We are pleased to announce the following news back from the last visit to Riyadh as part of the Diriyah workshop “Learning from the past, shaping the future: Interventions in Wadi Hanifa cultural landscape”, organized by the Diriyah Architectural Lab and the Diriyah foundation. After three visits to Riyadh (January, March, and June 2024), our team of 4 graduates have presented on Friday the 7th of June their final design to a panel of 6 jurors (Prof. Zaher Othman, Prof. Martha Shwartz, Dr. Paola Pesaresi, Price Fahed Bin Naif Al Saud and Dr. Paulette Wallace), among an audience of executives, students and guests. The results were unanimous, and IESR/LAU team has won two prestigious awards:
Best Research for the team of Zayna Youssef and Carole El-Farraji (with other students). This team was led by Aouad and was composed of Lebanese, Spanish and Saudi members.
Best Design project for the individual work of the team composed of Pascale El-Maalouf and Alec Jil Agopian.
Diriyah Gate (Development Authority DGDA) is a large-scale Heritage and Cultural Development part of the Kingdom’s ambitious Vision 2030, aimed to highlight and promote At Turaif UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Birthplace of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Al Turaif urban settlement is built out of earth, located at the western promontory overlooking the historical Wadi Hanifah, a natural long valley/oasis stretched across the North South axis west of the capital Riyadh. The ongoing development is positioned across the valley on the eastern side and stretched over 3 evolutionary phases; it also covers large parts of the green Wadi Hanifah and the more arid Wadi Safar further to the West.
Building up a teaming methodology where Saudi students collaborate with foreign students, creating a mutual benefit. Started in January 2024 and delivered in two phases research and design strategy phase and design development, ending in a public exhibition in Diriyah in June 2024.
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