CAAD Student Awards 2023 Recognize Excellence in Architecture and Interior Design

The College of Architecture, Art & Design (CAAD), Ajman University held the third edition of its annual CAAD Student Awards on March 20, 2023. Launched in 2021, CAAD Student Awards recognize academic excellence, creative endeavor, and leadership demonstrated in the Architecture and Interior Design streams of the college.

Following were winners of the awards in the respective categories:

• Best Architecture Graduation Project: Hadil Mahrous
• Bet Architecture Project: Hisham Ihab Moustafa
• Best Generative Design: Jayizha Pilachery
• Student Leader of the Year: Khaled Osama Bayoumy
• Best BIM Project: Khulood Al-Fakih
• Best Interior Design Graduation Project: Marveh Amin
• Best 3D Printed Project: Obaida Aldarwish
• Best Interior Design Project: Shams Rukaia
• Best Overall Student: Suwebia Rehman
• Best Improved Performance: Esraa Abdullah Lootah

Some of the winners explained their projects in their own words.

“Employing Dynamo's software parametric design tools, I was able to effectively explore numerous geometric forms and ultimately create a sleek, curvilinear parametric tower. The software's advanced visual programming tools helped to define the appropriate parameters for the tower's design and achieve the desired outcome.  Finally, I utilized a 3D printer to materialize the final product,” said Obaida Aldarwish, winner of the Best 3D Printed Project Award.

Hisham Ihab Moustafa, winner of the Best Architecture Project, said, “The concept of my project was based upon the discouraging fact that it is far cheaper to receive new shipping containers than to send them back empty to the supplier. Such containers are usually labelled as waste, which makes reusing them an effective sustainable approach as it reduces waste and the need for new materials, which has a significant impact on the environment. Shipping containers are also highly flexible; they can be modified and customized to fit a wide range of needs, stacked together to create multi-level structures, and can be further modified in the future which makes them ideal for a mixed-use building.”

Hadil Mahrous, winner of the Best Architecture Graduation Project Award, said, “In creating a social housing project, that represents the feeling of past, present and future blended together, I was inspired by the orientation of old cities in Cairo and the urban planning style of Greece, to create context between the natural landscapes and cultural meaning. They key aim was to bring back the character and singularity of Arab culture and its relationship with the climate, the architecture and its relationship with the culture of Islam.”

Jayizha Pilachery, winner of the Best Generative Design Project, said, “The project requirement was to design conceptual parametric towers with different design alternatives using an already generated script in Autodesk Dynamo within Revit. With immense support and guidance from my professor Mr. Firas Noori and Teaching Assistant Mr. Abdul Wahab I could deliver successful Generative/Parametric tower designs.”

The Winners: