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.
The desert – always moving, never static; like an ocean of sand.
TOMMASO GIOVANNOLI
An intervention without scale confronts the infinity...
The Gulf’s architectural forms have, to some extent, been limited by two important factors: climate and the availability of building materials. The...
Read moreI 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...
Read moreBuildings 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...
Read moreConsciousness 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,...
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...
Read more