MASHRABIYA || 01 ICON
/ī-kän/ noun 2. a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration. In architecture, the word icon is synonymous with monumental buildings as tangible representations of a time, a feeling, a nation, and a people. And yet, to speak of iconic architecture in the Middle East creates particular challenges. For the word’s etymology, derived from the Greek eikon meaning “likeness, image, portrait; image in a mirror; a semblance, phantom image,” has had a fraught historical reception, especially among the region’s Jews and Muslims. MASHRABIYA is a periodical produced annually by Future Architects of the Middle East, an undergraduate student organization in the City College of New York’s Spitzer School of Architecture. The publication focuses on Middle Eastern architecture, with the goal of shining light on a vibrant, diverse community that is often exoticized, villainized, underrepresented and misunderstood. Through this journal, we seek to facilitate an ongoing dialogue about architecture and identity. Mashrabiya is run entirely by student editors, and features work by students and practitioners around the globe.
Acknowledgements: A warm thank you to our contributors, readers, and supporters. Special thanks to Professor Sean Weiss, our thoughtful and resourceful faculty advisor.
Team: Alexander Young, Mehrose Naeem, Karyna Yanovska
with Ferda Kolatan + Team (Hart Marlow, Amir Ashtiani and Brendan Wetzel), and AliReza Kibiri
Ad Hoc Cooperative is a collaborative group of students and designers who tackle current issues and produce projects which speculate what a more beautiful, equitable, sustainable world could look like. Israa Mahmood Al Balushi is an Omani Visual Artist, who completed her studies in Urban Planning and Architectural Design in 2019. She is currently working as a Creative Designer and has been experimenting with photography since 2018. Her multimedia work often explores the relationship between urbanism, art and culture. She often documents the urban identity of her surroundings, in hopes of giving an intimate insight of the existing architecture and its connection to people through everyday moments and the fluidity that exists in-between. Alzahra Abbas Al Rashidi is an Omani visual artist and student at the College of Applied Science, with a passion for design. Her older brother discovered her aptitude for photography when she was a young girl, and would often lend her his camera phone so she could further explore her talent. Through her work, she seeks to capture everyday iconic images that paint a delicate, personal picture of her home country. Saks Afridi was born in Peshawar, Pakistan, is based in New York City, and studied advertising at the Academy of Art and later sculpture at the Art Students League of New York. He is a proud recipient of Cannes Lion Awards, D&AD Pencils, OneShow pencils and a United Nations Award for Peace & Understanding. His work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, and Stephen Colbert. His work exists in a genre he terms as ‘Sci-Fi Sufism’, which is about discovering galaxies and worlds within oneself. Afridi visualizes this search by fusing mysticism and storytelling; creating art objects in multiple mediums, and drawing inspiration from Sufi poetry, Afrofuturism, South Asian folklore, Islamic mythology, Science Fiction, Architecture and Calligraphy. Fatimah Ishmael is a recent graduate in Architecture (MA) from the University of Greenwich in London. She is of mixed cultural background and is very interested in further exploring all traditions and heritage to create beautiful art and stay true to her cultural identity. Fatimah is currently working as an Architectural Assistant on commercial projects in the UK and South Asia. Saria Saeed is a London-based architectural designer. She completed her Master’s degree in architecture from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL in 2020 and is currently working as an architect at Foster + Partners. Saria was born in Pakistan and migrated to the UK at the age of 10 with her family. Her dual identity and the complexities it creates in her life inspires her work the most. She experiments with innovative technologies in her work and challenges cultural norms in defining the narrative of her buildings. Parisa Shahnooshi is a British-Iranian designer based in London with a passion for poetry, Persian miniature painting and carpet weaving. Parisa continues to weave her interest in discovering the hidden stories that are found in our daily lives; these small-scale interventions are what challenges our cultural perspective. Alongside practice, she is a Postgraduate Mentor at the University of Greenwich and Narrative Practice, which focuses on giving back to young designers of tomorrow through knowledge sharing, guidance, and skills. Hamza Shaikh is a London-based designer, architect, and the producer and host of Two Worlds Design, an architecture podcast series exploring the multidisciplinary potential of architecture. He currently works as a Partner & Part 2 Assistant at Make Architects, London. A graduate of the University for the Creative Arts and the University of Westminster with dual-distinction,his Master’s work ‘The Sleep Institute’ was featured on Design Boom in 2020. In 2020 he co-founded the MAD Collective, a global collective of influencers connecting, inspiring, and supporting the young architecture community through social media.
Neda Soltani received her Masters in Architecture at the University of Westminster where she was part of DS22. Neda’s project Gateway to the Casbah explores and provokes architecture as a tool of autonomy within Algiers. She utilises ideas of Orientalism, iconography and third space theory to highlight an alternative reality for the city and its people whilst critiquing the colonial agenda.”I see architecture as an opportunity to respond directly to human experience; it can be used as a tool for social change as well as the preservation of cultural identity whilst empowering communities.” Zain Al-Sharaf Wahbeh, born in Jordan and raised in the United Arab Emirates, is a Palestinian academic and a postgraduate architecture student at the Royal College of Art. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a first-class honors degree award in 2019. In the same year, she won the Best Undergraduate Dissertation Prize at ESALA and was subsequently nominated for the RIBA Dissertation Medal of 2019.As a Part II Architecture student at Royal College of Art, she has spent the past year clinically examining the drastic urban remodelling of the Al-Manshiyya neighbourhood under the Zionist Occupation, from 1948 to the present-day.
The Mashrabiya Team Student Editors: Hajar Alrifai Ahmed Helal Tanha Tabassum Tatiana Voitovich © Copyright 2021 Mashrabiya, all rights reserved. All material is compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but published without responsibility for errors or omissions. We have attempted to contact all copyright holders, but this has not been possible in all circumstances. We apologize for any omissions and, if noted, will amend in any future editions. All images courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted. Contact: Editor@Mashrabiya.org www.mashrabiya.org Future Architects of the Middle East The City College of New York Spitzer School of Architecture 141 Convent Avenue New York, New York 10031