Architecture Passion

Graduation Project 1992 - Five Stars Hotel in San Stefano Alexandria -Egypt 

I was born in London and grew up in Abu Dhabi the largest of the seven Emirates and the Federal capital of the UAE. My first recollection of being interested in design and architecture was when I used to see my father making physical models for railway station that was fascinating to me as a child; I used to sit under his drawing board and play with remnants of trees, cars and train carriages. He was a final year student at the Architectural Association school of Architecture at that time, (Post Graduate Course in Tropical Architecture), all that comes to a child’s mind, and that he was playing. He started working for British Rail (British Transport Commission at that time), after his graduation. And again I would run and hide under his drawing board; that special place where the passion for architecture was born ‘’ under a drawing board’’.

When it came to choosing a career I didn’t need to think twice, for very obvious reasons, studying architecture was my first and last choice. It was the only way I would satisfy my thirst for art, creativity and the science of construction. In retrospect, it was the right move for me and I have never regretted it. My first job in architect’s office was prior to going to college for Eastern Architecture Consultants, a private sector firm in Abu Dhabi, where I worked as an assistant and had the most interesting and stimulating experience of learning the Sciagraphy and perspective, visual design, free hand  drawings and presentation techniques . In spite of the unpaid job, and the dis-encouragement from some of my colleague on how stressful vocation I am intending to choose, however, I was still enthusiastic to pursue my chosen course & career. 

I began studying architecture at Ain Shams University in 1987.The undergraduate Bachelor Degree of Science course is five academic years. The course split into two parts – foundation or preparatory year, which is general and common for all students, a degree which was for four continues year of specialization according to specified curricula by university statute.

The first year was general studies to all engineering students, where I studied descriptive geometry, mathematics, mechanics, engineering chemistry, physics, history of Engineering technology and production technology. To attain the first step of my dream I needed to be qualified and awarded entry to the department of architecture was to pass all subjects and all grades should be above the %75.  Despondently, that wasn’t the case, my grades were less than the %75 by 1% which left me numb all summer holiday, my long lonely nights were rendering one picture of an aborted dream.

As I was offered a scholarship to study architecture based on my high school grades, and the booming construction industry in the UAE, I had to negotiate with the university with the help of the education counsel to reconsider the necessity of studying architecture and the needs of the country for architects. I unfortunately had to miss some of the course due to delays in decisions.

By November 1989 and after a couple of months living in uncertainty, I received the acceptance from the university to join the architecture department; I have always maintained that this left me with more determination to reach my goals.

My first two year in the degree course was a balance of project work and a series of mandatory modules which were give students a basic grounding in architectural history & theory, technology and building process. I really enjoyed the first two years with a field trip to Aswan and Luxor, where we studied the history of ancient Egypt, the Gift of the Nile.

As an architecture student it was fascinating, simulating subject for mediation. But a student is also a human being; when confronted with such testimony of a distant past, feels first of all that he or she is a man like every one else and only secondarily an artist or engineer. The evocative vision of the Vally of the Kings and Karnak temple, which rise from the desert in perfect geometric forms, provoked in me the same intense emotion as it does in any visitor.

As I started to analyze the whole complexity of the ancient architecture, I learnt that architecture is like a language. It has its grammar (function and space), its vocabulary (materials), and is deeply rooted in human life. I learnt architecture with a symbolic value, as a beauty, scales, styles and fitness for function.

Following the second year, I attended training under qualified architects in Cairo and Abu Dhabi during the summer holidays. The third year of the degree was more rigorous and demanding period. I studied planning and housing studies, urban renewal, local and counterparty architecture, architectural criticism and project evaluation, urban and architectural heritage. The planning and housing module under Zaky Hawas was the most appealing, as we worked in groups ......to be continued !