What Is Real and What Is Not… Architectural Trends: Present, Past, and Future.
This is about our place in the world, shaped by the historical evolution of architectural innovation.
Throughout history, the cultural essence of a society has been shaped by artisan expressions in art and architecture. Some of these cultures across the globe had extraordinarily detailed design canons that shaped their built environment, executed masterfully and resulting in architectural and engineering marvels that remain revered and studied to this day.
Despite this legacy, the global architecture scene is arguably crippled with a sense of monotony brought upon by the influence of globalism in recent decades. That same influence, on a deeper socio-political level, has seemed to distort the historical image and narrative of these ancestral influences; not least that of what is called Islamic Architecture, which - despite its diversity, rich history, and multitude of masterful design trends and methods - has been seemingly simplified into a romanticized image in modern and contemporary discourse.
The established reality and of the architectural past, the proliferation of a globalist present, and a largely uncertain future dominated by the virtual and the artificial require a rigorous discourse that examines the influences of design history and current trends in an effort to preserve these rich histories that remain central to world cultures.
In early June, Egyptian architect and researcher Mariam Abouhadid joined ASMA to that end, providing a brief historical narrative of architectural expression with a particular focus on Islamic Architecture and examining the relationship between present Islamic architectural design trends and contemporary design frameworks. She concludes her talk by demonstrating a competition entry she participated in where she demonstrates an application of Islamic design patterns in contemporary architecture using a parametric design strategy.
You can watch the talk below.