APRIL 2013
THE ULTIMATE DESTINATION FOR YOUR DESIGN INSPIRATION
ASK APRIL 2013
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THE ULTIMATE DESTINATION FOR YOUR DESIGN INSPIRATION
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42 42 Sophia Ahmed, a Model Box for an Egyptian World Famous Set Designer!
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Sophia Ahmed, a now widely known theater set designer, has become a model for success in show business. Meet with Sophia and find out how she built her success from a simple career change.
46 “I wanted to be President of Egypt than go back to being an architect again.� Arch. Hamdy El-Setouhy, a former presidential candidate for the 2012 elections, shows us several habits of being highly effective citizens using his lifestyle philosophy of balancing both a political career and a professional one.
54 Mille Pezzi, One Thousand Pieces of Art!
ASK had the chance to interview Mille Pezzi at his mosaic workshop in Egypt. We talked about his life, his career, and most importantly his passions.
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60 Diaries of an Entrepreneur
ASK Magazine met with Ahmed Naggar, General Manager of KIRA Home Store and Parador to reveal these secrets behind becoming an entrepreneur, even in this turbulent market.
64 Watch the Country Glow
Successful architect and artist, Dr. Hussein El Ezaby presents a phenomenal series of glow-in-the dark paintings to capture the very essence of the Egyptian spirit. Front cover and director's note images are courtesy of Dr. Hussein El-Ezaby
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"The harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number, and heart and soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty." D'Arcy Thompson (1860-1948) Scottish biologist & mathematician By Ahmed Lotfy & Ebtissam Farid Images courtesy of ENCODE STUDIO
ENCODE STUDIO “Research is the catalyst of innovative design”
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ENCODE (Egyptian Node for Collaborative Design) is a "design by research studio" that was founded in 2011 by a group of architects, Ebtissam Farid, Mohamed Zaghloul and Ahmed Abouelkheir.They are challenging the conventional model of design production by cutting edge technologies, research and collaboration between education, practice and manufacturers to create an international hub of design that can thrive in today’s economy.
Through collaboration with universities, factories and clients, Encode offers to its clients; Architectural, interior and furniture design services, educational workshops, and industrial prototypes. Encode has undertaken a unique strategy based on cutting edge technologies of CAD & CAM (Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing). Based on the mathematical and material logic of Natural systems, Encode also investigates various digital and physical computational tools to explore innovative designs. For Encode design is not a noun, or synonym to ‘style’, but rather a verb of production, problem solving, an added value, and a holistic business process. The long-term aim of Encode is to establish an international private “Academy of Design” for education and production based on the local human capital and resources along with international collaboration. In addition encode challenges a critical design business agenda. There is a real sense of urgency for a kind of critical design in the Middle East where they need to move from imitation to innovation. The design industry in the Middle East should be developed to be in front
with the global market,especially that its communities are nowadays consuming design more than ever. The contemporary design field is evolving at an amazing clip, moving into new and exciting spaces, embracing nature and technology. The good news is that the Middle East has large resources of education, factories, and technologies, but it lacks networking, knowledge, and collaborations. Encode also aims to correlate the partners of the design industry through collaborative research based on computational design methodologies and digital fabrication techniques. These methodologies and techniques mimic natural system of production based on mathematics and material logic of natural systems.
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During 16 months of intensive research and collaboration Encode has established a new system of design and production in Egypt. The production has been tested through a number of venues including: fabrication prototypes, architecture and interior design proposals, workshops, conference papers, publications, seminars and Exhibitions. They presented their work for the first time within
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the framework of the exhibition 'Design is a verb', organized by Library of Alexandria’s Arts Centre; August 2012 where they presented a new design line “Ornamatics” to develop new ways of presenting traditional Islamic patterns, through using mathematics and digital tools through a range of everyday objects. They also won the Golden award at the Design + Industry competition hosted at the Furnex Furniture Fair: Nov 2012, Cairo. And finally, a very strong ending with a solely exhibition that summarizes Encode's work and experiments at the British Council in Elagouza: Nov 2012.Encode also organized a series of seminarsat the studio to promote the culture of computational design and to share ideas with peers and public. There is a huge opportunity of innovations where it lies in the evolution of design from individual working into a collaborative process of discovering what is next and makes it happen. This attempt would have an enormous impact
on the educational field where the emergence of a creative generation that will shape the future of design industry as Encode hosts intensive workshops where the participants are exposed to a new learning environment, emphasizing on the concept of learning through making, collaboration and practical research instead of the dominant education patterns in the Middle East that lies on theoretical issues and individuality.
The emergence of a new kind of collaborative practices based on team work, collaborative intelligence and interdisciplinary will inevitably depend upon reconfigurations of design production through collaborative practices more than individual masters. The collective intelligence of collaborators with the advent of digital and telecommunication technologies; media; and economies of globalisation will undoubtedly be more innovative than individual based practices.
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Encode promotes a new type of design practice that considers design knowledge and production as a holistic process of applied scientific research. Production of knowledge at Encode undertakes different methods including; research, educational workshops, conferences papers, publications, exhibitions, manufacturing prototypes as well as conventional design services that lead to the redefinition of design as a problem solving strategy rather than a mere synonym of “style". Through collaborative research with students, practices and manufacturers, design is conceived as a quantitative scientific strategy to solve community problems rather than mere qualitative luxury.
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