Contact Statement
Yusephsakr@gmail.com
(808) 352 8022
I’m a developing master of architecture student. I fell in love with architecture infront of the Khanqah of Shaykhu in downtown Cairo and I’m continuing my studies in the University of Arizona, Tucson.
To me, design is an infinite cycle of playful trials of mediating between modernity and tradition rather than a finite linear path with definite start and finish. These trials are in the form of rough physical models. The models are not made only for the basis of presenting but to visualise materiality, Structural integrity, Spatial connections and form potential in a design process.
My Brief internships With Sahel Al Hiyari and other prominent Jordanian architects, introduced the important principles of architectural design in the Levant region. I understood further the courtyard house when I was part of a team that designed the 2021 Biennale exhibition installation “Petrichor”.
I developed a profound passion for answering the question: How will we live in the future? Where I explore the answer through mediums of simple construction techniques for the arid climate.
Personal
B.Arch Kharanah Kindergarten
Product Design, Furniture Assembly and Material Experimentation
A City Within the Plume
Intructor: Charlotte Algie
Individual Project M.Arch
During the 1950’s and 60’s a series of maintenence and cleaning drills were conducted at the south Tucson military base. The improper treatment of the chemicals used in that period caused toxic chemicals to enter the subsurface groundwater. Seeping into the water, soil and strucutures. This created a 6 mile long toxic plume spanning from the south Tucson airport to Nogales Highway. Rendering the whole area as a superfund site. This projects deals with a city that falls within the plume. A city that has been fragmented by the contamination. This fragmentation inspired a new alternative to the modern way of living. A city that uses simple construction methods to be built by the people. A city the rises above the contamination. A city that roams freely within a rigid structural grid. Inspiring an incremental way of living. Weaving its way through the existing city. In times stitching the fragmented, in other times it creates new functions. In some scenarios, using the same grid, it goes under ground following the direction of the contamination. A city within the plume asks the question: How will our cities be shaped after destruction?
A story about a villager From Al dilingat, Egypt. Who traveled across the north atlantic ocean. He heard about how the people of south Tucson rebuilt their fragmented city. He walks through their structures, he experiences different ways how they dealt with distruction. He experiences structures with movable partitions and panels. Structures that deal within a 3 dimensional structural grid. Structures that operate under the ground. He experiences these typologies in the hope one day he can rebuild his own city.
A city fragmented by the contamination, a new city arises. A city that overlays it. A city built by the people.
Kolda’s Secondary School
Kaira Looro 2023 Competitiom Entry Individual ProjectPersonal project
Built by the community, Kolda’s Secondary School is located 300m NW of the Casamance river, Ziguinchor, Senegal. The school consists of 3 main building modules revolving around a 15m Kapok tree. The horizental modules adopt a vaulted form cladded by metal sheet roof panels. The structure consists of rosewood beams and columns stabilised by clay walls. Within the structural grid, perforated laterite brick walls cools the passage of air before entering the spaces. 150 students are distributed into 6 classrooms. The classrooms are seperated from the central courtyard by a bamboo shaded loggia. As the student heads to class through the loggia, he notices that scenes on the either side of him are contrasting yet they’re still connected. Where the lack of vision and hearing creates a sense of mystery to the nature of the space behind these walls. Through the informal act of entrance to the project, the user feels that he enters a space of purpose, yet he is not disconnected from the outdoor environment.
