University of Bahrain architects reformulate concept of vertical housing designs

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

University of Bahrain (UoB) architecture students have presented innovative designs with the concept of vertical housing.

It was part of the seventh edition of “Housing Bank for Engineering Creativity” competition organised by the Housing Bank in cooperation with the university.

The competition’s slogan, “Vertical Housing Environment”, saw various designs aimed at creating a suitable residence for the Bahraini family that meets the requirements of a comfortable life and makes them feel the quality of life, taking into account the limited spaces that require consultants to go towards vertical construction.

The top three winners of the competition were Abdullah Muhammad Hassan, Ahmed Abdul Jabbar Hilal and Layal Tahseen Shana’a. Their designs were chosen from among the 118 projects submitted by fellow students of the Architecture Department of the College of Engineering.

The jury, consisted of experienced academics and engineers, selected a short list of 28 projects, which were in turn subjected to evaluation again, leading to the selection of the three winning projects.

Regarding his project, Hassan said: “Providing comfortable and appropriate housing to preserve the citizen’s dignity is among the global challenges at the present time, and given the limited lands, Bahrain tends to create a suitable environment for housing that takes into account the needs of the individual, society and available resources.

“From this standpoint, I tried in my design to reformulate the concept of housing from the horizontal position (the natural position) to the vertical position in the so-called vertical cities, by designing four main neighbourhoods in proportion to the authentic Bahraini culture derived from the popular neighbourhoods (Al Furjan).

“It is distinguished each neighbourhood has a unique identity, indicating that the neighbourhoods meet different needs such as entertainment, education, worship and the likes.”

Hilal focused on creating a “human connection between the residents of vertical residential complexes” in his project to enhance a sense of safety, belonging and familiarity.

He divided the city into three different villages, and then divided each village into three different neighbourhoods. Through this approach, opportunities are provided for residents to meet their neighbours and thus gain a sense of belonging.

He pointed out that his design features vertical vegetation, which would create shades for the building, as well as provide better air quality for residents.

For her part, Shana’a stressed on converting the horizontal life experience into a vertical experience consisting of several miniature models of residential neighbourhoods, so that each model includes several types of apartments that are able to accommodate different sizes of families and suit their diverse tastes.

Her project was designed using the “Clustered Stacking ” pattern due to the levels of privacy that this type of stacking guarantees in addition to the appearance of the resulting irregular construction,.

It reflects the image of the old Bahraini neighbourhoods, preserving Bahrain’s cultural identity, and thus increasing the feeling of the residents.

UoB president Prof. Dr. Riyad Yusuf Hamzah expressed the university’s pride in the ongoing partnership with the Housing Bank for the seventh year in a row in this award.

He stressed that this partnership aims to find innovative solutions to housing issues, especially citizens’ housing through a future youth vision.