Location: Bnaider, Kuwait
Date: 2003
Status: Built
Size: 400
Team: Nasser Abulhasan
Description: This private Beach House functions as a versatile gathering and living space, rather than a conventional dwelling. Its users are constantly changing, and their activities differing. In the public areas, the house dissolves the barriers between indoors and outdoors. It creates a flexible gathering space that can either open up into one continuous zone, or separate into thee areas: the courtyard, the living area, and the outdoor terrace. To further adapt to this unique dwelling concept, a manually-operated canvas structure covers the desert-facing façade windows. When seen from the street below, this functions as a billboard to its various users, telling them whether the place is “open” or “closed”. Three dorm-style bedrooms and a kitchen complement the program of the building.
Location: Al-Shaab, Kuwait
Date: 2004 - 2009
Status: Built
Size: 1600
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Abdul Hafiz Mohammed, Robert Varghese
Description: This house very much reflects the clients’ character and lifestyle: young, laid-back and carefree. It is not restricted by rigid geometry or form; rather its different parts come together as a form of collage. This strategy is expressed from the development of the program, to the three dimensional spatial experience and the formal appearance of the building. The fragmentation of its various design elements is unified through the main feature of the house: a courtyard which encompasses a red pool in the basement and an open terrace within the garden at ground level. The colour is reflected throughout the space in contrast to the neutral colour palette of the rest of the house. When viewed from above, the pool seems to extend beyond the perceived perspective of the viewer; in the same way that the house extends into the landscape in front of it on the ground level.
Location: Al-Rai, Kuwait
Date: 2004 - 2007
Status: Completed
Size: 6500
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea / Gensler
Description: Baroue, MS Retail´s flagship store, is a one-stop-shop destination for children and expectant mothers. “Designed and developed to fill a gap in the marketplace, the store combines theatre with entertainment space through the creation of a giant Sea Serpent central feature where children can play and their parents relax in an adjacent café. The store also provides clothing, maternity wear and entertainment for children”. AGi Architects was commissioned to assist the client in developing this interactive children’s retail concept, acting as the client’s representative through the various stages of the design and construction process. AGi Architects in association with Gensler’s design team and a child psychologist, worked together to establish a brief from a child’s perspective, then developed environments for play, learning and discovery. Baroue has won various awards including the ´Innovative Format of the Year´ Category at the World Retail Awards 2008.
Location: Bnaider, Kuwait
Date: 2004 - 2009
Status: Built
Size: 5000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Babu Ibrahim, Robert A. Varguese, Abdul Hafiz Mohammed
Description: Nestled into the landscape, this beach house blends with the natural topography of the coastline of Kuwait and slowly reveals itself to the visitor when approached from the desert. Upon entry, one gets glimpses of the sea while going down to the public level of the chalet. The private side of the house, located at the entry level, is concealed from the visitors by a bamboo wall. Bedrooms and private living spaces remain isolated from daily activities. A three way stair, located in the centre of building, organizes the different flows; family, friends and guests. Maximising views to the sea dictates the organizational and formal structure of the beach house. On the lower level, the house extends into the landscape and the sea, accentuated by an infinity pool located in the garden. The initial design was master planned for three detached dwellings, each with extensive sea views while simultaneously achieving privacy from each other. The client, instead, opted for a single house, two bungalows and a boathouse, with possible plans for expansion in the future.
Location: Al-Rai, Kuwait
Date: 2005 - 2006
Status: Built
Size: 2000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description: The project consists of a low-budget warehouse transformation into an office building. The main structure and exterior block work were retained in order to minimize changes. The design objective was to bring optimal light into the working spaces and give character to the façade. Long strip windows were introduced wrapping the building in different ways, which inherently gives a unique character to the building and differentiates it from the neighbours. The long span roof structure provided an open plan on the first floor, which allowed for flexible working spaces for various companies. The users share common facilities such as: a main conference room, kitchens, restrooms etc. The space has proven its versatility since completion.
Location: Nuzha, Kuwait
Date: 2005 - 2006
Status: Project
Size: 1400
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Robert Varghese
Description: The house is located in a dense residential neighbourhood, with only one open façade facing a street. To achieve privacy and bring in natural light to the villa an introverted courtyard house was designed. The main architectural feature of this house is the vertical circulation element that splits the courtyard into two: a garden and a pool area. The staircase is enclosed with a glass box, and whether using the stairs or being in the courtyard, one is always aware of the activities taking place in the house. Due to its very transparent nature, a screen (Mashrabiya) was designed to shade the south-facing wall of the staircase. It was designed to be very dense at the top, and gradually open up on the ground floor, where less shading is needed. This creates a very dynamic façade which is climatically sensitive and simultaneously adaptive to the end users’ movement.
Location: Al-Rawda, Kuwait
Date: 2005 - 2011
Status: Built
Size: 1600
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Monica Marquez, Sharifah Alshalfan, Abdul Hafiz Mohammed, Robert Varghese, Naseeba Shaji
Description: The organisation of this dwelling is based largely on the client’s need to accommodate 3 generations of the family into the same house. Hence, separate wings for the different family members are located on various levels of the house to achieve privacy from each other. These are all organized around the central courtyard that houses the pool. The vertical circulation also revolves around this courtyard space; as one goes up the stairs the landing extends into the landscape of the courtyard below. With the growing programmatic needs of the client, the façade becomes an important element in the design. It is used to unify the complexity of the extensive program. Horizontal bands wrap around the house, while the 2nd floor is set back in order to break down the scale of the project. These bands are angled differently on the various floors to achieve a visually dynamic expression.
Location: Kuwait
Date: 2005 - 2007
Status: Completed
Size: 10000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea / Gensler
Description: AGI Architects colaborated with Gensler to develop a comprehensive retail concept, successfully repositioning the company’s brand presence in Kuwait and supporting its expansion into India.
Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Date: 2005 - 2006
Status: Built
Size: 2000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Robert A. Varghese, Abdul Hafiz Mohammed
Description: The design intent of this office space was to create flexible spaces that can shrink and expand according to the different tenants’ needs. The clusters created were based on the existing module of the façade and structural column grid of the building. An important aspect of the design for this project was to conceptualize on an alternative solution for the corridor space, and approach to the individual offices. The corridors were painted a dark grey to create a brighter perceived space once entering the office. To break the monotony of the space, horizontal bands of light on the ceiling wrap down to define the entrance of each office. This creates a continuous rhythm that compliments the interior façade, which consists of a series of lines based on the Fibonacci sequence
Location: Riffa, Bahrain
Date: 2005
Status: Project
Size: 100000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Robert A. Varghese
Description: This housing community design intends to challenge the typical repetitive nature of similar scale developments. The design provides uniqueness and flexibility not only spatially, but in the construction process as well. The construction system “Tunnel Form”, introduced in this project, is a modular, cost effective and time saving alternative to the conventional bearing walls and precast concrete slabs method. It allows for the different houses to extend and elaborate depending on the different users’ needs and lifestyles. This results in affordable, unique and customized housing options.
Location: Bayan, Kuwait
Date: 2005 - 2006
Status: Built
Size: 100
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya
Description: The purpose of this project was to experiment with filtering daylight throughout this studio space, as needed for its multiple uses. The studio is an addition to an existing 1980’s house in the suburbs of Kuwait City, and consists of living, working and sleeping areas. The open plan allows for flexibility for use, where one can open up the space, or separate the living from the sleeping spaces for more privacy. Due to the studio’s location between the existing house, and the neighbours, it only has one open façade. This is located in the living area, where an east-facing window is placed which frames an existing tree in the garden outside. Consequently, more daylight sources were required. Two skylights were created to capture different light sources into the space at different times of day. The first skylight captures northern light into the back of the sitting area, while the second skylight is open on 2 sides to allow eastern and western light into the powder area, at times where this space is primarily used.
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2006
Status: Completed
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Yarmouk, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2009
Status: Under Construction
Size: 3415
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Sharifah Alshalfan, Naseeba Shaji, Germana DeDonno, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Robert A. Varghese
Description: Located on a main highway in Kuwait, the houses differentiate themselves from their surroundings by their stark façade design. With two contrasting colours, the façade is designed to define the individual houses, while achieving unity amongst all six. White stucco material is used as the base for all the houses, while dark grey bands of stone turn corners, go indoors, and climb up and down, creating flow and continuity throughout the project. Each of the three adjacent plots divides to accommodate two houses: the front, facing the inner neighbourhood street and the back, facing the 5th Ring Road highway. Services shafts and exterior light wells separate the 2 houses on each plot. The front villas are introverted courtyard houses. Large windows of the main spaces overlook this courtyard that create dramatic light and shadow contrasts, while smaller strip windows face the street. Various outdoor spaces are located at different levels to provide ample light into the adjacent spaces, in addition to creating outdoor terraces and a pool area on the first floor. The back villas overlook a garden facing the highway. Volumetric spaces and dramatic light wells drive the visitors into the main entrance of the house, and lead them onto the garden, which not only extends the space to the landscape through large windows, but also acts as a buffer between the houses and the busy road. The landscape separates the houses from each other through different levels that ultimately create privacy and independence from each other. Natural light and ventilation are an important aspect of the design. Each house has a certain level of complexity in terms of spatial organisation and relationship between indoor and outdoor. With every visit to the houses, one discovers new spatial and visual experiences. Different levels and careful program layout were studied to achieve maximum privacy from each other.
Location: Salmiya, Kuwait
Date: 2006
Status: Project
Size: 50000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Georg Thesing, Frederica Pereira, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya
Description: Salmiah (S) Tower rises from a trapezoidal multi storey pediment containing an entertainment center, with conference and seminar rooms, shops, and restaurants to complement the offices in the tower. The new building implements the precepts of the “living office,” the metaphorically rich concept of urban living in which, working and leisure are combined, through poly-functionality. The logical consequence of this was making potential tenants the focus of attention at the towers planning stage. Extensive studies of the occupancy and subdivision of the office floor plan show a variety of concepts in this speculative building. In addition to conventional cell like offices, group offices and open plan offices, combination offices and business club concepts can also be realized. The smallest rental unit – 165sm – equates to 15% of the towers floor plan. Larger spaces are created by linking the modules horizontally using movable walls or glass bridges and or by vertical links via internal stairways, the retrofitting of which is facilitated by easy removable ceiling panels. When tenants move in, office units are usually already equipped with raised floors and suspended metal ceilings in which the infrastructure for the internal net work is integrated, along with the climate control and lighting technology. The office partitions walls and computers can be attached and connected respectively to floors and ceilings in a pre-pattern. With its extensive, differentiated and occupant friendly range of services, together with distinctive design, speculative “investors architecture” becomes an exclusive address in the State of Kuwait.
Location: Al Salem, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 1300
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Monica Marquez, Fabio de Carolis, Arthur Leitner, Babu Abraham, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Khaldiya, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 3000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Frederica Pereira, Babu Abraham, Robert A. Varghese, Naseeba Shaji, Soomin Yang, Mi-il Lee
Description: The challenge is this project was to accommodate the extensive programmatic needs of the client. With 2 basements - including a 6-car parking garage - and 3 levels above ground, the house provides for the different requirements of the client stemming from large dining and living areas for entertaining guests, to the private, individualized areas, such as a beauty parlour with its own separate entrance. The conceptual idea behind this project is to filter light through the various spaces in order to counteract the heaviness of the program. The house, therefore, grows horizontally as you go up, and cantilevers out in a tree-like fashion. Light is funnelled from the top, through several light wells that end on different levels of the house to create courtyards and terraces. The volumetric expression of the house is defined by the exterior textured façade. This is juxtaposed by the smoother white niches that bring light into a softer, lighter interior space.
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2006
Status: Competition
Size: 9000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Daniel Muñoz Medranda
Description: A cultural laboratory with the features desired for the Cultural Art Centre "Colección Arco" can only work if it is strictly linked to social and cultural environment , in a local, national and international scale.At a physical level it is proposed the generation of a space that works as an urban flows exchange place.Existing stuctures will be preserved, building a large exhibition area below-grade. In this manner, the above building is released generating a free speech public space and a covered garden.Garden’s landscape will vary along the different seasons, and users are supposed to decide modifications.This large carpet will provide both entrances to the side building rooms (where artistic infrastructures are) and to the main underground room where ARCO collection will be placed.
Location: Shewaik, Kuwait
Date: 2009
Status: Design
Size: 101200
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Díaz, Sharifah Alshalfan, Gwenola Kergall, Frederica Pereira, Moyra Montoya Moyano
Description:
Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2011
Status: Project
Size: 7000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Frederica Pereira, Robert A. Varghese
Description: Focusing on children as the main patients for this institution, the principle idea for the design was to reverse the notion of viewing the hospital as an alienating and stressful environment, into the one of a theme park. The design calls for the attention to be shifted from the doctor’s perspective, to the patient, from therapy to the art of healing, from isolation to community; consequently blurring the line between healthcare and entertainment. Keeping in mind that site planning principles are based on human scale, sustained therapeutic contact with nature and green materials, and building technologies as the basis for design of any new facility, this building integrates these principles and also makes use of the environmental influences and its location. Its basic form is an inside-out mid-rise building that protects against the harsh desert sun while maximising shaded light and views to Kuwait Bay. Like traditional middle-eastern courtyard buildings, there are two faces for this project: an exterior face exposed to the sun which is nearly solid, with minimal glazing; and an inside face that opens to a central symbolic courtyard that is shaded and thus fully glazed. In addition, the concept of the garden is intrinsic to the design in several ways. The site and its landscape consist of a series of special, semi-private gardens of water, greenery, and palm trees associated with various program elements on the different levels of the building.
Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Date: 2006
Status: Project
Size: 11000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya
Description: This was a study for a real estate developer to set a design and programmatic direction to establish the best financial returns approach to develop a 600 m² plot of land in Kuwait City. Various design feasibility studies were compared that included proposals for parking, mid-rise office building, high-rise office building, and a hotel option, as requested by the client (which was later deduced not feasible). The demands of the project’s program and brief, the density of the office/retail/parking numbers and mix have largely dictated the strategy and direction of the proposed designs. It was concluded that a mid-rise option was the best option for maximum financial returns as it was the most efficient in terms of providing the most rentable space.
Location: London, UK
Date: 2006
Status: Built
Size: 250
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Robert A. Varghese
Description:
Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Date: 2006
Status: Project
Size: 34000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya
Description: This was a study for a real estate developer that sets a design and programmatic direction to establish the best financial returns approach to develop 566 m² and 860 m² adjacent plots of land, separated by a 180 m² path, in Kuwait City. Various design feasibility proposals were compared that included proposals for parking, mid-rise and high-rise office buildings, and options for building one or two adjacent towers. The design proposals steered towards high rise towers, where 2 of the proposals were of a single tower and the third was for 2 adjacent towers. The preferred option consisted of a tower with varying floor-plate size that widens at the mid level of the tower to create bigger floor space for IFA offices; and shrinks back on the top for high-end office spaces with extended views of the city. The lower floors were considered for speculative offices.
Location: Al-Rai, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2008
Status: Built
Size: 1250
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya
Description: The office building was designed to differentiate itself from the surrounding buildings of the industrial area that it is located in. Long strip windows with protruding frames wrap around the building in different ways, giving it a unique character in contrast with its neighbours. The building is efficiently designed to house all its services, such as air conditioning, drainage, fire fighting system and telecommunication, in a central core adjacent to the main central staircase that links all three floors. The third floor has two large terraces that provide private outdoor spaces for its tenants.
Location: Hobart, Australia
Date: 2006 - 2007
Status: Competition - Honorary Mention
Size: 500000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Daniel Muñoz Medranda / Arquivio
Description: The central theme of this project is to bring back nature into the city. The mountains, the water, the wind and the light are all regarded as significant building materials in the construction. Every measure has been taken to maximize and magnify the beauty of enjoying and living in nature, reinforcing the experience of Hobart’s Natural Amphitheatre. A fulfilling experience of the mountains, the city and the waterfront cannot be dealt with any other way. The proposal will provide a new edge district comprising a mix of typical urban building types interwoven with public spaces. The later engage different functions so as to establish continuity of experience of the urban interface between the land and the water. It creates a new concept of waterfront, the MARINA SQUARE; open to all types of events and new ways of urban colonization. It will be definitely the new civic and economical focus of Hobart.
Franklin Marina, city epicentre
Two complemented ideas inspire the intervention.
1.An increase in activity in the CITY HALL AXIS. New uses are introduced, adapting old ones, and creating a new pedestrian itinerary free of vehicles. The existing axis is shortened then by eliminating the Franklin Wharf, bringing the sea closer to the museum square.
2.A new MARINE SQUARE (Franklin Void). The City Hall axis dead-ends into a new square, an agora-like multipurpose urban space. This new space, emphasizes the amphitheatre character of the topography, allows for any type of activity maintaining the value of space, and restores the horizon as the dramatic end of the axis. The precinct is conceived as an urban destination with activities for people of all ages and social, economical and cultural backgrounds all through the day: offices, museums, condominiums, retail, entertainment areas, yacht club...They are placed on the site according to their need for public access and visibility vs. privacy and seclusion. The water square is the armature that connects them and creates a seamless link between the different city districts, especially between the city centre and Sullivans Cove. Along sequences of paths, which are experienced over time and perhaps over multiple visits, a series of recreational, commercial, offices, residential and public spaces are entered, seen, or passed by as on an urban street. Opportunities are therefore generated for engaging in activities that are not preconceived. These New activities and uses would make the project financially feasible, creating a perfect balance between the public and private realms.
On the other hand, it is proposed an extensive intervention in the following main areas and buildings:
1.The ROYAL THEATRE and HEDBERG CAR PARK is transformed into a modern indoors-outdoors cultural complex. Vehicles are relocated from the on grade parking of Wapping Corner to the new mixed-use building, in the former Hedberg car park. The theatre capacity is increased with an extension of the building; a new restaurant, a bar, offices, rehearsal and services facilities…, and a new access for both staff and public. New uses are introduced to finance this operation and produce new activity in the square: an elevated shopping centre above the former Hedberg car park foundations. This public building will be a powerfull attractive as it holds the best viewpoint above the Cove. The square is then alive with activity, day and night as a children playground and an external foyer for both buildings.
2.The CITY HALL undergoes drastic changes, in order to adapt it to new functions. It will have a new transparent roof, and its perimeter will be opened up to allow pedestrian traffic through it. New commercial spaces, exhibition areas, a temporary green house link with the activity of the Hobart Botanic Garden, and restaurants will be introduced. This Market Place Street will become almost completely pedestrian although access will be granted for multi-storey parking users. This accommodates the heavy increase of pedestrian flow and provides a high end outdoors space for the community.
3.The DUNN PLACE is no longer a car park. It instead complements the cultural activities of the museum: outdoor sculptures exhibitions, performances, artist workshops…etc. The main entrance to the museum is relocated in the square. Aboriginal remains found in excavations will be integrated in the design of this space, and displace as a part of the rich Tasmanian heritage. The square is transformed into an interactive museum, linked with the spirit of the city.
An artificial topography hides vehicles from the view and allows for an overall view of this new space called "The Franklin Void".
4."THE FRANKLIN VOID" is a sea-water square aligned with the City Hall and the new square axis. Franklin Warf is transformed into a marine amphitheatre. The new topography gives unity to the whole waterfront connecting Salmanca Place with Franklin Warf and constitutes the base of the future extension of the city towards the North. Two new mix-use buildings frame the square and support activity to the area: restaurants, retail, a yacht club…are located in ground floor and roof terraces, while offices and condominiums are set on upper floors. The colour of the water can vary, thanks to a sophisticated underwater lighting system. With all these systems, images could be projected on water vapour "screens", for sports events, artistic purposes, as installations or performances. This water square also has multipurpose floating barges that allow for different activities, like theatrical performances, outdoor concerts, exhibition display of the boats of Sydney-Hobart yacht race, floating markets…etc. They are easily moved by tow boats, providing maximum flexibility to the area. Similar mechanisms can be found in the bridges in the Giudecca canal in Venice in the”Redentore” celebrations, or military bridge constructions. This adaptable structure could be financed with the revenues from new office buildings and other uses. Finally, sports and fishing wharves are relocated outside the marine square, permitting a restricted access.
5.Existing Streets will be kept, but crossings will be adapted to slow down traffic. With so many activity areas, car traffic is not necessarily considered a negative factor. Tunnels should be avoided. Diverse textures for paving will indicate by colour codes the importance of pedestrian flows.
Location: Kaifan, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2011
Status: Under Construction
Size: 1600
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Abhilash C.T, Robert A. Varghese
Description:
Location: Al-Nuzha, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 1300
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Gwenola Kergall, Germana De Donno, Frederica Pereira
Description:
Location: Mishref, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2007
Status: Project
Size: 1400
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya
Description: Introduction:
Over the last quarter of a century, the campus community has experiences great change. New strategic alliances with other institution, companies and cities have provided exciting opportunities to pool education, fiscal and technological resources. As this evolution proceeds to shape and redefine campuses of learning, AGi Architects continues its work with academic communities to establish master plans and building design that effectively serve the need of these dynamic institutions.
AGi Architects team works together with the academic community to understand how that charter of campus should be preserved and what type of flexibility is required by each individual department. As these issues become clear, AGi Architects respond to the needs of the campus in a manner that not only provides cost-effective results and anticipates changing technology, but also unifies the various elements into one coherent academic community. The following pages illustrate how AGi Architects continue to strive for excellence in its work with university and college campuses.
Enhancing the Campus Landscape
The landscape is the source of campus identity and an inspiration to the academic community. As campuses continue to grow, the landscape becomes a scarce and often threatened resource. The landscape of a campus may include important wildlife habitats, watersheds, wetlands and views. AGi Architects creates master plan that clearly set forth a framework to guide future growth of campus facilities as well as to protect, enhance and maintain the sensitive landscape for the enjoyment of the future generations.
Master Planning an Environment for learning
Clear vision is required for new and old campuses alike. A great campus is not built simply by adding appropriate or necessary buildings. Successful campus settings offer places of culture, learning, intimacy and collegial identity while facilitating the exchange of ideas. AGi Architects provides physical planning that responds to new trends and reflects cost constraints and changing lifestyles which results in the strengthening of campus settings.
Opportunities of the Communication Age
Today, campuses are able to exhibit and teach using the Internet, cable, satellite links, as well as any number of emerging technologies from the world’s new information age. The link to the global community enables students to become ‘virtual’ students as they access the world beyond the campus through the use of these resources. As a result, updating facilities has become a priority. AGi Architects strives to integrate these technologies consideration into its campus projects. The resulting designs facilities the use of technology and provide the ability to responds to future changes.
Location: Mishref, Kuwait
Date: 2006 - 2007
Status: Project
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2007
Status: Competition
Size: 170620
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Daniel Muñoz Medranda / Arquivio
Description:
Location: Abu Alhassaniyya, Kuwait
Date: 2007 - 2009
Status: AGi has withdrawn from this projects
Size: 1000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Abdel Hafiz Bahi Eldin Mohammed, Abhilash C.T, Robert A. Varghese
Description: The prominence of the landscape is the main defining element in this house. Located by the sea within a natural salt marsh environment, this semi-vacation villa is designed to be a relaxing and peaceful small oasis. Although developed in a typical u-form house on one floor, the dwelling characterises itself by being completely integrated with its natural surrounding and blends in to become part of it. The program, therefore, was divided into two parts: natural exterior and constructed interior. An elevated tower, which sets the core for future expansion, searches for individuality and creates a unique dialogue with the taller surrounding houses. Light enters the house through the large central patio and the external secondary open areas in the surrounding land. Skylights, once they emerge from the thick grass, harden in the form of stone to interrelate the inner and outermost open areas. The materials used in the interior transmit the freshness of the buried structure, whereas those used for the exterior interchange between the roughness of the stone and the softness of the natural elements.
Location: Shuwaikh, Kuwait
Date: 2007
Status: Project
Size: 26000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea
Description: AGI Architects develop an extensive analysis of the potential of Saint-Gobain’s brand “Platform” in Kuwait’s retail construction market and proposed cost efficient approach for the construction of a mega-store in Shuwaikh.
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2007
Status: Competition
Size: 11600
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Robert A. Varghese / Salvador Cejudo
Description:
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2007
Status: Completed
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Al-Rai, Kuwait
Date: 2007
Status: Completed
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Kuwait
Date: 2009
Status: Completed
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Dahiat Abdulah Al-Salam, Kuwait
Date: 2007 - 2011
Status: Project
Size: 4500
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Fabio de Carolis, Gwenola Kergall /Landscape Vladimir Djurovic.
Description: Focusing on creating a gallery house within the city, the design calls for shifting the busy urban experience into a serene getaway escape. A wall is used to achieve this notion and becomes the main defining design element of this project.
This wall acts as the boundary wall to shield the house from its surroundings; it integrates with the landscape and uses it to fuse with the house. It manoeuvres subtly throughout the project to create certain niches in this landscape; where it rises, lowers and eventually bends to define the main entrance of the house and becomes part of the interior space, where it opens up to create interior program in between.
The house hovers delicately above the landscape and its form shapes this landscape to create different spatial experiences throughout the project, both on the interior and the exterior. The house bends and opens up to views of the large neighbouring garden. At this point, the wall is at its lowest to allow the landscape to visually extend onto the outside, yet still shielded by the trees of the garden for privacy beyond.
The plot is lifted from the street level to further enhance the privacy for the client. Approach from the street, therefore, is by means of a ramp that is defined by the wall. This provides glimpses of the landscape but does not reveal it until it reaches the main public space, which completely opens up and seamlessly extends onto a deck floating over the pool.
At ground level, strong dialogue is created between the public space and the different layers of the open space. On the upper private level, the house is lifted away from the landscape to discover the city.
Location: Bnaider, Kuwait
Date: 2007 - 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 750
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Robert Varguese, Abdul Hafiz Mohammed
Description: The design of these small 3 semi-detached beach houses calls for a duplicated program, while maintaining privacy from each other, as well as benefiting from outdoor areas and sea views.
The two houses that are located on the ground floor level are mirror images of each other. They are offset in plan to create privacy and to define their respective entrances. They are separated by a staircase that leads to the third house, located at higher level and facing to the sea. The later cantilevers over the other two, frames the view of the sea from their courtyards below and provide an extension to these spaces onto the sea. The third house enjoys a large roof terrace with direct views to the sea. Each of the three houses, therefore, enjoys a private outdoor area that is open to the sky; privacy from its neighbour; and extended sea views.
Location: Reykjavik, Iceland
Date: 2007
Status: Competition
Size: 1500000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Georg Thesing, Raquel Soeiro, Moyra Montoya, Marisa Ollero, Marta Soriano
Description: The development of the district of Vatnsmýri should follow a strategy that enhances the existing urban fabric and enable it to interact with new ways of experiencing and understanding the urban condition. The project proposes to reformulate the existing tissue, instead of overwriting it. We suggest implementing a symbiotic texture of codified material over an open network of transport systems. A green membrane, which spreads from the city centre to the Nauthólsvík thermal beach, interconnects the built substance and acts as a catalytic converter for the urban growth. The skyline proposed is clearly identifiable from any other point in the city, extending the city center within the site. Permeable boundaries between the existing and the proposal’s areas allow migration inwards and outwards, creating a coherent mesh of pluralistic urbanism based on a variety of programs, uses and densities. Such open system gives the urban agents the flexibility required to confront a phased urban growth and rethink the urban condition depending on the factors encountered at specific moments in time. The infrastructure is based on an overlaying of private and public transport systems. Densities and uses of the different zones will set the criteria of the hierarchy for the infrastructure capacity. A subsidiary network of pedestrian paths provides access to and from major functions within the site and the city. The proposal foresees variations of urban densities and typologies depending on functions that promote human interaction and communication. Using typologies as regulator of ground space, the buildings heights act as environmental control systems for the “comfort zones” and outdoors’ areas. This open fabric, combining commercial, cultural and recreational activities, offers the opportunity for a 24h urban life.
Location: Shuwaikh, Kuwait
Date: 2007 - 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 2600
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea,Bruno Gomes, Raquel Soeiro, Naseeba Shaji, Babu Ibrahim, Robert Varguese, Abdul Hafiz Mohammed, Walead Fawzy El Demdash
Description:
Location: Osuna, Spain
Date: 2007 - 2010
Status: Competition - 1st Prize
Size: 900
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Frederica Pereira, Moyra Montoya / Salvador Cejudo
Description:
Location: Sabah Al-Alsalam, Kuwait
Date: 2007 - 2008
Status: Project
Size: 140000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Robert A. Varghese, Raquel Soeiro, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Moyra Montoya
Description: The Desert Campus has been developed as a result of studies into user’s movements, and because of the shift of the Kuwait’s urban centre. Principles constitute a number of the fundamental elements at the heart of the deep planning methods. The proposal presented as an integral strategy, which allowed fragmentation and differences to be absorbed into a coherent, continuous approach. The materliazation of the principles into a Campus which will provide residential units, retail, restaurants, a hotel, school, clinics, and a hospital on the 6th ring road, which will be an essential element of the sustainable urban concept. Our vision for The Desert Campus is decidedly optimistic, combining the positive aspects of various developments in different situations and densities, offering much improved living / working conditions, investing in and providing for the expansion of a socially orientated infrastructure. This objective is promoted by a network of public spaces, conceived as a high quality environment where excellent pedestrian accessibility is prioritized. Unique neighbourhood identities are expressed in urban environments that act as social condensers, encouraging residents to linger, meet and exchange. With its extensive, differentiated and occupant friendly range of services, together with distinctive design, speculative “investors architecture” becomes an exclusive address in the State of Kuwait.
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2007
Status: Competition - Honorary Mention
Size: 74500
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Gwenola Kergall, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Moyra Montoya / Arquivio
Description:
Location: Al-Rai, Kuwait
Date: 2007
Status: Completed
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Under Construction
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya / Tizedit
Description:
Location: Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Date: 2007
Status: Competition - 09 Cityscape Awards
Size: 90000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Gwenola Kergall, Raquel Soeiro, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya
Description: The ultimate goal of this design proposal is not simply to adhere to the complex and multi faceted environmental guidelines and restrictions that have been set forth. Our ultimate goal is to couple these pioneering standards with equally pioneering designs that create an atmosphere that optimizes the human experience of those who dwell, work, and visit MASDAR. We have carefully reviewed and rigorously researched the existing design guidelines and confirm that our proposed design meets all these requirements. In addition to meeting these obligations, we have also decided to focus our design on incorporating human interaction into the overall outcome. That is to say, our design facility lives, breathes, and changes with time and innovation. This building is designed with particular attention to the effects of aerodynamics, solar changes, aquatics, and vegetation. The incorporation of “experience zones” departs from the traditional facility which focuses only on innovation and delves into the on-going possibilities of research by those who journey through this proposed design. The theme of a “thinking city” evokes the need for a design that is evolutionary, dynamic, and ever-changing. It is imperative that our design structure is not focused only on adhering to your current environmental guidelines, but supplements this framework through including and involving a continuity of dialogue between the individual and his encompassing space.
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Completed
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya, Maria Aracil
Description:
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 31500
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Moyra Montoya, Desiree Cavanillas
Description:
Location: Marinha Grande, Portugal
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 7600
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Gwenola Kergall, Frederica Pereira, Raquel Soeiro, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Fabio Carolis, Moyra Montoya, Desiree Cavanillas
Description: Swimming Pools + circulation routes = Permeability.
The urban fabric of the site and its surroundings extends into the competition plot in order to give a stronger urban character to the neighborhood and create a seamless connection with the city. This grid and the different building volumes are then deformed to obtain an organic and fluid design which ultimately acts as an urban attractor for the area. The grid converges into a new central square that is elevated from the street level. It becomes a meeting space and a reception, from which one descends into the pool complex. This overlooks all internal activities without interfering with their respective various uses.
Illumination and exterior ambiance.
The pools are illuminated by side windows located at high level and oriented towards the central square. At street level, the building presents a more enclosed character; with only colored glass incrustations perforating its concrete skin. Each of the four swimming pools is then lit with its own color, to gain its individual identity. This effect will not only break the monotony throughout this extensive complex, but rather will act as an orientation tool for the end users. Each pool and activity will be clearly identified by means of different colors and ambiance.
Location: Qurtoba, Kuwait
Date: 2008 - 2011
Status: Under Construction
Size: 1300
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Lucia Sanchez, Robert Varghese, Naseeba Shaji, Noufara Mubarak, Davide Paterna
Description: This house is located on one of the corners of a heavy traffic crossroad within the neighborhood of Qurtoba, State of Kuwait. It is presented to the city as a great big closed box, suspended in mid air. The ground floor, lifted two meters above street level, remains clear of program and provides a wide gardened area that plays whimsically with the uneven heights of the geometrical wall that surrounds the whole terrain. This crack between the upper level (which contain the bedrooms) and the boundary wall give full privacy to the family areas and garden, and allow us to dim the light that penetrates into the house. The lower floor accommodates the public spaces of the house, including entertainment and outdoor areas. All the spaces of the house are organize through a sequence of out and indoor skylights, which perforate the different volumes indistinctly depending of the privacy and light requirements of each space.
Location: Adailiya, kuwait
Date: 2008 - 2011
Status: Under Construction
Size: 2000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Fabio de Carolis, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Gwenola Kergall, Monica Marquez, Robert A. Varghese, Soomin Yang, Mi-il Lee, Babu Abraham
Description:
Location: Desma, Kuwait
Date: 2008 - 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 1600
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Frederica Pereira, Fabio Carolis
Description:
Location: Valencia, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 8700
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Raquel Soeiro, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Astrid Hopfner, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Khaldiya, Kuwait
Date: 2009 - 2011
Status: Under Construction
Size: 2500
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Jose Angel del Campo, Fabio de Carolis, Frederica Pereira, Lucia Sanchez Salmon
Description: The design focus in this house is to open up the interior space completely from within, while closing it off to the outside, with the intention of creating an extremely private dwelling.
For a family with 3 girls who enjoy entertaining their friends at the privacy of their own home, an entire floor is dedicated for that very purpose. With a 13.5 meter long pool, a kid’s pool and a Jacuzzi, this floor compromises of living and dining spaces that revolve around a central atrium that brings light into these spaces.
Due to the introverted configuration of the space, bringing in natural light is achieved in an alternative manner to that of windows on the exterior façade. Skylights in various parts of the house are angled to funnel light right into the central spaces. Alabaster is introduced on the façade, not only in order to break down the scale of the massive stone wall on the exterior, but also to bring in diffuse light further into the interior spaces.
The house opens up on the ground level at the corner to mark the entrance. Yet the door is set-back and does not face the street to further enhance the privacy. Upon entry, one is faced with the central courtyard that acts as the separating element between the public and private spaces.
Location: Jahra & Farwania, Kuwait
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 160000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Gwenola Kergall, Raquel Soeiro, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Robert A. Varghese, Moyra Montoya, Maria Aracil / Salvador Cejudo
Description: The Al-Farwania & Al-Jahra Court Complex sites on a prominent site surrounded by special civic and government buildings and mixed use; residential / commercial buildings. As such, it is highly visible within the precinct and offers the potential for great views and prominence. The proposed design for the Al-Farwania & Al-Jahra Court Complex, which includes a mid rise tower in addition to a four story podium building, is conceived as a new type of Landmark. At the same time, state-of-the-art building technologies are intrinsic to the structural, environmental, and security design of this facility to root the project firmly in the 21st Century. We seek to express in the sky a powerful Landmark that establishes a strong sense of place, history, and future for those who come to recognize it as a distinct and unique symbol for Kuwait.
Podium: The multi-story podium gets adjusted depending on the site; Al-Farwania Court Complex which is 124 meter long by 64 meter wide, and Al-Jahra Court Complex 100 meter long by 100 meter wide, which are inspired by the traditional souk, connects all major entrances and public functions to a single central Oasis. The car parks, visitors’ entrance, offices, courtrooms, cafeteria, auditorium, and several gardens align and form the edges to the multi level podium. Circulation is therefore simplified and unified into a singular, shared experience for the building’s occupants.
Mid-Rise Tower: The 11 story mid rise tower is identical in both the sites; it will host 8 floors public accessible courtrooms and 4 floors of private office units for the various departments.
The mid-rise has secured access spine for the prisoners which lead to the courts as well as direct access for the judges from the judge’s sky garden. The public has controlled vertical circulation that leads them to the courtrooms waiting area which surrounded by sky gardens, courtyards and lounges.
Court Complex Prototypical Design: The multi story podium is the main part of the building that gets adjusted depending on the site condition, relationship to the parking, and specific court complex needs. In the Al-Farwania & Al-Jahra Court Complex the podium hosts the same programmatic functions; the only difference is the site condition which caused the podium to adapt to it.
The Mid Rise Tower, is replicable without any changed to neither the form nor the program.
Location: Ciudad Real, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 2500
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Fabio Carolis, Moyra Montoya, Desiree Cavanillas
Description:
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 1
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Fabio Carolis, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Desiree Cavanillas
Description: A table-chair? Or a low chair for reading?
Depends on how you prefer to use it. B-Seat can change positions with one simple and easy movement. B-Seat is produced with the curved board technique. This new technology molds and presses wood plates in 3D, obtaining a unique piece of a single material. The chair obtains stability curving the different surfaces which at the same time allows reducing the thickness of the boards, and thus produces a lighter structure.
Location: Eibar, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 5200
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Díaz, Raquel Soeiro, Arthur Leiter, Desiree Cavanillas, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Shuwaikh, Kuwait
Date: 2008
Status: Project
Size: 12500
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Gwenola Kergall, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Davide Patrena, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Valencia, Spain
Date: 2008
Status: Competition
Size: 1
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Arthur Leitner, Gwenola Kergall, Fabio Carolis, Desiree Cavanillas, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Date: 2008 - 2009
Status: Competition
Size: 17000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Maria Eugenia Diaz, Gwenola Kergall, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Lucia Sanchez Salmon, Frederica Pereira, Maria Aracil, Moyra Montoya
Description: We would like to understand a performing act, or performance, as a sum of tools that when shared with other people, brings to life a part of "this" reality – emotions, thoughts, or any other mental form or process. The message involved in this action, connects the viewer and creator through an open, shared experience. In the same way, cultures work in an open format, and never constitute a finished totality. The medium for this type of interaction is what we are trying to identify. The New House of Art and Culture is a space where the consumption of text and images foster and embrace the retrieval of past experiences, which are codified into a new fiction. Remembrance (through literature, films, writing…) becomes the inspirational font of the creative process. ´These fictional scenes dive into our real life, slip in like remembrances in the same capacity as those we have lived´. These imbrications of ´fictive´ return are materially and symbolically embedded in the live modalities of everyday practice, in which different fictions (individual, collective, mythic) are dialectically interwoven. Hence, an individual that enters the New House of Art and Culture will undergo a process of birth or rebirth, casting off (´putting to death´) his or her former identity and past remembrances. He will become a new person that will lead to the creation of a new society. The same concept is extended to the materiality of the building. We propose a reflected textile façade in the same way of Anish Kappor´s Sky Mirror or Robert Morris Mirrored Cubes, presenting viewers with a vivid inversion of the city. This optical object changes through the day and night, becoming a ´non-object´; a building that, despite its monumentality, suggests a window or void into new world and seems to vanish into its surroundings. The viewer is constantly engaged in this artwork from a distance, as a foreword of the activity that takes place in its interior.
Location: Yarmouk, Kuwait
Date: 2009
Status: Under Construction
Size: 2000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Bruno Gomes
Description:
Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: 2009
Status: Completed
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Bayan, Kuwait
Date: 2009
Status: Completed
Size: 0
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya
Description:
Location: Salmiya, Kuwait
Date: 2009 - 2010
Status: Competition - 1st Prize
Size: 5000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Georg Thesing, Jose Angel del Campo, Sharifah Alshalfan, Robert A. Varghese, Naseeba Shaji, Monica Marquez, Fabio de Carolis
Description: Wafra Vertical Housing introduces a new concept to urban living that adapts to the evolving lifestyle of 21st Century contemporary Kuwait. With the increasing demand for land in the city, the idea is to transform the single family-home living typology vertically where the tenants can enjoy the privacy of their own home, yet benefit from the tower’s amenities and prime location. The tower is raised on a plinth which is compromised of 2 levels of above ground parking, and one level of the building’s public spaces including a swimming pool and gym area. The residences rise up in a playful manner to allow for light and ventilation to penetrate through. Understanding and making use of the local environmental influences is a central principle of this design. The services core of the building is located on the southern side to minimize sun exposure and consequently reduce energy consumption by acting as a thermal barrier to the rest of the building. Hence, minimum opening are placed on that façade. The building opens up on the northern façade, which faces the sea, and enjoys views onto it. Optimal opportunities for natural lighting and cross ventilation become an essential driving force for the design which give the tower its character and establish its orientation. Taking the idea of the traditional middle-eastern courtyard typology and developing it 3 dimensionally allows for this concept to flourish throughout the tower. The courtyard is no longer constrained to the core of the building; rather it borrows light and ventilation from the facade, funnels it through various levels and crosses through into an opposite façades of the building.
Location: Kuwait City, State of Kuwait
Date: 2009
Status: Project
Size: 40000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Gwenola Kergall, Sharifa Alshalfan Daniel Muñoz, Robert Varguese, Marisa Ollero, Moyra Montoya
Description: “A hospital that does not feel like a hospital”
How do you begin designing a hospital that can enhance the healing process?
The proposed design for the Kuwait Children’s Hospital (KCH) is conceived as a Landmark that responds to climate and culture, and re-interprets these values in a mid-rise building, that expresses in the skyline a powerful sign that establishes a strong sense of place, history, and future for the children of Kuwait.
Like a fortress, it creates an exterior monolithic image that seeks protection from the harsh climate, and a softer interior oasis tailored to the children’s use. We propose a cheerful and colorful building that stands out from the deteriorated surroundings and is easily recognizable by the children.
The building is approached through a climate-controlled Plaza, which is a continuation of the exterior landscape, bringing in the pedestrians. The elevated position of the Plaza helps in giving a sense of power to the children over the street level as they enter the hospital.
This Plaza is roofed by a vaulted colored structure; large openings bring in natural light and relate visually to the roof garden.
A retail podium, located under the Plaza, fulfills the basic urban needs (Bank, Hotel, Restaurant, Shops…) and provides services not only to the hospital users but for the whole neighborhood as well. This will help in integrating KCH into the existing urban fabric and become an urban anchor in the area.
The driving force behind KCH is the vision for a better future for sick and injured children.
Various donors’ contribution to the hospital is the only way to materialize such an ambitious and necessary project as KCH.
Each ward will be given a branding theme that relates to the donor by means of color and pattern (for example: animals, fantasy, flowers…). The aim of the donors is to create a hospital on par with the best international health facilities and provide the community with proper health resources.
Because designing a children’s hospital is such a great task, we realize that using intuition alone to create the right concept may not be enough. We want to create a design that could potentially heal patients, provide parents with hope, and keep the staff energized day after day.
Location: Kuwait City, State of Kuwait
Date: 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 3000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquín Perez-Goicoechea, Salvador Cejudo, Carmen Sagredo Rodríguez, Lucía Sánchez Salmón
Description:
Location: Sevilla, Spain
Date: 2010
Status: Competition - 1st Prize
Size: 1150
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Gwenola Kergall, Daniel Muñoz, Robert Varguese, Moyra Montoya / Salvador Cejudo
Description: We propose an spiritual building based on two principles:
First of all The Catholic Church mission since the last 2000 years, evangelical message diffusion and faith propagation.The other principle would focus on adapting the building to the environment, a recently created neighborhood with some existing social conflicts.
This space will be able to deal with The Holly and Human dimmensions, without devaluating the religious character but descending to the human scale. The main space of the church will be prolonged visual and spatially in the main patio of the complex. The natural light will flood it all from the same patio North East orientated.
Central void will be strengthen so to call for users attention.
It will be seen as a massive volume reference for their inhabitants who will find it as an introspective place. In the other hand the building protects itself of frequent vandalism acts, so common on the sorounding public areas.
The roof unfolds as horizontal and sloped planes, that sift the light qualifying different spaces.
We obtain thus the coherence between the Holly (God) and the human scale of every member of the assembly (man).
Location: Kuwait City, State of Kuwait
Date: 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 2000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquín Perez-Goicoechea, Salvador Cejudo, Gwenola Kergall, Stefania Rendinelli
Description:
Location: Luknow, India
Date: 2010
Status:
Size: 34500
Team: Dr. Nasser B. Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicochea, Salvador Cejudo Ramos, Stefania Rendinelli, Gwenola Kergall, Lucia Sanchez Salmón, Carmen Sagredo, Bruno Martins Afonso Gomes, Daniel Muñoz Medranda
Description: “The first being created by God was light”. (...). The great masterpieces of Islamic architecture, such as the Alhambra, the Iwans and the courtyards of so many Persian mosques and the Taj Mahal, are like crystallisations of light, limpid and lucid, illuminating an illuminated, where the space of Islamic architecture is defined by light.”
Hossein Nassr: Islamic Art and Spirituality. New York,1981.pp 50, 51
Light, shadows, shelter, pilgrims, garden, paradise… the concept of the Haj House Complex in Lucknow is hereby, through this proposal, addressed as a cord connectively fastening the stems of some of the main features in Islamic traditional architecture; by trying to be much more than just the sum of different functional requirements housed within “rational” buildings, we wanted to push stronger and farther, in order for those concepts to be tangible in the final scenario. The character of the Haj itself as an iconic perception for Islam is present through these different features in the building that face the city across the river.
Thus we utilized components such as the shadows to shelter people approaching the complex, and envisioned the iwans in Persian architecture. We also conceived of the garden over which the Taj Mahal stands and brought it inside. We visualized the effect of the light filtering through the holes in the domes of the mosques and bazaars, and realized it for our building covering the main lobby plaza. We wanted to experience the contrast between the deep and heavy shadows of the iwans outside and the bright daylight that penetrates down and through the domes, as it happens in the Taj Mahal, so that the façade containing the iwans marks a contrast with the universe behind it; we featured towers for administration and accommodation uses and we concluded the domes for common public uses. In the end, we wanted a building that could not only cater to any user involved in the process of training and educating relating to Haj, but that could also be open and accessible to the general public as an educational facility conveying the spirit of Islam; it is an abode for the pilgrim, a support for all the rest of the cultural and leisure amenities, and an educational harbor welcoming anyone interested in the teachings of Islam. All in all, a building is drawn and imagined composed of colors from the palette well endowed with the emanating features of Islamic culture.
Location: Badajoz, Spain
Date: 2010
Status: Competition
Size: 7000
Team: Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Nasser Abulhasan, Salvador Cejudo, Bruno Gomes, Lucía Sánchez, Carmen Sagredo, Gwenola Kergal, Stefania Rendinelli
Description:
Location: Cádiz, Spain
Date: 2010
Status: Competition
Size: 100000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquín Perez-Goicoechea, Moyra Montoya, José Angel del Campo, Daniel Muñoz.
Description:
Location: Kuwait City, State of Kuwait
Date: 2010
Status: Under Construction
Size: 2600
Team: Naser Abulhasan, Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea, Carmen Sagredo Rodríguez, Lucía Sánchez Salmón, Ana López Cerrato, Babu Ibrahim
Description:
Location: Al-Jabriya, Kuwait
Date: 2011
Status: Under Construction
Size: 23000
Team: Nasser Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Salvador Cejudo, Daniel Muñoz, Bruno Gomes, José del Campo, Stefania Rendinelli, Gwenola Kergall, Lucía Sánchez, Carmen Sagredo, Sharifa Alshalfan, Hanan Alkouh, Robert Varghese
Description: Located in Jabriya, surrounded by residential buildings and commercial facilities; The proposed design for the Wafra Living complex, which consists of a high rise building set back from the street and an L-shaped building defining the street edge, is conceived as a new type of Landmark
Comfort, modernity, sustainability, social interactions, leisure, technology, tradition… All these are concepts that we intend to be at the core of our proposal. It is our pursuit that is this high-end residential complex works as the catalyst to blend together a new image of every-day life that matches with both modern and traditional users while providing the city with a new landmark, a world-class reference for the area.
A place with character and the highest quality environment and buildings
Wafra Living allows the architecture to define the edge of the block and creating a series of open spaces within the plot for the community, with various uses. This development sets an example of how to approach urban issues and allows us to redefine other areas in the city by becoming a catalyst and a reference for the future. Our idea is not to impose a new way of living completely detached from the Kuwaiti society, rather a transformation from the past that is translated into a vertical development. We aim to combine various levels of privacy within the complex, from the residential scale to the surrounding public community level.
One of the main design aims is to maximize privacy within the community, whilst providing ample natural light and usable indoor and outdoor common spaces. This is achieved by having an L-shaped building along the street edge to the north and east limits, and a high-rise tower in the back, that helps define the back more private street. Cuts have been made in the front building in order to provide better views for the lower floor apartments in the back tower.
A screen is created on the façade as an occupiable layer that conceals the various service spaces within the apartments that do not directly relate to the public. It is a unifying element throughout the project that is seen as a constructed space, rather than an aesthetic façade layer, that can be used for various purposes. It defines the whole compound as it starts on the 6 meter elevated plaza and grows, like ivy, vertically and horizontally, complementing the rest of the façade. This layer hosts the fire escape stairs, separated away from the cores to be placed in this secondary circulation layer that faces the inner courtyard of the complex. They lead to various outdoor platforms that would be utilized as gathering points for leisure activities for the tenants and their guests.
At the same time, the building facades directly adjacent to neighboring buildings are completely closed off, to block unwanted views.We also create a gradient from the public to the private, in order to serve both scales simultaneously, without one interfering with the other.
To further enhance the public/private relationship within this vertical development, the ground floor is offered back to the surrounding neighborhood through the retail facilities included.
The six meter elevated plaza then becomes the private pedestrian area for the community, allowing the ground floor to become an extension of the street that is predominantly public for the pedestrians and private for car access.
Location: Kuwait City, State of Kuwait
Date: 2011
Status: Competition
Size: 5500
Team:
Description: