Mutaz Alabtah
Architecture & Urban Design Portfolio
+46709554617 | mutaz.alabtah@gmail.com
Hi I am Mutaz, an architect and urban designer, based in Stockholm - Sweden. Thank you for having an interest in my selected work portfolio. Please contact me if you have any further questions. A little bit about me: I am 28, I was born and raised in Jordan, moved to Sweden in 2020 to study master’s program in Sustainable Urban Design because of my interest in the Swedish and Scandinavian sustainability profile. Nowadays, I am done with my Master’s degree and looking for a job in the field of Architecture or Urban design. My thesis focus was on responding to the housing demand in Sweden, and Europe using the existing urban development areas rather than green field development. I recognize my mission as an architect is to meeting society’s need using my knowledge and experience. That reflects on my design persona: reducing inequalities, improving social cohesion through built environment, and creating community-oriented places is what I aim for in my designs. I am looking forward to working with a team of designers and space makers who embody these values. I am motivated to learn more about sensitive and sustainable design measures that responds to the needs, and care the most about our future.
Contents University works (Graduate - Lund University)
Thesis Project: Urban Ergonomics ...................................................................................... 4 Iceland Gems ......................................................................................................................... 14 Citadellsfogen ....................................................................................................................... 20 Quezon City Plaza ................................................................................................................. 21 Gåsebäck reborn ................................................................................................................... 22
Professional work
Mozoon Towers (Doha - Qatar) .......................................................................................... 28 Deira Waterfront Hotel (Dubai-UAE) ................................................................................. 30 District 01 (Dubai-UAE) ........................................................................................................ 31
University works (Undergraduate - University of Jordan)
Graduation Project: Pursuit of Happiness ......................................................................... 32 Workers Skyscraper .............................................................................................................. 40
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Realizing circular economy opportunities at multiple scales with nature as part of the process.
Svågertorp bioduct
Urban Ergonomics Malmö, Sweden
Master’s thesis project - Spring 2022
To-the-b e
ach trail
- Individual work (Research, analysis and design phases). - Supervisor: Johnny Åstrand
Daycare Malmö University
We-kea
Library
Preface;
School
In Sweden, there’s a need for new 60,000 homes every year until 2030 to cover the market demand, according to the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building, and Planning. This means that almost half a million new housing is needed to be built in the following eight years.
The live-work module
Sportsroof
The recreational trail
The vision for the site is to build upon its current use, shopping. The shopping district is part of the economic cycle of Malmö, yet to enhance its use in a sustainable matter, the approach is to approximate all activities related to the economic cycle of everyday life.
Art gallery The semi-rural units
Bio Energy
Technology Workshops
Svågertorp Business Incubators
Repair hub
Theatre
The work-live module
Farmers/Flea market Business district
Business Accelerator
Business district
Svågretorp Main square
The train station
Commercial Green houses
External shopping centres have the potential of being a new node of liveable neighbourhoods, and their areas can be a great supply for city densification. I will take Svågertorp as an example (an external shopping centre in Malmö, Sweden), while many places in Sweden and all of Europe are facing the same issues.
The Solitude Forest
Through a holistic approach, the design seeks to generate a fully functional loop of production, distribution, and consumption. Combining these pure economic concepts with living places, social spaces and working areas where people lives are part of their economic activities. Ergonomics is the scientific study of people and their working conditions, especially done in order to improve effectiveness. It is the process of designing or arranging workplaces, products and systems so that they fit the people who use them. On an urban scale, Svågertorp will be developed in a way that follows the circular economy principles, to reduce waste, and generate more sustainable energy and production. Yet, the site when further developed will be full of life, with many people involved in the process of production, distribution, waste management and consumption.
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0. Svågertorp now
1. Zero ground parking lots.
Nowadays, 35% of Svågertorp area is parking lots. Almost 76% of Svågertorp surfaces are sealed with asphalt. The area has 12 roundabouts and 70 hectares of car-dedicated areas.
To reduce the amount of ground parking to zero, buildings can be used for parking. Smart mobility stations will be distributed every 200 meters to establish a more convenient movement within the site without using private automobiles.
Hyllie boulevard
Hövding
evägen
borg Trelle
Vintrie Park
Lindängelund
Ground Parking
Existing buildings
Medium speed street (40 km/h)
The local railway
High speed street (60-70 km/h)
Existing bus station
Very high speed street (90-110 km/h)
Smart mobility station
Parks
2. Breaking the separators
3. Protect the inner parts of Svågertorp
To break the separators, Trelleborg Street will be slowed down from 90 to 60 km/h, and the service roads will be demolished and used as a green buffer instead. Hövdingevägen will be slowed to 40. The connection between them will be turned into a bio duct and the Cloverleaf interchange will be changed into a diamond interchange
To do so, the perimeter blocks will be bigger in size and higher. It will be big box stores and warehouses as this typology needs loading-unloading areas that are closer to the streets.
Continuating green and blue structure Crossing
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Upgraded big-box stores
4. Local commercial (work-live) blocks
5. Mixed-income housing (live-work) blocks
On the sides of Svågertorp inner streets, local commercial businesses will be established. These areas are occupied by craft shops, repair shops, markets, smaller stores, and startup businesses. The outdoor created between these areas are busy and livable during day and night.
Housing typologies support the idea of the circular economy, from the smallest scale. Every block has commercial mini markets, shared and private gardens, repair shops and communal spaces for eating, washing machines, game rooms, etc.
Existing buildings(from previous phase )
Existing buildings(from previous phase )
Public and semi public green hubs
New buildings
New buildings
Interconnecting nature and urban life
The “Urban” loop
The “Urban” loop
6. The semi-rural units
7. Hierarchical outdoors
Closer to nature, smaller-scale shared houses will be built. These houses will be provided with gardens and a waste management system. The houses vary in size, number of dwellers and typologies as well.
The importance of hierarchical outdoors is that it offers a sense of community, a sense of creating transitional spaces between being alone, being with neighbors, and being with strangers or visitors.
Existing buildings(from previous phase ) Public, semi public greenery Existing buildings(from previous phase )
Public and semi public green hubs
Semi public, semi private inner yards and pocket parks
New buildings
Public and semi public urban hubs
Semi private, private gardens, green roofs, orchards, backyards
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Svågertorp, Now and Then Svågertorp - 2040
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A
B
Section 1
Section 1 - A
Section 1 - B
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Svågertorp Live-Work module
Zoom in to the live-work module (see site plan on page 05)
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Level +4.0
Level +7.5
Level +11.0
Level +14.0
Level +18.0
Level +26.0
Local commercial/ Parking/Warehouse
Apartments, offices and business
Energy and food production
Local commercial/Offices/Apartments
Housing
Communal (kitchen, games room i.a.)
A human eye perspective for the atmosphere of the neighborhood
Section B-B in the live-work module
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Svågertorp Work-Live Module Svågertorp work live module is closer to the urban loop street. The area has more offices and production areas. Buildings have active ground floors that have spaces for small businesses to take place. The inner yards and pocket parks of the work-live districts are accessible to the public and have direct contact with the streets outside.
Work-live neighborhoods have harder ground surfaces that allow for commercial activities to be part of the public life, such as food carts and small temporary shops, as shown in the visualizations in the following pages.
A
Zoom in to the work-live module (see site plan on page 05)
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A human eye perspective (A) showing the atmosphere of the Work-Live districts (see site plan on page 12)
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Future Artúnshöfði, is a vivid place where people live, work, and visit. A destination for visitors and Icelanders to enjoy what Icelandic spectacular nature offers.
Iceland Gems Artúnshöfði, Reykjavík
Urban Landscape Project - Spring 2021 - Group Work (Analysis phase): With: Lisa Lödén, Hugo Erik Settergren, Kateřina Rybínová. - Individual work ( Design phase).
Preface; Artúnshöfði is an industrial area in Reykjavík, The capital of Iceland. The area is dominated by car repair shops and cement factory. It is, however, in the municipality plan to be a housing area in the future, especially that it has an excellent location far from the centre but close to the nature, and the planned BRT passes through the area. The project, Iceland Gems, aims to connect surrounding natural areas around Ártúnshöfði again through six major guidelines: -Promote coexistence. -Plan a storm water attenuation. -Build with topography. -Response to the municipality future plans. -Enhance urban and roof agriculture. -Generate recreational and social hubs.
To generate public interest in the area, the project needed to be done in phases, these phases are 5 years each, no need for one to finish so the next starts. The project will be developed in 4 phases; -Phase 01- BRT line and attractions. -Phase 02- Mixed used neighbourhoods i. -Phase 03- Mixed used neighbourhoods ii. -Phase 04- Dream Phase (Food forest). The Proposed Site plan
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Phase 01: BRT line and Attractions
Phase 02: Mixed used neighborhoods i
Project Phases
The sandy beach Boats club
Phase 03: Mixed used neighborhoods ii
-Phase 01- BRT line and attractions: This phase will focus on establishing the BRT line through the area, using guided bus rails. Also introducing the first two hubs, The lagoon geothermal pool and the botanical garden.
Waterfront deck
The Panorama hub
-Phase 02- Mixed used neighbourhoods i: Densifying the areas surrounding the BRT line, especially the areas over the ridge taking municipality plan into consideration. The lagoon Swimming hub
-Phase 03- Mixed used neighbourhoods ii: Densifying the areas in the landfill areas with respect to water runoff and sea level rise in water front areas. -Phase 04- Dream Phase: This phase will happen when people realize the importance of slow production and start to depend less on the cars, then food forests and local products can be promoted, areas will be reforesting and nature can be back again to Ártúnshöfði and the whole Iceland, which is the real Iceland hidden gem!
Food market
Central Ártúnshöfði
Green oasis The food forest The main “Green” connections. The Botanical garden hub 16
Community hubs.
Phase 01: BRT line and Attractions
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1 2 BRT line through Artúnshöfði in focus.
Area 1: the park
Area 3: the main bus stop
Area 2: between buildings
Area 5: Along with cars
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Phase 02& 03: Mixed used neighborhoods 1- Building typologies: Taking into consideration: the density,identity, nature. 2- Landscape Anatomy: Front-yard ( for movement), Roof ( Urban farming), Courtyard (Social activities), Backyard ( natural grown plants).
Block Design ( Natural light access, Biodiversity, Density has been taken into consideration)
Neighborhood complex isometric
March Sun Access
Courtyard spaces 18
Atmosphere Section
June Sun Access
Dec. Sun Access
The Waterfront Deck
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Citadellsfogen,
Climatic conscious neighborhood in Malmö Climate smart Urban Design - Spring 2021 - Group Work; with Ása Katrín Bjarnadóttir, Chia-Yu Chang, Niloufar Aghili. Preface;
Informal pathways
The main task for the course was to design two different projects in two different sites (Sweden and Philippines) taking into consideration the climate of both areas. Using different tools like SimScale, Rhino and Grasshopper, we come up with a design that responses to people way of living and micro climate considerations. For Malmö project, we tried to prevent high speed wind, and expose as many surfaces to the sun natural light, we used deciduous trees as the main soft scape element in outdoor areas.
Unused railway
Wind analysis for the final proposal
Sunlight analysis for the final proposal
Design Strategies
Isometric of the project; the project massing was built around the old railway that people use already for their promenades 20
- Irregular and angled street pattern - Cut straight lines to prevent wind tunnels and close dominant wind directions - Make pathways through the site opposing the strongest winds - Make ‘wind screens’ with greenery and cut the corners - Create spaces for solar access, with position and height of buildings - Using deciduous trees allow sun to reach areas in winter and provide shading in warm summer days and Evergreens block winter wind
Site plan ( existed situation)
Streets
Quezon City Plaza Metro Manila, Philippines
Climate smart Urban Design - Spring 2021 - Group Work; with Ása Katrín Bjarnadóttir, Chia-Yu Chang, Niloufar Aghili. Preface; The main task for the course was to design two different projects in two different sites (Sweden and Philippines) taking into consideration the climate of both areas. Using different tools like SimScale, Rhino and Grasshopper, we come up with a design that responses to people way of living and micro climate considerations. For Manila project, our aim was to generate wind through form making and positioning of the buildings, we also aimed for protection from the sun and heavy rains through building shelters.
Wind analysis for the final proposal
Sunlight analysis for the final proposal
Suggested design proposal
Library and culture centre
Solar panels
Housing and commercial
Retails, offices and housing
Urban public spaces on different levels
Overhead shading
Public buildings
Double facade (south )
Urban public spaces on different levels Vertical shaded devices (East and West) Raised floor,
Sports and informal Education.
Massing and program
Building modules and climate considerations
Welcoming, shaded Entrance.
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Gåsebäck Reborn is a plan to reactivate the area gradually to be a productive place that promotes coexistence, innovation, entrepreneurship and brings back nature to the site.
Gåsebäck Reborn Gåsebäck, Helsingborg
Urban Recycling Project - Fall 2021 - Group Work (Analysis phase): With: Ása Katrín Bjarnadóttir, Chia Yu Chang,Andreas Basstint Sandberg. - Individual work ( Design phase).
Preface Gåsebäck is an old industrial neighbourhood, was known for the famous brandstation (Fire station) and the railway repair station (Lokstallarna). In the late 80s, the area has been neglected and started to get a bad reputation, the aim of the project is revitalize the area and make it flourish again. As the title says, Gåsebäck reborn.
Gåsebäck main characteristics
- Brick buildings, made of the famous Helsingborg brick. - Graffiti arts, the largest graffiti in Sweden is drawn there, and the artistic community is very active in the area. - Wide Streets & poor pavement, as other cities that was built in the previous century, the area is made for cars, mainly. - Warehouses, a lot of them are actually in a good situation, some are used and some are just closed. -Fences, A lot of them! As the area is ghost neighbourhood at night, all properties have fences around for protection. The project aims for reactivating the area gradually to be a productive place that promotes coexistence, innovation, entrepreneurship and brings back nature to the site. That will be through investigating what qualities the area has, embrace them, improve them, then adding new layers to make the place liveable and productive again. The Proposed Site plan
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i - Intervention guidelines
1- Moving the blocks from being mono-functional to multi functions.
2- Introducing new national functions to the area; Railway museum, art gallery and local food shops.
3- Making the distances closer by densifying, and creating human considering new blocks.
4- Arranging blocks for better micro climate, collect rainwater and encourage biodiversity.
5- Creating public spaces that allows people to present, exhibit, and perform.
ii- Design Process
Existed situation Buildings in Orange are one of the historical buildings in Helsingborg that nobody allows to tier down or redesign, especially from the exterior. The design plan is to start with them, having a community based uses for them, such as a railway museum in Lokstallarna, street food market in Oxhallen and a hostel with restaurants and cafe with an artistic theme in brandstationen. The Jutan block ( far to the bottom) is actually used as youth center now and it works perfectly as the municipality representer stated. 24
Space framing Perimeter blocks in order to border and highlight public places will be the next step, these will be a 5-6 floors blocks with a mixed used nature, the ground floor will be accessible for all, and The spaces will be made are main plazas, the one that will be the railway museum plaza, and the one that will be the university extension plaza. Other use of these blocks is defining the main boulevards, the east-west ( the natural spine) and the north-south( the paved spine)
Revitalization Co living, co working spaces that makes the area connected from the north to the south, these blocks are important because the walking nowadays between Gåsebäck and Oceanhamnen ( the north part of the map) seems impossible, not because it’s far, but because it’s empty and feels so wide to people to walk through. Building housing and working places in the area will make the walk and cycle path feels shorter and more livable, in addition to adding new qualities to the site.
East west street - now
Urban infill blocks For a better micro climate and smaller public places, urban infill blocks are needed. These blocks can be added among phases, whenever suites the stakeholders. These blocks will follow neighboring buildings typologies in respect of micro climate and scales. The reason why these blocks are important is because they will activate the area between buildings, the places that are now only parking spaces will be a front yards, backyards, or courtyards where people spend quality time eating, sunbathing, etc.
East west street - then
Connections The blue and green structure will not only be a park to visit or a place to sit, it will work as a connector to the whole site together, radically changing the site from being car-friendly to being human and other creatures friendly. The east-west boulevard will be the main actor in this, as it will be a place for people to commute, communicate and have a nice lunch our when the weather allows, it also will be a space where rain water runoff in the rain seasons.
Being ready for the future The site is extremely important and it has an excellent location in Helsingborg. When designed and occupied, the site will expand and connect with neighboring areas. The design took care of that; adding new cycling and walking pathways, in addition to make parks in the borders of the neighborhood that will attract people from different places to live the Gåsebäck experience while visiting the railway museum, the art center or the street food market. 25
Lokstallarna railway museum
The new co-housing co+working area model
Sidewalk, planters
Green buffer
Bike lane
Drive lanes
The north - south paved spine detail 26
Bike Linear lane parking
Sidewalk////\, storefront planters
Activity mapping before and after Gåsebäck Reborn
The new co-housing co-working area courtyard
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Mozoon towers - Doha, Qatar Moria consulting engineers Preface: The joint venture (JV) of Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company (QGIRCO) and Al Sari Trading Company (AST) is building a mixed use development called as Mozoon Towers. The project will consist of four towers with shared podium and basements across a built-up area of 560,000 sq m.
Role: CSA & BIM modelling and coordination with MEP team for towers A and B. Turning the CAD drawings of tender into BIM models before construction phase so all coordination and supply chain will be done using the Revit models.
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Deira Waterfront Development ae7
Project Preface: The hotel will form part of the Deira Waterfront Development, and will include approximately 200 rooms and suits with a selection of rooms cantilevered over the water with scene waterfront views. The hotel will also include all-day dining and specialty restaurants, banqueting facilities and a spa.
Role: Architect and BIM support in the late design stages, Detailed and Tender Design. Team leader and quality assurance for documentation and submissions.
Plot 19 (Taj Hotel) 30
District 01 Dubai Residences ae7
Project Preface:
District One of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, is located in Nad al Sheba directly adjacent to the Meydan Grandstand. District One residents will be able to enjoy a quiet neighborhood atmosphere while being just minutes from the center of the city. With more than 1000 units with different sizes and room numbers.
Role:
Architect and BIM support in all design stages, Schematic, Detailed and Tender Design. Participated in commercial brochures design.
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Pursuit of Happiness, a dream of middle class people to own the place they live in in Amman, Jordan It is a middle ground between quality, efficiency, and affordability, learning from the international practices, while remaining sensitive to the social considerations and aspirations of the Ammani people.
Pursuit of Happiness Amman, Jordan
Graduation Project - Spring 2017 - Partners work with Hanin Mohammad
Preface For my bachelor’s degree, I have the freedom to pick the project and the site. The problem of affordable housing was my main interest- and still is, it is the only architecture that all the planet population is part of, it’s the first thing we do to feel secured, safe and settled.
Pursuit of happiness The need for shelter has always been one of the most fundamental driving forces of architecture and the built environment. Throughout history, the right to own you house,on the other hand, has always been the measure through social equity in different societies is measured. Through this project, we aimed to design a housing project for the middle class in Amman, whose scope was developed between two poles: vitality and affordability. We believe that we can not redistribute wealth in the world, but middle class people spend 32-35% of their salaries for residing a house (usually by rent); So, a convenient house, with lower price, would -probably- change their lives!
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i - Project focus The project aims to create a prototype of building that resolves some of the environmental, economic, social issues that associated with middle-class in Jordan with goal of upgrading the quality of their lifestyle and allow them to become more productive individuals in their societies. We believe that it’s hard to improve our schools. It’s hard to redistribute wealth created by the concentration of technological and financial power or to increase middle-class wages. But it might be easier to lower middle-class costs by build more housing, with efficient quality and affordable cost.
? No support
They are neither rich nor poor, they don’t have access to the subsidies that poor get and don’t have loads of money through which they could solve their daily problems.
Prolonged worry
They don’t have a choice to sit around idle or think about vagaries of life, they have to put in 14/15hrs of work everyday so that they always worry about their families
ii - Gradual form arrangement
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Tax Payers
They are the class that pays the most tax yet are the ones that receive the least amount of benefits. At the end of the day, rich people know how to not pay taxes.
Middle-Class squeeze
Situation where increases in wages fail to keep up with Inflation for middle-income making them always trying to find second job or letting their families and kids work .
No time for Joy
They toil hard to earn every penny but don’t have enough time to enjoy the fruits of their hard work. They don’t have the choice to travel or taking long vacations
iii- Densification,Site-Block-Unit The gist of our project, that middle-class people can find a proper place to live in with a lower cost, which minimizing at least 8-12% from the annual costs which spending on house expenses( monthly rent, heating, and cooling). On the other hand, our design is highly considering about creating a new spaces for communication that current typology of housing projects cannot serve; using the hierarchy of public spaces starting from indoor semi-private spaces like cafe and shared spaces for women, kids, or men), ending with a public spaces that exposes our project to the local community (local markets in the main avenue and besides the masjid). About the house itself, we provided a lot of alternatives to fit a variety of Jordanian families’ needs, so the families or individuals can choose one of the alternatives and also the place of the house, then the house will be assembled. This will make them feel that they have the choice, not only the price that controls their choices. We knew that we will not redistribute the wealth, but most probably, our design is a huge step forward, because we believe that even humans create their houses, houses do create humans. Ground floor Accessibility and relationships
project Section A-A
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iv - Beyond flexibility The unit design are simple yet effective, the base unit for one person is 32 sqm, and the 11 typologies are made base on this unit. The units are also customizable, every type has minimum of two variants so the future resident can choose from them. The project units are also expandable, by one room only. This extra room is useful for people who’s expecting extra family member or they want to separate their kids rooms based on their gender when they grow older. The material used in the project is the Izodoom blocks, it’s a polymer self-insulated blocks that has the same building methodology of common buildings in Jordan but has no waste, not made of concrete or environmental harmful materials, and also can be used again if the building needs to be demolished. The 22 typologies are only a start, people can add, edit or tailor their options as long as it follows the rule of the unit sizes.
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Elderly people units
Children day care as part of the living area 38
- “I’m home!” a moment of happiness :)
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Workers Skyscraper !
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Thank You! mutaz.alabtah@gmail.com +46 70 955 4 617