The set of dynamics and criteria dictate the various models of the urban development in the Arab countries [...]

25 October | 8 - 9pm
The Atrium, Building 4, Dubai Design District (d3)

The set of dynamics and criteria dictate the various models of the urban development in the Arab countries, in the absence or presence of the development of iconic landmarks.

Following the keynote by the starchitect & engineer Dr. Santiago Calatrava, this talk looks at the commonalities and differences of the applied approaches, and how those approaches influence a structured or an unstructured urban development in the cities of the respective countries.

Moderated by Sultan Sooud Al Qassimi

The Panel

Dr. Santiago Calatrava

Architect, Artist and Engineer Dr. Santiago Calatrava, is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards from renowned institutions and organizations such as the UIA Auguste Perret Prize in 1987, The Gold Medal of the Institution of Structural Engineers, the Royal College of Art “Sir Misha Black Medal” (2002), the Principe de Asturias Art Prize, Oviedo. He also received AIA Gold Medal (2005), the Premio Nacional de Arquitectura (2005), the Grande Médaille d’Or d’Architecture, Académie d’Architecture (2003) and the AIA National Medal (2012). He was named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum in 1993 and was named as one of the 100 most influential people by Time Magazine in 2005.

At an academic level, Dr. Santiago Calatrava is a permanent guest lecturer at Universities such as the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich), MIT School of Architecture and Design, University of Yale, Azrieli School of Architecture in Tel Aviv and Columbia University in the city of New York. Throughout his career so far, he has received over 20 honorary doctorates (Doctor Honoris Causa) from many of the most prestigious universities around the world.

Aziza Chaouni

Aziza Chaouni studied civil engineering and architecture at Columbia University and Harvard Graduate School of Design where she graduated cum laude (2000) and with Distinction (2005) respectively.

In 2007 she co-founded Bureau E.A.S.T. with Takako Tajima, before launching her own practice, Aziza Chaouni Projects (ACP) in 2011. Together, Bureau E.A.S.T and Aziza have won several top design Awards and Recognitions including the Holcim Gold Award for Sustainable Construction (2009).

Aziza has been honored with a TED Talk for her architectural work in reviving the Fez river that runs through her hometown of Fez, Morocco. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Daniels School of Architecture Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto, where she leads the Designing Ecological Tourism Lab (DET).

In 2012, Aziza was commissioned by the Moroccan Ministry of Culture to oversee the lengthy restoration of the oldest functioning library in the world, at Qarawiyine University in Morocco.

Mohamed Elshahed

Mohamed Elshahed is a Cairo-based architect, independent researcher and writer. He is the Curator for the British Museum’s Modern Egypt Project. Elshahed teaches architectural history at the American University in Cairo. In 2014-15 he was an Art Histories and Aesthetic Practices post-doctoral fellow at the Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien. He obtained his doctoral degree from the Middle East Studies Department at New York University. He is currently compiling a guide for Cairo's twentieth century architecture, to be published by the American University in Cairo Press. His forthcoming book Revolutionary Modernism? Architecture and the Politics of Transition in Egypt, 1936-1967, focuses on architecture and urban planning in Egypt during the period of political transition around the 1952 coup d'état. Mohamed has a Bachelor of Architecture from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a Master in Architecture Studies from MIT. He is the founder and editor of Cairobserver.

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a United Arab Emirates-based columnist and commentator on Arab affairs. His articles have appeared in The Financial Times, The New York Times Room for Debate, and Foreign Policy, among other notable publications.

Sultan is an MIT Media Labs Director’s Fellow. He has been named on Arabian Business’s “World’s 100 Most Powerful Arabs” list in 2014, and TIME magazine’s “140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011.”

Sultan is also the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, an independent initiative established to contribute to the intellectual development of the art scene in the Arab region by building a prominent and publicly accessible art collection in the United Arab Emirates.