AIA Middle East Update - November 2022

2022 AIA Middle East Year End Conference & Design Awards

The American Institute of Architects, Middle East Chapter, is excited to be hosting its 9th Year End Conference and Design Awards, which will be held in the Sultanate of Oman from December 8 to December 11, 2022. 

This year's theme is "Sultanate of Oman: A Canvas Untouched."

The theme of the conference explores Oman's path to accomplishing successful adaptive re-use of heritage sites and an architecture that is not only iconic but reactive to nature and/or inspired by nature, and fully conscious and respective of its context.

More details on the Conference and Registration here.

Call For Papers

The American Institute of Architects, Middle East Chapter, has issued a call for papers for its 9th Year End Conference in Oman.

Sub-theme 1: Education, Lifelong Learning, and Scientific Research

Possible Subjects:

-        How has design of the architecture, interior design, use of materials, landscaping, can help in improving educational outcomes of future generations, and how it can improve the environment for innovation in the scientific fields?

-        Design of specialty schools/institutions/health care facilities for children/adults with special needs such as down syndrome, autism …etc

-        Case studies of successful school design

Sub-theme 2: World Class Healthcare

Possible Subjects:

-        The relationship between planned hospital design, and properly designed spaces can improve the recovery rate of patients.

-        The ability to transform normal spaces to field hospitals to deal with pandemic.

-        The merging of healthcare with tourism

 

Sub-theme 3: Sustainable Tourism and Heritage Preservation

Possible Subjects:

-        How can designing spaces ensure preservation of heritage without loosing the value of the history and traditions?

-        How can design merge between the old and the new, whilst respecting the old but emphasizing the new?

-        How can designing spaces assist in ensuring bringing the idea of sustainability into the hospitality sector?

 

Sub-theme 4: Development of Limited Urban Hubs and Sustainable Use of Land

Possible Subjects:

-        How can urban planning enhance currently established urban plans?

-        How can learning the history of urban expansion help with lessons learned for future urban plans?

 

Criteria for Submissions and Selection

The seminar shall be evaluated on the following:

-        Relevance of topic to the chosen sub-theme

-        Reflection of emerging trends

-        Content of seminar brief

-        Strength of learning objectives

-        Product importance in assisting and augmenting design (for suppliers)

 

The conference committee is now accepting abstracts for lectures as part of the above symposium. The conference offers speaker opportunities for 50-minute conference presentations (including 10 minute questions and answers).

Part of the conference schedule is architectural tours. If you are also interested in conducting the tour for a development that you or your firm had designed in Oman, kindly express interest and provide information on who will be conducting the tour along with their short bio.

The Year-End Conference will be designed to cater to the AIA's Continuing Education System (CES), for which it offers accreditation in Learning Units (LUs) to AIA registered architects.

Application Date:

Abstract submission Deadline: November 15, 2022.

Proposal Form:

Please submit an abstract (maximum one page) in English and related CV and photo

Review Process:

Abstracts will be reviewed by the AIA Conference Committee and answered within 10 days of receipt.

Submission:

Draft Presentation to be received by November 20, 2022.

Email Address:

stephanie.kinnick@aiamiddleeast.org

sherif.anis@aiamiddleeast.org

maryam.al-balushi@aiamiddleeast.org