Associate Professor Juan Roldan curated the exhibition ‘Identity, Context and Placemaking in the Gulf’ which took place at Dubai’s Design District during the Design Week d3 Architecture Festival 2020. In partnership with the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Gulf Chapter, the exhibition and online talks presented a constellation of architectural works, from the large-scale urban infrastructure to small landscape acupuncture interventions, that portrayed a diverse and complex architectural landscape of the Middle East. The Department of Architecture student and alumni work included Nada Khalaf and Mariam Jacob with Ahmed Noeman and Jace Fernandes, under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Marisa Oliver with the project ‘Transpire’ at Al-Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi; Mariama Kah with the project in Associate Professor Faysal Tabbarah’s studio‘Spiritual Construct’ in Sharjah; Nohair Elmessalami, and Hussien Hijazi with the project ‘Khawaneej Music Schoool’ in Dubai in Assistant Professor George Newlands’ design studio; and Saagarika Dias ‘Tectonic Tangrams’ project located in the salt lakes near Abu Dhabi in Professor George Katodrytis’ design studio.

Assistant Professor Tania Ursumarzo exhibited her installation, Desert Ribbons, at the Dubai Design District as part of the Dubai Design Week Festival 2020. Desert Ribbons is an urban public seating design using camel leather. Through its form, materials, and structure, the project explores the human body while referencing regional natural expressions such as the desert camel and the topography of the desert dunes.

The Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) announced the winners of the eighth edition of The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award 2020. The winning submission titled Haweia – an Arabic term meaning ‘identity’- was designed by students Sara Mohamed, Laura Al Dhahi and Sahil Rattha Singh mentored by Associate Professor Jason Carlow.

Recent successes by architecture students of American University of Sharjah (AUS) include: the Inspirelli Awards Grand Prize First Prize winners Mariam Jacob and Nada Khalaf for the project ‘Enhancing food production in Marrakech’; the Cool Abu Dhabi International Design Competition winning proposals ‘Sa’af Al-Nakheel’ by Amna AlHashimi, and ‘Arqoob’ by Fatma Oualha and with one honorable mention to ‘Yamaa’ by Shamsa Al Maeeni. For the second year in a row, AUS students’ research received top honors in the 2020 Global Undergraduate Awards in the category of Architecture and Design. Aishwarya Sriram won this award for the project ‘Bee-Ball Deathtrap’, developed in the studio of Assistant Professor Gregory Spaw. Other awards included Dhruva Lakshminarayana as the winner of the Art History and Theory Regional category for an essay in Associate Professor John Montague’s theory class; and Samrakshana Suresh, as the winner of the Visual Arts Regional category for a project developed in the elective class of Professor George Katodrytis.