echoes and queer sounds. He was a very huge monkey that he can’t feel good without any attention to his presence. All of a sudden, he saw little colorful bubbles floating down the cliff that made the monkey puzzled! ___ But he wasn’t a second! They were little ants going down the cliff by little bubble gum balloons! He was happy to find living creatures in this rural area and they greeted him while passing by his wide eyes.

“Hello dear ants” said the monkey in a theatrical way. The ants were whispering with giggles and amusement “oh he is the famous monkey….. O I loved his shows…… remember when he lifted a bench with the audience sitting on! He is the greatest!”
The monkey felt satisfied by those pride-filling whispers and thought he should do them a little “humble” show, so he told them “little ants.. Little ants I will be condemned with shame if I didn’t climb this high cliff with my meek hands but by a spirit weighs mountains and skies!” the ants now formed a half circle and set themselves into an event mode, he afterwards stepped into some rocky steps and began to climb gracefully, he can hear the ants’ cheers very clearly from his big wide ears but as he got higher he began to hear a voice from inside the wall of the cliff it was a very heavy voice that can cause the rocky cliff to vibrate a little. The monkey was worried about this sound, but it slowly got quiet so he forgot about it. The cliff was very high so he climbed…. climbed……. climbed until it got pretty dark. Suddenly his fingers touched a soft surface, he touched it thoroughly, and it was grass! He was so happy to reach a flat land eventually. “Eh a___h humph oh’oh a___h” he did the final moves of a long climbing journey by standing up. Then slipping down!!!
For the cliff wasn’t exactly followed by a flat land. Instead the monkey fell down in his first step on the new land he reached, he couldn’t see what was ahead of him for it was so dark by then. After reaching the sandy ground, he recognized the sound he was hearing while climbing, it was …snoring!
He opened his eyes when he heard no more of snoring. He found no one around! Only him, and the big wide hole he was in. so he wanted to reach a higher horizon to see where exactly he was. But he walked very funny on the ground that he looked as if he was dancing. “Hey what’s the problem with this ground?” he mumbled. So as he wondering, he saw that the ground was not from sand neither from one single material. It was a queer configuration of ground that seemed like different colorful rugs sewed or piled together in one place. There was leather, wool, soft, bouncy, rough and smooth. The monkey was mystified, what is this place “where am I?” he shouted, soon he got many answers from his own voice “HERE I AM!”, he was scared because it felt as if someone was replying to him so he shouted in a lower sound “I don’t understand!!”, then the echo came to him “UNDER..UNDER”. There was something wrong with this echo, it wasn’t normal and the monkey was clever enough to know that. When the echo replied UNDER, he began to try searching under the rug-like ground. As soon as his face got closer to the ground (he was tall you see) he heard that the ground was breathing, and there were sewing marks everywhere, but he couldn’t find the initial knot. He then, started following the marks until he found it. He released the knot and tried to pull the thread out of the weird ground and all at once it began to look bumpy soon he realized that animals with abnormal sizes were getting out from the ground and he understood that he was walking all along this place on those animals’ backs. He then heard a beautiful voice from under his feet; he looked down to find a tiny elephant.
“You are a life saver, we shall never forget you” the elephant said “there used to be a grumpy king to rule over this area and there was a great award to any person who can make him smile, there was a young man who found our land so he diluted the water of our lake by a sleeping solution. In one day all of us were sleeping in the lake that got dry with time after we had to drink from it as usual and fell a sleep inside it one by one. He sewed us together with one thread and this created weird echoes because of our different surfaces, and also a nice dancing stage. At night he brought the king and let the lights only on him standing inside the dry lake and he began to sing and dance he looked so funny in that bizarre performance that made the king laugh from all his heart.” The elephant said in a serious voice then continued “The young man got his award and forgot all about us” and after a sigh of relief he said: “until you came and released us, thank you very much”.
“You’re welcome, but you cannot live here any longer your lake is dry and you may be deceived once again if you remained in one place” said the monkey who began to have some new thoughts.
“What shall we do then?” asked the elephant.
“I used to live with humans and they hired me to make people laugh by doing simple moves in a place called circus, I am the only giant monkey in the world and this made them laugh, I don’t know why, but the humans got money to make people laugh so that they can give us food.” He wondered a bit then continued “I traveled all around the world it was a very beautiful life”

“Lets do our own circus!”

Some years later if you ask any person about the best circus you ever attended they will definitely tell you “The Queer Animals Circus”

my lens: Phenomenon

"what's in my brain is in your brain, what's in my heart is in your heart.. it is not a socialist thought, it is rather a natural behaviour. variety resides in the means of experience." ~Deema

my lens: ENTIRE ROME

Art Agenda

Event: Furniture Expo II

Holders: Alia AL-Ghunaim, Ghanem Shehab and Khaled AL-Qamlas

Opening Time: 27 Oct. @ 6:00 pm

[Continues from 28 Oct. to 1 Nov.: (10:00 am-1:00 pm)(5:00 pm-10:00 pm)]

Place: Optimus, AL-Qadsiya-Block1-Bader St.- House 11

________________________

Event: Italian Music:

“ITHAKA, the Journey of Ulysses”

A Piano as a vessel in discovering the Mediterranean

Artist: Cristiana Pegoraro

Time: Monday, 29 October, 2007 @ 7:00 pm

Place: Al-Maidan Cultural Centre – Abdullah al-Salem School,Maidan Hawalli, Near al Sha’ab Leisure Park.Tel: 5636528 / 5636561 Fax: 5653006Place: Dar Al-Athar al-Islamiyyah

PAUSE

[UNTIL THE END OF MY THESIS]

العرب

و كل شيء للعرب فإنما هو بديهة و ارتجال...، ثم لا يقيده على نفسه و لا يدرسه أحدا من ولده، و كانوا أميين لا يكتبون

من كتاب تاريخ العرب قبل الإسلام، القرن السادس للميلاد

و كل ما يكتب العرب فإنما هو بديهة و ارتجال، ما هو مدروس بقيد ثابت و لا له حكم في التوقع و الاحتمال، و لا نرى منه فعلا يفيد التوكيد

ديمة ، القرن الواحد و العشرين للميلاد

Arabs

مصدر الصورة

العيد هل هلاله

عساكم من عواده

صوت السهارى يوم مّرو عليه عصرية العيد

ابطى ركابه وراح يسأل عليه عصرية العيد

ساعة ماشفته أنا بالي انشغل وياه

اقضيت ليلي بهنا واصبحت اعد خطاه

اللي بغيت بعيد اليوم ذا يوم عيد

عيدك وعيدي انا

ديسمبر 2006

مشيت على نفس الطريق
الذي مسحت خطوطه
قبل سنة
عاتبتني السماء
لكني تجاهلت
فتهاديت.. بلا مرجع
و لا معتبر
فقدماي اعتادتا هذي الحفر
اعتادتا غضب الماء فيها
ينهال بكبرياء الثريا
و ينكسر
.. لكنهما اشتاقتا إليه
فغازلتا بالرقص
زخرفة المطر
و مارستا السقوط
و الانزلاق
و الملل
فرسمتا وجها سعيدا
.. من وحل

ديسمبر 2005

لطالما تحاورنا و تأثرنا بكل ما يقال من حولنا.. و عندما تحاور الناس ذلك اليوم، كانت أفكارنا دائما في مخيلتي تلعب دورها البائس ،التأثر

و في زحام الوجوه و الأشخاص، و بعد الأماكن فالتجارب و اللحظات، تراني أجلس وحيدة في المكتبة، أتلو قصيدة. و لأول مرة ترتد علي أصدائي تنهرني، أن لسنا في بلاد العجائب، و ما السامع إلا دارا للكتب!.. فصحوت من حلمي المختال إلى حياتنا البسيطة، التي نز يدها تعقيدا لكي نرضى

و مع إدراكي لذلك، ما زلت أرى في تلك الحياة هيبة خيط رفيع قد لا يرحم. و هذه الهيبة هي ما أنا أعيشه من عالم.لا أدري إن كان ما أقوله مهما، و لكني أعلم بأن شخصان جالسان في غرفة واحدة -على أبسط تعبير- لشيء بالغ بالأهمية. لأنني الانتظار و لست انسانا يحيا، ثم يحيا من جديد كمثل هذين الشخصين. و هو أدق من الغرور طبيعة، فالمغرور لا تغريه الشجاعة أما الانتظار فهو متوقف عليها

A Useful Link

Center for Research and Studies In Kuwait

(A Very Useful Site & Place)

(Click On The Image)

Age Count: 023

6 Oct. 1887: Le Corbusier's Birthday
6 Oct. 1973: Liberty War of Sinai
6 Oct. 1984: Deema's Birthday
6 Oct. 2007: Submission due date, thesis abstract
6 Oct. 1984=10 Muharram 1405, On Saturday

haven't watch the movie yet, but it made me excited about this number

23

life is beautiful

Heaven In Your Mouth

[Dedicated to Purplecious ]

Best ones in Kuwait:

Casper & Gambini's
Lorenzo

Italios [The Avenues:Green Umbrellas]

Best Recipes:

Italy

Around The World

my promise

Dear www,

The Simper had asked me to place a post for the three best skyscrapers that I appreciate, and I kept my promise, but with some flavor. Sky scrapers is a useful economic strategy, and it has within itself an artistic value(1), but once they decided to go vertical then they had to react to the urban quality in all the multi stories(2). On another level, there is the Dubai effect or the "Star Building" which is a big matter of attraction(3). This effect worked before for a religious matter and for place marking which was very beautiful, standing in its own with consistent approach(4). what we see now in the "Star Building" effect is an enormous three dimensional urban "MARKET". the fifth image in which something I am interested in is another WTC proposal it is something hard to accept from the clients but it is a good theory behind this conceptual scene, in this image you SHOULD read the article (5).

(1:WTC) Source

(2:Yemen)

(3:Dubai)

(4: Ulm Cathedral,Germany)

(5:WTC Source)

Writer's Note:Thank you Simper for letting me into this exercise :)

my lens:The Image of The Day [Sharq-Kuwait2007]

"They are very few, those who master the art of living" ~Deema

Events Update

NOW IN KUWAIT

Childhood Dream

1956 Volkswagen Beetle

Engine 4 Cylinder Transmission 4 speed Exterior color Black Interior color Gray. Features include: This is a Classic -oval- window bug with a -rag top- pull back sunroof. A beautiful stock roof. Including a luggage rack with oak bows. An older restoration with wide white walls and working semi phores.

::Vehicle Details::
Sold by:Dealer
Make:Volkswagen
Model:Beetle
Year:1956
Price:$ 9950
Exterior Color:Black
Interior Color:Gray
City:Bellevue
State:Washington

Source

Fire! Fire! All Fall Down!!

As i was on the roof with my nephew showing him the district from above i was shocked by this scene! a building in Kuwait City was on fire! it seems to be in Murqab and I saw a helicopter roaming above the site. it is right now and it is scary. I hope it is not residential, and thank god it is not a working hour so that no one inshalla be there.

update: after an hour of what i posted, as any normal Kuwaiti family, we went to check out what happened.. and we found out that it is a building under construction, and probably the victims are three or four cats..

my lens: Little Triumphs, Home 2007

my lens: Gulf Side, Kuwait 2007

اعطني الناي و غن - جبران خليل جبران

أعطني الناي و غن فالغنا سر الوجود

و أنين الناي يبقى بعد أن يفنى الوجود

هل تخذت الغاب مثلي منزلا دون القصور

فتتبعت السواقي و تسلقت الصخور

هل تحممت بعطر و تنشفت بنور

و شربت الفجر خمراُ في كؤوس من أثير

أعطني الناي و غن فالغنا خير الصلاة

و أنين الناي يبقى بعد أن تفنى الحياة

هل جلست العصر مثلي بين جفنات العنب

و العناقيد تدلت كثريات الذهب

هل فرشت العشب ليلاُ و تلحفت الفضا

زاهداُ في ما سيأتي ناسياُ ما قد مضى

أعطني الناي و غن فالغنا عدل القلوب

و أنين الناي يبقى بعد أن تفنى الذنوب

أعطني الناي و غن و انس داء و دواء

إنما الناس سطور كتبت لكن بماء

my lens: Water Town, Shanghai 2007

"Give a fish to a man; he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish; he learns a skill for life."
~Fan Li

"Learn without thinking begets ignorance. Think without learning is dangerous."
~Confucius - Lun Yu Chap. 2

"If you stay where you are, life will change in front of you and then you follow this change. if you move, you are only competing with life. when can we be life itself?" ~Deema

my lens: Shanghai Museum, Costums section 2007

“With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it. There has to be, otherwise it's just not acting. It's lying.” ~Johnny Depp

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person, Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth" ~Oscar Wilde

"You are but a silhouette, confronting your own masks" ~Deema

T-Square: Issue 3

The Architecture Magazine - University of Kuwait

Theme of this eddition: Signature

Table of Contents:

-Defining Signature

• Note for Clarification



• من خلال التوقيع



• What Creates It ?



• الرمز، و مسيرة نحو معرفة الذات



• Signature.

-Signature of A Person

• Frank Gehry: A Biography



• Interview: Architect Abdullah Al Faisal Al Sabah.

-Signature of A Place

• 
  Sequal I: The Signature in Desquise as The Norm's- Missconception of Valid Architecture
  
• Moroccan Architecture

-Signature of A Time

• Masking Society



• Super-sizing Real-Estate.



• poetry: كان

-Signature of An Ideology

• McDonaldology: The Visual Aspect of Architecture



• Toward Extreme.



• Folding Architecture



• Case By Case

-Showcasing Signature

(Photographs taken by students are included)

note: provided in Department of Architecture 5Kh - Khaldiya Campus

my lens:Around Nanjing, Shanghai 2007

Art Agenda:

Dear www,

1. Designers: Dahlia Dawood AL-Ghunaim & Dalal Musaed AL-Sayer.

Venue: Villa Moda.

Dates: Thursday, 20 September to Saturday, 22 September 2007

Exhibition Hours: [ 8:30 pm - 1:00 am ]

Address: Villa Moda . Kuwait Free Trade Zone . Shuwaikh [2827004-121]

The earliest event in the Agenda is Today! two of my friends in architecture are holding an exhibition in Villa Moda, and here is the invitation:

_______________________________________________________

2. Artist: Fareed Abdal

Venue: Dar AL Funoon

Dates: Monday, 24 September to Thursday, 11 October 2007

Exhibition Hours: [ 11 am - 1 pm ][ 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm] closed on Fridays.

Address:Behbehani Compound House 28, AL-Watiyah, Kuwait [243 3138]

Fareed Abdal is a member of our department's faculty. I attended one of his exhibitions before and it was amazing, he has innovative ways in calligraphy. He is also displaying his latest pieces next week, and this is the invitation:

___________________________________________________

3. Lecturer: Géza Fehérvári

Lecture Title: [Masterpieces of an Unknown Iranian Metal Worker]

Venue: Dar AL-Athar AL-Islamiyah, AL-Maidan Cultural Centre

Date: Monday,22 October 2007

Note: AL-Maidan Cultural Centre is holding weekly events in variety of subjects starting with the former lecture, to check out their Cultural Season click here

This is my favourite place toattend :)

Group No.6

Ian Wale - England
Wendy Zhang - Malaysia
Kenya Endo - Japan
Deema Gh. -Kuwait
Fei Wenjun - China
Lynn Wang - China

• The following article is my own perspective towards our design and experience, there is a lot that I couldn't trace by words in where I placed my photos:

Symbiosis: Cityscape & Landscape

History and location had proven Shanghai to be the open door to China and an expected metropolis, thus it is the perfect place to experiment the meet from variety of cultures in order to simulate the city context. Tongji University had chosen the perfect site for the summer school workshop. A place infected by the forces of change. The site used to be the industrial district in Shanghai, but the urban development and expanse occurred during the last decades over flew the area and took away its functioning privilege. The government moved the factories to the rural and reserved some of the existing buildings for restoration and reuse.

This action configured a new quality to the site. On an urban view it has a confinement-relief value of space. And on a human perspective a new motion was in the density inter-spaces. M50 project used the remaining built part of the area (confinement part) to be an art district; where the old low rise buildings become the muses for artists and designers’ invention. The other side of the area –also to be the riverside- is rather a very relieved part where nature overgrows and very few buildings remained, yet standing out. It is a riddle of memory left by banished urban fabric.

In the workshop we were split into groups of six. In my group there were two persons from China, one from Malaysia, one from England, also one from Japan and myself from Kuwait. So we all came from different backgrounds different languages and strategies. It is a bit hard to deal with such variety but we accepted the challenge with our architectural language.

Initially we applied an analyzing method in which we explored –through our captured photographic frames- the possibilities of the space that is affected by existing phenomenon. The method revealed a symbiotic formation between nature and man made as well as old and new. Afterwards we were split to enhance the qualities of each critical point that joins the whole; those are the river band, the density relief, the paths and the street circulation. This is how we created the program, because associating these points with the term “urban memory” -and thus industrial heritage- demands the term “production”, and the latter term is the answer –still hypothetical- for the mentioned critical points.

Our strategy was to set upon the future need for the artists to benefit from their potentials to strengthen their financial status to cope with the expected rising rental cost of the M50 district. So we decided to turn the building that used to be a flour factory into an active art school for children, then this place would be an experimental zone for both artists (coming out from their galleries and studios) and the new generations (coming out from their residential areas all around).

The term “production” is correlated to the term “display”. In respect to this fact we chose to transform a building that used to be a hotel into a building that receive and display, especially that the hotel has a strategic location being the first architectural element along the entrance axis from the street. This place will be the cultural part of the landscape accommodating indoor and outdoor events, introducing you to either the river band or the children’s area.

Another axis to the site is from the M50 district; it is there where nature and man made reflection is being sensed by the rational (grid-like) placement of trees that gradually spread in a more organic way. It is the inspiration zone where art and knowledge emerge through the beauty and intellect of nature.

The levee is transforming along the river due to change in activities from viewing to fishing and from wandering to accessing. The river band is treated in the crescent-like area so that the water can be filtrated with time by rocks and plants to attract birds and increase natural inhabitants.

As mentioned, “Urban Memory” is a term dependent on vision and time, what we present in our design is a frame of what exist towards what existed in a great respect to the phenomenal claim.

The Landscape here is an expression of the amalgamation of natural and domestic topography. By using the low-rise natural space as a gravity force that attracts the rising surrounding. And as change being hyperactive in Shanghai it is left to the occupants around the area, the artists and the children to generate changes either predicted or not. And it will be consequent of our adjustments, which reacts to the M50 recently running program.

Summery:
A workshop held in Tongji University had brought human skills from multiple countries to design the given space under the “Urban Memory & Landscape” conception. From this subjective meaning we in Group Six decided to understand and unite each existing phenomenon for it to transform and grow in rather a beneficial manner, to Eco-system as well as economy.

As The modern city of Shanghai, is being in the hands of her children. And as the history of the district in study, is used to be the source of industrial production. We chose to vibrate the heart of the landscape with art classes for them, which act as a metaphor for the term “production”. These classes with M50 district will merge together through the natural surrounding, providing rental spaces for artists to display their work and therefore nature will be veiling and unveiling art as we walk from a place to another by the law of perspective.

All the activities will be woven by the treatment of the levee along the river, where we intended to attract new natural inhabitants to the area and apply some methods to filtrate the river. We want the area on the river band to be more bio-active in order to heal itself in the long term.

My personal experience was more into the long-term strategy of the landscape and the possibilities of its growth mainly concerned about the growth of the M50 district to the natural zone. This workshop had taught me a lot about the Chinese heritage, and Shanghai told me beautiful stories by the colors of her nights and on the faces of her people. I believe that the image of Shanghai will make its perfect sense if it reflects the strong character of Chinese people. If we trace the daily life of Chinese people we can predict innovative urban strategies toward this city.