AFTERSHOCK - Designing for earthquake-prone Antakya
During the period of March 11-18, 2023, the Jamal Abed Faculty of Architecture organized the Design Week event with the support and sponsorship of the Friends of Jamal Abed, our late Dean of Architecture. The Design Week is a unique learning and experimentation workshop. The theme of this year was: AFTERSHOCK - Designing for earthquake-prone Antakya. All 65 design students from our 5 curriculum years teamed up in 13 teams, of 5 students each, and competed to challenge preliminary design schemes rethinking Antakya's earthquake-prone architecture, and highlighting the importance of design thinking, team spirit and innovation as core constituents of architectural education. For five consecutive days, our faculty members were involved in interactive design reviews with the students in our design studios. The team of instructors included: Abdulhalim Jabr ● Hala Abi Haydar ● Hana Othman ● Mohamad Nasri ● Mohamad Negro ● Mustafa Nachar ● Samar Al-Samad ● Sima El-Cheikh.
Launching Session:
On Saturday, March 11, 2023, the Jamal Abed Design Week commenced with a launching session, organized by JAFA, and which started with words by Dean Nasri, Prof. Abi Haydar, Mr. Jabr, and Dr. Bassim Halaby. Dr. Halaby (CEO of Benchmark Development, Beirut) and Mrs. Randa Jamali (partner in Benchmark) represented the members of the “Friends of Jamal Abed” who are supporting and sponsoring the event. This was followed by a brainstorming session between design instructors and architecture students who were divided into 13 work teams competing on the theme of AFTERSHOCK: Designing for earthquake-prone Antakya.
Interim Lectures and Pinup:
On Tuesday, March 14, the 2023 Jamal Abed Design Week was reinforced by 2 lectures and a student work pinup for the preliminary ideas and research outcome.
The lecture was offered by our faculty member Dr. Yumn El-Rawi entitled: Awareness of Earthquake Resistant Design. It was followed by an online presentation by Mr. Mohamad Mufti on IKEA’s shelter kit. In the pinup, the different student teams were guided as how to look for progress directives and axes of development
Jury and Closing Session:
On Saturday, March 18, the Jamal Abed Design Week was concluded with a jury of the students’ work, and the closing session followed by lunch.
Thirteen student teams presented their work in front of a Jury panel of architects and educators including: Abdulhalim Jabr ● Bassim Halaby ● Hala Abi Haydar ● Hana Othman ● May Sadek ● Mohamad Nasri ● Mustafa Nachar ● Samar Al-Samad ● Sima El-Cheikh.
The closing session started with a word by Dean Nasri preceded by a moment of silence in memory of Late Dean Abed, a word by President Maluf, and a word by Mr. Tarek Kazzaz representing the Friends of Jamal Abed. Then, trophies were distributed to representatives of the Friends of Jamal Abed, followed by the distribution of certificates to all participating students.
What came next was the awaited announcement of the 3 winning teams and the awarding of the first, second and third prizes which included cash rewards of a total of $2,100.
The final event was a lunch at the ground floor lobby that included all JAFA students and instructors in addition to jury members.