Tamayouz Excellence Award has announced the members of its jury panel for the 2019 Dewan Award for Architecture.
The thematic annual award -- held in partnership between Tamayouz and Dewan Architects + Engineers -- calls on participants to design architectural solutions for the rejuvenation of the long neglected Al Umma Park in Baghdad, Iraq.
This year's judges include Mohamed Al Assam, founder and executive chairman of Dewan Architects + Engineers; Wendy Pullan, professor of architecture and urban studies at the University of Cambridge; Jala Makhzoumi, professor of landscape architecture at the American University of Beirut; Konstantinos Adamakis, an award-winning architect and leading academic at the University of Thessaly; Kathy Basheva, a RIBA chartered architect based in London; Carl Fraser, a London-based researcher; Ahmed Al-Azzawi, a UK-based award-winning architect and design director at AA7 Design Workshop; and Seif Allah Abu Alnaga, an award-winning architect and head of the Society of Egyptian Architects.
The Dewan Award for Architecture is the newest addition to Tamayouz's seven-category programme of championing and celebrating the best architecture in the Middle East and North Africa. The award's aim, in addition to empowering and supporting young, emerging architects, is to create an open source of ideas that address social issues in Iraq and present them to responsible authorities.
In 2018, the inaugural cycle of the Dewan Award for Architecture sought designs for a school in the marshlands of Iraq. The deadline to submit proposals for the award is 20 August 2019 and the shortlist will be announced in November. The winner will receive six months of employment at Dewan, which is renewable for another six months, or a cash prize of $6,000. Cash prizes are also provided to the second and third place winners.
A brief bio on each of the judges below:
Mohamed Al Assam
(Founder/executive chairman, Dewan Architects + Engineers)
Founder and executive chairman of Dewan Architects + Engineers, Mohamed Al-Assam has topped Middle East Architect's power list of influential architects in the Middle East for the past several years. Having established Dewan more than 30 years ago in Abu Dhabi, his successful leadership has led the firm to expand across the region and beyond with recently opened offices in Africa and Southeast Asia. Al Assam has also played a key role in leading the firm towards sustainable design. In addition to Dewan, he is an active speaker and debater, and contributes often to public and professional forums.
Wendy Pullan
(Professor of architecture and urban studies, and director of the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research, University of Cambridge)
Wendy Pullan is a professor of architecture and urban studies at the University of Cambridge, where she is also director of the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research. From 2014 to 2017, she served as head of the university's department of architecture. Pullan has published a number of works that explore European and Middle Eastern architecture and cities, examining the processes of urban heritage, conflict and change -- both historical and contemporary. Additionally, she has provided advisory work on issues related to divided cities, urban uncertainty and conflicts in the Middle East, which included reports and briefing papers for Chatham House, the UN, ICOMOS and various NGOs. Her recent publications include Locating Urban Conflicts (Palgrave 2013), The Struggle for Jerusalem’s Holy Places (Routledge 2013) and Violent infrastructures, places of conflict (Sage 2018). She is a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.
Konstantinos Adamakis
(Award-winning architect and leading academic, University of Thessaly)
Konstantinos Adamakis is a professor of architecture, deputy head of the department of architecture, and director of the Master's programme at the University of Thessaly, Greece. During his former role in the 1990s as Deputy Mayor of Volos, a port city in Thessaly, he worked on an extensive programme for the restoration and re-use of important buildings across the city. In 2010, he received a Lifetime Achievement honour from the Hellenic Institute of Architecture. His realised work includes multiple public and private projects and the restoration, re-use and reconstruction of monuments and industrial buildings. His built work includes the Tsikriki Mansion, Matsaggos Tobacco Factory, Yellow Tobacco Warehouse, the listed building of Greek Women Lyceum, Metallurgy Papariga, the former bank of Athens, and the National Railway Metro Station in Petralona.
Kathy Basheva
(RIBA chartered architect)
Kathy Basheva is a RIBA chartered architect based in London with a background in environmental studies and international experience. With experience in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the UK, Basheva maintains an international understanding that informs her design approach. She is a regular external critic at the Bauhaus School of Architects and she has been invited as a critic to the Architectural Association, UCL Bartlett and the University of East London. Basheva is also head of development and education at the National Association of Women in Construction.
Carl Fraser
(Researcher)
Carl Fraser is a UK-based researcher whose work explores the cultural and social development of alternative practices in their relation to understandings of urban spaces of cultural exchange. His work identifies patterns of social, political and economic behaviour in London and extrapolates these constructs to theorise on their relation to other cities and neo-liberal environments.
Ahmed Al-Azzawi
(Architect and design director, AA7 Design Workshop)
An award-winning Iraqi architect, Ahmed Al-Azzawi is design director of AA7 Design Workshop, a UK-based architecture and interior design practice that also offers landscape and urban design services. He has designed a range of projects that span the sports, leisure, urban, mixed-use and residential sectors for the UK, the Middle East, Europe and the US. With a Master's in Management for Construction, he has lectured at Jordan University and guest lectured at Coventry University in the UK.
Seif Allah Abu Alnaga
(Architect and head of the Society of Egyptian Architects)
An award-winning Egyptian architect, Seif Allah Abu Alnaga is head of the Society of Egyptian Architects and chairman of International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Formerly, he served as president of the African Union of Architects (AUA), as well as vice president of the International Union of Architects (UIA). He's also participated on a number of jury panels for various awards and competitions including Jordan National Museum for Children's Competition (2002), several competitions for development in Alexandria under the auspices of Bibliotheca Alexandria (2006, 2007 and 2009), UIA Gold Medals and Vassilis Sgoutas Prize (2008), E-JUST (2010), and the Hassan Fathi Award for Architecture (2011).