Lenses jassim al nashmi_design portfolio
This book is a collection of design works completed at Iowa State University, Iowa and the Architectural Association, London from 2011-2013. lens (lenz) n. pl. lens¡es A molded piece of transparent material with opposite surfaces either or both of which are curved, by means of which light rays are refracted so that they converge or diverge to form an image. Medical Dictionary
My interest lies in design that is contextual and significant to place. In each project a lens or reinterpreted object is created by which place or culture can be viewed under a new light, allowing new images to emerge. Some projects involve the crossing of opposing elements whilst other projects involve the reinterpretation of existing elements, both strategies construct an object or architecture that acts as a lens allowing a different perspective to view the world from the new inhabitation of space.
“This art has, however, nothing to do with interesting configurations or originality. It is concerned with insights and understanding, and above all with truth. Perhaps poetry is unexpected truth.� Peter Zumthor
Mar 15 2012 AA Lon
Eyes Rolling | The square cloud sits In black emptiness A sanitary surface replicates the square cloud upside down it intimidates him, with its fifteen eyes and sixty five pupils in black space, arms wrapping shins, nothing else to look at but the little eyes rolling on the clean plaque, their twins beneath them, but the square cloud has an ominous glow white glow, beating, his eyes stuck to the glow
2 he says he used a needle inking the pupils black and blue some exploded but it’s OK, he said, you can look at the eyes, the glow and the little wheels rolling happily. They nodded and left.
He sits In black emptiness.
Contents:
part 1: cross 1.1 Diametric Dualities. AA. Bilbao SkyGarden. Spring ‘12 1.11
Bonds. ISU. Columbus Museum of Industrial Objects. Fall ‘11
1.111 Culture Cross. ISU. Studio Furniture. Fall ’12 1.1v Canyon. ISU. Studio Furniture. Fall ‘11 part 2: reinterpret 2.1 Contemplative Enclaves. ISU. New York Housing. Spring ‘11 2.11 The Modern Wassily. ISU. Studio Furniture. Fall ‘12 2.111
Projections on the Landscape [in progress]. ISU. Fallow. Spring ‘13
2.1v
Framework + Improvisation. ISU. Boston Hall for Experimental Performance. Fall ‘12
part 1: Cross
1.1
DIAMETRIC DUALITIES
Superimposition of photographs as a hybrid action
Robert Mapplethorpe + Taj Mahal Compositional patterns merge, and form. Similarities accentuate eachother, differences are exposed, juxtaposition of contrasting atmospheres creates new meaning in relation to one another.
PARADOXICAL MOVEMENT Movement on the A8
Hybrid Drawing A highway movement is about the journey to a destination, however, since its reoccupation no longer involves vehicles, and Bilbao was interested in bringing activity to a part of the city other than the riverfront, the journey, then, becomes the destination.
HYBRID
The convergence of two different elements to create one product THROUGH A8 AND PARADE PATH
AREAS OF PROGRAM
Closed Urban Loop The center was designed to allow seasonal parades to go through it on the street level and a bicycle route on the highway designed to see public art in the city.
BLURRED SPACE
Different programs on the sight converge to create undefined, new spaces. The intervention occupies the street level, the highway surface, and the space in between. NO: TINO:ELELVIAJE VIAJE | | BILBAO BILBAO LEISURE LEISURE PATH PATH
ON
INDOOR-OUTDOOR
INDOOR-OUTDOOR
OUTDOOR SPACE
OUTDOOR SPACE
INDOOR
OUTDOOR
FOOTBALL COURTS
DANCE STUDIOS
FOOTBALL COURTS
DANCE STUDIOS
INDOOR INDOORSPACE SPACE
RESTAURANTS AND CAFE RESTAURANTS AND CAFE
BLURRED BLURREDSPACE SPACE
ART WORKSHOPS ART WORKSHOPS
BASKETBALL COURTS BASKETBALL COURTS SQUASH AND GYM SQUASH AND GYM PEFORMANCE AREA AREA PEFORMANCE
EISURE LEISUREPATH PATH
OR
PLANS PLANS
OUTDOOR
INDOOR
PLANS PLANS INDOOR
OUTDOOR
INDOOR
OUTDOOR
FOOTBALL COURTS FOOTBALL COURTS
DANCE DANCESTUDIOS STUDIOS
BASKETBALL COURTS BASKETBALL COURTS
RESTAURANTS RESTAURANTSAND ANDCAFE CAFE
SQUASH AND GYM SQUASH AND GYM ART WORKSHOPS ART WORKSHOPS
PEFORMANCE AREA PEFORMANCE AREA
PLANS PLANS OUTDOOR OUTDOOR FOOTBALL FOOTBALLCOURTS COURTS
BASKETBALL BASKETBALLCOURTS COURTS SQUASHAND ANDGYM GYM SQUASH PEFORMANCEAREA AREA PEFORMANCE
DESTINO: N EL VIAJE | BILBAO LEISURE SECOND FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1:50
CIRCULATION
N
INDOOR-OUTDOOR SECOND FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1:50
OUTDOOR SPACE
INDOOR SPACE
BLURRED SPACE
N
SECOND FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1:50
N
SECOND FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1:50
DESTINO: EL VIAJE | BILBAO LEISU CIRCULATION
INDOOR-OUTDOOR OUTDOOR SPACE
HIGHWAY PLAN INDOOR SPACE
SQUASH AND GYM BLURRED SPACE
ART WORKSHOPS
PEFORMANCE AREA
N
SECOND FLOOR SCALE: 1:50
Structural and Programmatic Hybrid Second Floor Plan N The logic of the organized city grid is applied to the R/C structure and this is superimposed with the irregular, organic pedestrian path and superimposed Program adjacencies are intended to provoke new interpretations of space whereby between them there is no physical boundary, [blur space] allowing for the possibility of a hybrid of diametrically different activities.
RESIDENT - VISITOR HYBRID
The path is used for circulation by the residents, and by the visitors as a walkway that displays all the resident activities. The path weaves through the outside to the interior spaces, between activities. The visitors see an authentic side of Bilbao not present on the riverside.
PROGRAM HYBRID
The path continues on the inside with a roof skylight structure engulfed by spanish moss, an organic superimposition onto the city-like structural grid. This was to avoid borders on the ground and allow these blurred spaces to occur.
MASSING DESIGN - SITE SECTION 1.11
BONDS
The legacy of Columbus’ innovations in industry and architecture has shaped the community’s pride towards the city. This intervention is one in which the legacy is showcased as a way of telling the story of Columbus, and one that acts as a platform for bonding.
MASSING - SITE SECTION MASSING DESIGNDESIGN - SITE SECTION
MASSING MASSING DESIGNDESIGN - SITE SECTION - SITE SECTION
Urban Strategy People’s circulation on the main street was tracked and defined the location of the plaza.
PARTNER: MIGUEL RODRIGO GONZALEZ
BONDING SHAFTS
Light shafts are dispersed through the building, piercing through all floors and offer views into EIGHTH STREET other floors. The distance and physical screen create a contemplative atmosphere
SEVENTH STREET
PARKING
SIXTH STREET
FRANKLIN STREET
FOURTH STREET ICE CREAM PARLOR COMMONS
CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
THIRD STREET
PEARL STREET
FIFTH STREET
LAFAYETTE
VISITOR’S CENTER
LIND
SAY
STR
EET
CUMMINS LOBBY
JACKSON STREET
et]
LATE NIGHT WALKS
The facade works as a mass, elevated by a frame, with light shafts piercing through to negotiate the two contrasting elements. The plaza space is a multipurpose space
1.111 CULTURE
CROSS
The convergence of two different cultures
The Curve and the Taper A chair inspired by the motifs found in Islamic and Chinese architecture and the modern dining experiences in the social and etiquette sense.
Photo Credit: George Ensley
1.1v CANYON
The hybrid of the organic and the crafted
Canyon A walnut board was purchased for a coffee-table top in which it was intended that little adjustments are made, and its rawness presents itself. The hard maple legs, however, were completely constructed from dimensioned lumber and they were intended to gesture a contrast and relationship with the color and taper of the walnut board.
part 2: Reinterpret
2.1 CONTEMPLATIVE
Slow volume in a fast city.
ENCLAVES
A Space for Contemplation Within the dynamic nature of New York, SoHo sits in the midst, hearing echoes of fast life. The place needed a clog in the system, a block of slow life, that frames the city, but secludes you from it, to allow a new view of the place.
PARTNER: ZHENGYANG WANG
2.11 REINTERPRETING
THE WASSILY
The Wassily in the Information Age
The Modern Wassily The Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer was critically analysed and reduced to its essential elements, which are the articulation of seat & back from the arms & legs in a lounge chair. The articulation is maintained and the lounge element is pushed further using cast urthane rubber reinforced with steel rod that would allow the chair to recline.
Photo Credit: George Ensley
2.111 PROJECTIONS Fallow
ON THE LANDSCAPE
PARTNER: BRYAN MOCK
fal¡low [fal-oh] adjective 1. (of land) plowed and left unseeded for a season or more; uncultivated. verb (used with object) 4. to make (land) fallow for agricultural purposes. 2 miles south, a farmstead sits, derelict and out of operation for 2 centuries. Our group was asked to re-occupy the seed-drying chambers of the farm. Our interpretations led us to believe the farm needed a commencement for this re-occupation. The traces of the past life in this place elicit imagination, the mind wanders, thoughts and imaginations are projected onto the landscape. This suggested that the context is suited for a place of story-telling, and the re-occupation can happen, in the context of the chamber, by occupying the stories and imaginations of others.
Trace Arctic white mornings in the Iowa winter the road is never ending and the earth, hard as rock gravel-rumbling wheels almost put the truck to sleep it appears, the monastery of crop. It used to be busy at this time I shut the car door, the echo quickly dies from the cold these gloves are useless sheet metal buildings, white from the sky a red pick-up truck from the 60’s is sleeping under a shallow roof and a beat-up beetle with its hood and engine ripped out is lying dead on the side of the road the hard metal doors make a rusty screech flaking paint reveals the weathered steel the color of dried blood inside the corn-drying chambers, it is quiet grated steel sheets divide top and bottom here, the corn seed sat, altogether, drying their sweat the attic is not as empty, conveyor belts, dusty ladders, pitchforks and planks of wood with protruding nails of course, the raccoons had to leave their mark traces of footsteps in the dust the spider-webs seem to have been here a while what happened here? corn seed came on the belts through that hole in the roof and the men would fill up each chamber traces of the past life thoughts linger as I leave about the world this used to be the way they used to live and the traces we leave behind.
Framework + Improvisation The city of Boston reveals itself as an improvised city, constantly growing with landfills infrastructure built wherever needed. As it is today, there are several auditoriums and venues for Jazz and Classical music. We therefore focused the project on a large hall for experimental music, where we create a framework of full flexibility [seating arrangements, acoustics, outdoor connection], for the musicians to improvise with and consequently create new forms of music.
GROUND PLAN
5TH FLOOR PLAN
2ND FLOOR PLAN
AUDITORIUM. DOOR CLOSED. FULL SEATING. FRONT STAGE LOWERED
3RD FLOOR PLAN
AUDITORIUM. DOOR HALF-RAISED. BALCONIES LOWERED.
AUDITORIUM. DOOR OPEN. FLOOR SEATING RETRACTED
jassim al nashmi alnashmij@gmail.com +1 515 708 7244
References Peter P GochĂŠ AIA Senior Lecturer Department of Architecture Iowa State University 156 College of Design Ames, Iowa 50010 +1 515 520 3384 goche@iastate.edu Naiara Vegara Director Semester Programme Visiting School Architectural Association +44 7910490388 naiaravegara@aaschool.ac.uk Jassim Al-Saddah Bab.nimnim Design Studio *Subsidiary of Al-Daleel General Trading & Contracting Co.
Owner and Creative Director POBOX 4849 Safat 13049, Kuwait +965 99010799 jassim@babnimnim.com