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Issue 10 - In the Desert

Natural Conditions: Hotel in the Khor Al-Adaid Desert (July 2012)

In the Gulf, an area with intensive urban and constructive transformations, we planned with our students a small resort in the Khor Al-Adaid Desert of Qatar. Confrontating the artificiality of the architectural object with the particularly extreme natural conditions (climate/landscape with its technical/scientific components), it was from these and the given cultural background (vernacular tradition) that the projects derived their formal logic and organization. The Khor Al-Adaid region, also known locally as the Inland Sea, is characterized by towering sand dunes that plunge into tranquil waters, while their ever changing form characterizes the inland scenery with its sublime vistas.

Issue 10 - In the DesertSauter FlorianStudio, Videos, Reviews

Natural Conditions: An Iconographical Survey of a Hotel Project in the Khor Al-Adaid Desert

by Josep Lluís Mateo, Krunoslav Ivanišin, Ramias Steinemann, Tomeu Ramis and Florian Sauter

The desert – always moving, never static; like an ocean of sand.

TOMMASO GIOVANNOLI
An intervention without scale confronts the infinity...

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Issue 10 - In the DesertAl Jaidah Ibrahim Studio, Essays, Videos

Desert Architecture: Some Comments on Qatari Architecture in the Pre- and Post-Oil-Period

Lecture by Ibrahim Al Jaidah

The Gulf’s architectural forms have, to some extent, been limited by two important factors: climate and the availability of building materials. The...

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Issue 10 - In the DesertAl Hiyari Sahel Studio, Videos

Holy Ground: Unorthodox Interventions in the Wadi Rum

Lecture by Sahel Al Hiyari

I will present to you a few projects that sort of represent the trajectory of works I have done over the past 13 years. The works are focal points or images between two aspects: on one hand it is the aspect of a cultural context that is characterized by its constant transitions, ambiguities, and an...

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Issue 10 - In the DesertMontazeri HamidStudio, Videos

Yazd

Lecture by Hamid Montazeri

Buildings in hot and humid climates have been traditionally cooled by ventilation. Wind catchers or what is in Persian called a Baud-Geer have been employed in the arid central regions of Iran and its neighboring countries to provide natural ventilation and passive cooling. The function of the...

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Issue 10 - In the DesertDaher RamiStudio, Essays

Postcards from Amman

by Rami Daher

Consciousness and Resistance

I strongly believe that The Arab Spring was definitely a positive way forward, but it lacked a 100-year overdue. It should have been supported by a serious evaluation of movements of change and transformation that took place in Europe since the Enlightenment,...

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Issue 10 - In the DesertVeiga AlbertoStudio, Videos

Right Tone

Lecture by Alberto Veiga

Many of our projects deal with the question of character. If I were to use a metaphor then I would have to say that we are not interested in the language of architecture - no, we are interested in the tone of architecture. I believe that sometimes it is more important the way you speak than in fact...

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