Day #37 | The behind scenes of a Pre-Meeting

After the long and productive Eid 4 days Holiday, the day kicked off with designing the last furniture of the Quooker fair stand for Downtown Design 2017. This was the perfect example of how design and building thinking processes should always be complimentarily integrated.

The display design consists of an outstanding and unique stone sculpted at 90 cm height and a maximum of 75 width. Its strong physical properties, textured surface and shaped edges make each unit unique and distinct from the other. However, the fabrication system, transportation and cost effectiveness appeared to be challenging. This led us to potentially question the use of concrete, (with chicken wire mesh and PVC cylinders) to achieve the sense of dimension and textured edge condition of the stone material. Sectional and elevation drawings were essential in understanding its shape, dimensions and how the tap and designed sink would be integrated into the sculptured structure. Being used to design with straight line work, the real challenge was to give the drawing a certain depth in integrating the sharp edges through diagonal lines.

The day was also marked by the preparation for the meeting with the members of directing board of Alserkal Avenue. It will be the first meeting I will attend at SVENM and I had the opportunity to take part reviewing the images for the presentation and helping prepare everything. I was very inspired in experiencing their energy and effort in planning and discussing the key points of the two parts of the presentation, first introducing different public spaces following by the functional design approaches SVENM feels will enhance the public experience in Alserkal Avenue.

In my opinion, the design solutions were right here!

These include vegetation, and organic forms,

The key is to find the perfect balance between the distinct existing industrial identity of Arserkal Avenue and configuring solutions to make the Avenue more liveable.

Photo © Aya Hurbli