portfolio port I S L A M M . R I H A N a r c h i t e c t u r a l e n g i n e e r s e l e c t e d
w o r k s [ 2 0 2 1 ]
contents 00. resume
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01. re-terra
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02. margherita-hütte
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03. greconnection
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04. the wound
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Hi there!
this is Islam;
A passionate engineer with the soul of an ambitious architect. My goal is to improve people lives through creating better living experiences for them while chasing sustainability of the built-environment. I believe that by implementing optimal engineering solutions throughout the architectural design process, this desired sustainability can be easily achieved. I am seeking a competitive position where my analytical skills, systematic thinking, architectural vision, many years of education and professional experience can be shaped and fully utilized.
contacts Islam M. Rihan Lecco, Lombardy, Italy islammrihan@gmail.com +39 388 396 5640 linkedin.com/in/islamrihan
education //Master of Science in Building and Architectural Engineering current career average: 110/110 Politecnico di Milano | Lecco, lombardy, Italy.
[2018-present]
//Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering (Honors) cumulative GPA: 3.31/4.00 | major GPA: 3.91/4.00 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals | Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
professional skills 2D drawing | autoCAD, hand sketching 3D modeling | revit, dynamo, rhino, grasshopper
[2013-2017]
work experience //Architectural & Coordination Engineer MAB Consult | Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia | full-time
[2017-2018]
simulations | HAP, designBuilder, TRNsys, sefaira microsoft office | word, excel, powerpoint, outlook adobe | photoshop, illustrator, indesign, lightroom
//Site Engineer ETS Consultants | Dhahran, Saudi Arabia | summer intern
[2016]
rendering | enscape, lumion //Graphic Designer
personal skills public speaking team leadership problem solving analytical reasoning
languages: English: C1 | full professional proficiency Italian: A2 | elementary proficiency Arabic: C2 | native proficiency
research interests thermal and visual comfort indoor air quality
KFUPM Public Relations department | Dhahran, Saudi Arabia | part-time
[2015-2017]
workshops / competitions / awards //workshop participation The Klis Case: interdisciplinary territorial, urban, & architectural design workshop by co+re; Meiji University & Keio University, Tokyo; University of Split.
[2020]
//hackathon participation Copernicus Hackathon: Smart Built Environment challenge at Vicenza digital innovation hub | Vicenza, Italy
[2020]
//competition participation Kaira Looro Architecture Competition by Balouo Salo, University of Tokyo, Kengo Kuma & Associates
[2019]
building technologies hvac systems building physics sustainability
//workshop participation At the gate of the SDGs workshop by Politecnico di Milano | Lecco, Italy
[2019]
energy efficiency net-zero energy buildings
//competition participant: Second place award ASHRAE Students Design Competition
organizations
by ASHRAE | recognized at ASHRAE Winter Conference 2018 | Chicago, IL
ASHRAE student member
//scholarship recipient
toastmasters international
a fully-funded merit based scholarship for international students | KFUPM
[2017]
[2013-2017]
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re-terra: a rehumanized co-living territory. Hong Kong island, Hong Kong Academic | Fall 2020 | Politecnico di Milano //Architectural Design //Sustainable Building Technologies Group work
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site analysis / concept
At the heart of the overly populated Hong Kong, with overpriced living spaces, leaving the public to live in tubes. Moving from high rise residential areas towards commercial hubs skyscraper area through sky-bridges, A Hong Kong resident spends most of his/her day activities indoors, far away from any chance of encountering nature; due to the high density of verticality of the buildings, leaving absolutely no room for public parks integration within the city. Re-terra is an attempt of bringing back the missing land to public, integrating the lost private/public interaction, trying to utilize each and every square meter for human reclamation, all together while respecting the traditions of the Hong Kong culture.
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the courtyard
Re-terra is designed to invite the public realm to the abundant public space that is directly connected with the context from all directions; trying to overcome the existing problem of the huge altitude difference between the block sides due to site existing topography. The courtyard is designed on different platforms that are visually and physically interconnected, with functions that are reflecting the indoor activities that occur along the courthouse. The courtyard functions are arranged to gradually introduce the visitor from the lower end of the block to the social activities with higher elevation; as an attempt to give the feeling of reaching out to the social life with the height. The visitor’s journey is arranged with interlocking ramps that create quite park that is positioned at the heart of the courtyard; to symbolize the life with the trees.
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Residential district: - high density - medium hight complexes
Commercial district: - low density - high skyscrapers
livable façade
Re-terra is attempting to employ the facade as an interactive living space for all the users, instead of having it only as a defining line between the indoor and outdoor. The livable facade creates dynamic effect to the building envelope with the different activities that are hosted on the multi-story transparent facade.
Livable space/facade Circulation core Sky park Circulation routes
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sky village Re-terra is composed of two residential towers that are facing each other which are encompassing the courtyard in-between. Each tower is composed of sky villages that are stacked on top of each other. The sky villages are directly connected to the courtyard through fully glazed facade; as an attempt to foster the social interaction even between the indoor and the outdoor, and to connect lives between public and semi public spaces of the livable facade. One sky village is composed of a system three floors (module) that has residential units from one facade; facing the outer city, and a livable facade that has all the social activities serving the three floors; facing the courtyard. The social activities are designed as capsules/boxes as plugand-play elements; giving the flexibility of future alterations and the possibility of off-site fabrication of the units. The Primary colors were used to reflect the intended function of the each space, so that the long-term user can assign a function to a color.
Sky village - zero floor plan
Sky village - First floor plan
Sky village - second floor plan
sky village ×6
sky park ×1
Chilling corner
Gossiping corner
Meeting corner
Living corner
Cooking corner
Dining corner
sky village ×2
family town ×1
business center ×1
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transverse section
3D Transverse Section
3D transverse section rendered 11
elevations The livable elevation was intentionally left transparent as a symbol of continuation of the social life growing up from the courtyard towards the inner facades of Re-terra. The two livable elevations are composed of the dynamic movement of the sky villages users performing different social activities, and hive a direct visual connection with the courtyard.
The residential elevation, on the other hand, abstractly reflects the rigid lifestyle of Hong Kong outside of Re-terra. The different shades represent the brutality of the humongous skyscrapers, the narrow sidewalks, the scarcity of social open spaces for the public.
livable elevation
residential elevation
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working drawings
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mass optimization / sustainability strategies
1. Solar thermal collector (for hot water heating through the natural solar energy and utilizing the height of the building).
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6. Double-skin facade: South-west Oriented: (stack effect to foster the natural ventilation across each floor towards the livable facade).
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2. Unitized curtain wall system: Northeast Oriented: (with operable vents allowing fresh air intake from the livable facade side).
3. Ventilated facade south-west Oriented: (with operable windows and connected to the residential units with operable vents to activate stack-effect through the heated up air gap within the ventilated facade system).
7. Ventilated facadenorth-east Oriented: (with operable windows for residential units side).
2 8. HVAC system schematic design.
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4. Radiant ceiling water supply - Dedicated Outside Air System (DOAS) - water side: (domestic water intake integrated with heat pump for sensible space cooling and heating).
5. Dedicated Outside Air Systems (DOAS) Air side: (four AHUs that are situated with direct contact with outdoor air for the mechanical ventilation air intake).
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ZONE 1: Residential Units: - Sensible cooling/ heating: Radiant floor system (water-side). - Ventilation system: Decentralized ventilation system with heat recovery (Air-side). ZONE 2: Common Spaces: - Sensible cooling / heating: Radiant floor system (water-side). - Ventilation system: Centralized Air Package for three-floor system (Air-side).
visual comfort / daylighting optimization
Singles Unit: daylighting illuminance isolines [lx].
Couples Unit: daylighting illuminance isolines [lx].
Families Unit: daylighting illuminance isolines [lx].
Singles Unit: artificial lighting illuminance isolines [lx].
Couples Unit: artificial lighting illuminance isolines [lx].
Families Unit: artificial lighting illuminance isolines [lx].
Optimized averaged daylight factors in Re-terra. 15
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7:30 am a businessman enjoying the morning sun and reading newspaper at Re-terra before heading to work.
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Margherita-Hütte
Punta Gnifetti, Monte Rosa , Italy. Academic | Spring 2020 | Politecnico di Milano //Energy Efficiency - Building Energy Simulation Group work
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(photo credits: http://foresteriavalsesia.com/mountain-sport/)
In a contemporary world that depends mainly on the depletion of nonrenewable energy sources for almost all of its industries, concerns are raised about the planet future. Reduction of the energy consumption in different fields is essential for the humanity to guarantee appropriate living conditions for the next generations to come. The Capanna Margherita hut, located on Punta Gnifetti, Italy; is the highest refuge in the Alps with its 4,554 meters above sea level. It has been a major destination for many travelers over the years. Due to its location, the building faces one of the harshest ever weather conditions over the year long and, due to its age, building performance is being compromised. This renovation intervention attempts to reduce the heating energy consumed by the mountain hut through a step-by-step proposed strategy plan as a guide towards sustainability in similar types of buildings, with matching weather conditions. However, each building case needs its own solo investigation and unique planning that is suitable for different circumstances. TRNSYS18 has been used extensively as the main building energy simulation tool for this project, in order to evaluate different passive strategies. The optimization process has resulted in a total improvement of the energy consumed by a base case heating system from a total Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 305 kWh/m2.year down to 92 kWh/m2.year with only passive means and operational decisions.
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thermal zones
The building energy simulation process goes through numerous steps during which multiple decisions are made in the process reaching towards optimized design solutions while using reliable tools to help in the decision-making process. Feasibility of each passive strategy is verified and demonstrated one by one, with different optimization testing process in order to improve its efficiency and impact on the indoor environment; which is represented in the flow chart with indicated EUI on each arrow that points towards the following step reflecting the energy use intensity indicator of each optimization step. After exhausting the proposed passive options, further analysis is being dedicated to optimize and design an efficient heating system for the building. At the end of each optimization step, thermal comfort and energy consumptions assessment takes place to verify the effectiveness of the optimization step with respect to the base case conditions.
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optimization methodology
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climate analysis Margherita hut is located in Punta Gnifetti more than 4500 m above sea level of climate zone F, with heating degree days that exceed 3000h. A thorough climate analysis has been conducted to analyze the building existing conditions and evaluate the optimum passive technologies to be implemented in the building model to optimize its performance.
ambient dry bulb temperatures
average daily solar irradiances
air-to-air heat recovery model one of the low energy technologies that integrated in the simulation is a controlled scheduled ventilation model with a heat exchanger with 0.75 of efficiency. the impact was compared with respect to a natural ventilation and shows the feasibility of selection of such technology due to its low energy demand and high impact on the indoor temperatures reflected on the graph.
impact of air-to air heat exchanger system with 75% efficiency on operative temperatuers
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thermal comfort hourly operative room temperatures were used as an indicator during the simulations, as the positive impact shows a closer position to the defined comfort zones according to EN7730 and EN15251 standards. due to the harsh conditions of Punta Gnifetti climate, the analysis confirms the anticipated result of the essential need of heating hours supported by active means, as the passive strategies could only improve the thermal conditions to a certain limit.
ambient vs operative temperatures plot on adaptive comfort model EN 15251
heating energy optimization 0%
Heating Load
throughout the optimization process, energy consumed by an ideal heating system was monitored at each step. the implemented passive strategies led to a total reduction of the energy consumption of the ideal heating system by 70% brining the energy use intensity [EUI] from 305 (kWh/m2.year) down to 92 (kWh/m2.year).
Reduction %
300
-18%
-23%
Heating load (kWh/m2.year)
250
200
150
305
-55%
250
100
-70%
138
50
0
-63%
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0. base case
1. modified envelope
2. windows types
3. ventilation control
114 4. Air-to-air hex
92 5. heating control
heating system energy use intensity
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Greconnection Milan, Lombardy, Italy Academic | Fall 2019 | Politecnico di Milano //Urban Design + Architectural Design //3rd place award in the 17th Edition Study Award Group work 24
preliminary site analysis At the boundaries of the historic city of Milan, urban settlements have been growing rapidly over the past decades, to accommodate for the large numbers of people moving to the city. The situation in Greco Pirelli area, north-east of Milan, shows a typical example of the issue raised by this rapid growth. Along side the railway, the city is disconnected and is split into two detached neighborhoods; Bicocca and Precotto.
Greconnection aims to investigate the different urban layers created over the past decades, to find the missing link between the two sides, to overcome the physical barrier created via the railway, and, finally, to propose an urban/architectural intervention that reconnects Bicocca and Precotto neighborhoods. The main goal was to reconnect the disconnected parts sides by different means and through a thorough investigation process of different layers of the urban fabric on macro and micro levels, for a simple goal of encouraging people to connect the easily between the separated sides.
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horizontal investigation
Horizontal catalyzer1: Links
Volumes
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Voids
Types-of-uses
vertical investigation
Vertical catalyzer1: Proximity
Permeability
Effectiveness
Diversity
[1]: conducted urban analysis is based on IMM methodology 27
morphology analysis / program
1. Main zones The development area is subdivided into three main zones reflecting the existing Bicocca/Precotto situation onto a microlevel, and proposing a reconnection plan on both levels.
1.
2. Primary axis Respecting the different needs of students and families, proposing four main volumes, and by following the existing context; social interconnected spaces are being created.
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3. Volume generation New building masses create gathering places near public services at the ground floor: threshold between the buildings and the surrounding parks. Visual and physical connection via the central axis that links the three main zones.
3.
Urban (Bicocca)
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4. schematic zoning
Pedestrian / vehicles bridge (physical connection)
main masterplan
LEGEND 1. student housing 2. social housing 3. main playground 4. sports facilities 5. Le Piazza 6. orchards 7. green link 8. students park 9. Cassa Armonica 10. theatre park 11. temporary exhibitions 12. natural topography 13. connection bridge
Nature belt (Precotto)
Social life (Precotto)
urban section showing Bicocca / Precotto proposed reconnection. 29
students housing LEGEND 1. residents entrance 2. public entrances 3. corridor and common area 4. shops 5. services 6. laundry 7. storage for cleaning 8. double room - shared toilet 8.1. single room - shared toilet 8.2. double room - private toilet 8.3. accessible room 9. elevator 10. stairs 11. emergency stairs 12. public toilet 13. atrium 14. kitchen 15. storage 16. dining room 17. TV room 18. library 19. gym 20. coffee shop 21. bushes
students housing - 3D detailed section 30
students housing - ground floor plan
daylighting analysis
students housing - first floor plan
students housing - second floor plan
students housing - daylighting illuminance analysis (LEED 2009 IEQc8.1) 31
sustainability strategies / east elevation
1. skylights (to maximize atrium daylighting on different levels).
2. maximum solar exposure (building masses are oriented towards south east to maximize solar gain).
3. modular facade with movable shading devices (wooden panels with vertical louvers to control low angle sun of east and west for rooms).
4. open atrium (lit by the skylights, partially heated by surrounding rooms, foster visual connection between floors and directly connected to the common floor).
5. glazing ratio (maximized towards south, east, and west and minimized towards north for heat loss control).
3d section illustrating proposed passive strategies
6. common floor (controlled openings fostering stack ventilation, casts self-shading on lower floors creating shaded side walks during summer, open floor surrounded by curtain walls to guarantee sufficient light measure ).
east elevation 32
rendered shots / transverse section
interior shot: interconnected floors via wide atrium and indoor corridors between rooms
exterior shot: east facing rooms for maximum exposure to morning sun
transverse section 33
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6:30 pm pedestrians heading home back from work after enjoying the sunset walk at Greconnection.
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Beirut, Lebanon Competition | Fall 2020 | SOULS OF BEIRUT //Memorial Architecture Group work 36
concept / renders / unfolded section
Beirut opens its wound as an invitation for the public to commemorate their beloved innocent lost souls in a dark contemplating atmosphere diving into the heart of the explosion. As people approach the memorial from the port side, a wound slightly grows in the horizon that symbolizes this tragedy. The memorial provides a large public space that allows the visitor to get closer to the water of the port that has been pumping life into Lebanon and connecting it with the rest of the world for centuries. However, the main journey of the memorial tells the visitor about the storyline that led Lebanon to this tragedy with a path that gradually gets narrower and darker. To symbolize hope, a sudden turn of events that will take Lebanon from this rock-bottom presence, towards a bright future. This ascending stairway to heaven is lit by the lost souls of Beirut with a wall that is dedicated document the tragic incidence and to commemorate the memory of the lost souls.
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You
Thank You f o r
y o u r
i n t e r e s t . .
I S L A M
M .
R I H A N
islammrihan@gmail.com +39 388 396 5640 linkedin.com/in/islamrihan
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