File 17.0 - AI Ain University Competition (United Arab Emirates University, University Town Project)

87 drawings
20 photographs

FIle consists of 87 drawings and 20 photographs prepared for Sheik Aid bin Naraya, Minister of Education, United Arab Emirates. The competition design prepared for this proposed University, in the oasis city of AI Ain in the United Arab Emirates, sought to provide a modem interpretation of the historical principles of Islamic design. The project was conceived as an axial plan with crossing axes at the entries to the various faculties, achieving their own specific identity. Particularly important was the need to weave the existing buildings of the University into the plan. An architectural vocabulary was developed as a reinterpretation of "desert" architecture, whereby walls were conceived massively in nature with small punched openings to admit light. Such walls protected the inner spaces from the harsh surrounding environment and these spaces were to be enriched in a variety of ways. Spaces were conceived in a hierarchical manner by means of size and finish material. Courtyards, some internalized and climate controlled, became the focus of the architecture, and were protected from the environment by high walls and overhead trellises. Each courtyard was provided with a decorative water feature and appropriate landscaping. In keeping with most Islamic buildings, particular emphasis was placed on the internal nature of space, doorways, passages, and gates to each space. The major entrance to the project is approached directly by the main axis where an enveloping semicircular administration building accepts visitors and dignitaries. The axial plan is broken only by the various "prayer" spaces, or Mosques, which turn in the direction of Mecca. Particularly important to the project were the series of gates at the axial entry points, giving the project its outward architectural richness.