AUS students installation unveiled

A bespoke installation created by interior design students from the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) (AUS) and commissioned by Ellington Properties has been unveiled in the Belgravia II residential building in Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai. The property also features more than 90 photographic works produced by CAAD students.

Now exhibited in the main lobby of Belgravia II, Hamama (meaning Doves in Arabic) was created by student designers Rima Chalha, Mariam Aljuwaied, Sana Fathima and Priyanka Soni, who worked together with Assistant Professor of Interior Design Juan Roldán, who also chairs the Interior Design Steering Committee at CAAD, with the collaboration of Assistant Professor Camilo Cerro.

Selected from three proposals submitted for the project, Hamama was created using heat-moulded acrylic formed into dynamic shapes to create a multidimensional impression of a flight of doves in mid-flight and linked together to form a final structure.

The extensive design process began with hand drawings, sketch models, 3D digital modelling, parametric algorithms, and moved into mock-up modelling. Finally, a flexible system was developed out of one unit to work as part of a module of multiple sculptures to create the final dynamic ceiling installation.

Roldán said the extracurricular opportunity gave the young designers the chance to put the design principles and fabrication methods they have learned at CAAD into practice.

“A collaboration with a high-profile company like Ellington is a milestone for our interior design programme and an incredible opportunity for our interior design students. These kinds of extra-curricular initiatives allow us to transform our students’ ideas into built artefacts and tangible projects that transcend the limited drawn reality of their designs in studio,” said Roldán.

“This is an essential part of our educational model within the interior design programme at the College of Architecture, Art and Design. We design and make.