The RIBA Gulf Live Lunch Talks are designed to share and expand knowledge on projects from across the Gulf and promote interactive conversation with leading architects over your lunch break. This digital event aims to highlight voices from across the Gulf to delve deeper into their projects and aims to highlight various views from across the Gulf while hosting a live open Q&A session with the audience.
Join us on Wednesday, 13 January 2021, 1:00 pm GST (9am - 10am GMT) for the inaugural session of the RIBA Gulf Live Lunch Talk in 2021. This exclusive lecture by Dr. Georges Kachaamy, the Director of the Center for Research, Innovation, and Design (CRID) at the School of Architecture, Art & Design, the American University in Dubai livestreamed directly from Dubai, UAE.
A live Q&A follows the lecture.
Theme: Future Environments - The Case of Gravity Defiant Architecture (GDA)
Throughout its evolution, architecture has crawled out of caves, settled on grounds, surfaced on water, climbed on pillars, stood tall and even danced. Now it is about time to challenge itself, defy gravity and rise up.
Gravity Defiant Architecture (GDA) is an innovative research topic about a futuristic architecture that utilises available advanced technologies in order to completely liberate itself from the ground and float in the air. The presentation will discuss plausible future environments and their relation to current and upcoming technologies. It will provide general understandings and topics that have foreseen environments in the past and their current counterparts in the present. It will also focus on the ongoing research that relates to GDA and its outcomes, specifically the exhibition and reception of "Rising Oases" prototypes in multiple forums around the world.
Learning objectives include:
- learning about some of the plausible future built environments
- learning about the impact of technology on current and future environments
- discussing x-topias
- understanding the impact of gravity defiant architecture in the near and far future
Grab your lunch and join in on this delightful talk to expand your knowledge and interact with Dr. Georges Kachaamy.
About Dr. Georges Kachaamy
Director of the Center for Research, Innovation, and Design (CRID) at the School of Architecture, Art & Design, American University in Dubai.
Dr. Georges Kachaamy has served as the chairperson of the Department of Architecture under which the program has received the NAAB Accreditation. As an academician, Dr. Kachaamy’s research interest relates to future environments, space planning, design, phenomenological theory in architecture, and evidence-based spatial experiments. He received the American University in Dubai President’s award for teaching excellence, the President's Award for Institutional Effectiveness, the Provost's Award for Creativity in Design and the Visual Arts, and he served on the board of the AIA Middle East Chapter as the Director of Continuing Education.
Dr. Kachaamy has won international prizes from renowned organisations such as the International Union of Architects, UIA (Union Internationale des Architects). In 2018 and 2019, he was invited by the European Cultural Centre to exhibit his architecture project “Rising Oases” and artwork "Unconscious" at the Palazzo Bembo for the Venice Biennale. In addition, his work has featured on multiple media outlets such as CNN, MBC1, Skynews Arabia, ArchDaily, The Magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Middle East Architect, MTV, and Future TV.
