Project Location:      International
Project type:                                Initiative & Campaign
Date:                                2021

Project Explanation coming soon…

If embedded video does not load, kindly click “Watch on Facebook”

Exhibition Location:   Egyptian Pavilion, Venice Bienniale 2018, Italy
Proposed Location:    Cairo, Egypt
Project Team:              Afaf Ali Badran, Lara Hassan Waked
Status:                           Contributor Published
Catalogue link:            Download catalogue

The concept of a free Do It Yourself commercial place is common in open spaces in old and informal urban places in Egypt and is called “souq”. The DIY souq is a typical tradition with roots in the culture. These open souqs have been part of traditional urbanism for so long that they have become inseparable from its ingredients. Up to this day, they are responsible for the special vibe in many Egyptian streets in old and informal areas.

However, in such areas where vendors and artisans use any free space, shaping it freely, dynamically and spontaneously, everyday urbanism often grows out of control. The number and type of vendors, the area occupied, the dynamism and spontaneity, all need to be regulated.
The necessary supporting infra-structure need to be provided so that these souqs may serve the interest of the people with the least drawbacks. Alternative accessible places need to be allocated. Places which need to be revitalized, constantly visited or sustainably maintained could serve well. Environmental development is one of the aims of Darbellabbana, a non-profit entity working in Darb Al Ahmar and other old districts in Cairo. In this paper, Darbellabbana proposes a practical solution and location for an artisan souq that can take place of the piles of rubble under an old historic aqueduct in Cairo.

Project Location:    Aswan, Cairo
Competition:           Arquideas’ Museum of Ancient Egypt Idea Competition
Project Team:          Lara Waked, Maricruz Pedrera Molina
Project Link:            Click to view complete submission

We’ve seen many museums about Ancient Egypt, from the the Egyptian National Museum to the British museum sharing unique relics and exhibits. What is different about this museum?

ASWAN is rich with monuments yet touristically undervalued. Hence why we chose it. With a truly unique heritage from the elephantine island to the sloping hard natural topography on the west bank of the Nile that is rarely visited we wanted to revitalize this region.

The Ancient Nile Experience Museum is experienced through a water tunnel as well as on foot. The boat takes the viewers slowly through a physical and technological display from one end to the other where viewers disembark to continue their visual, interactive and immersive experiences in the rooms of different stories, submerging visitors into a sensual and virtual experience. Show casing spaces such as: the ‘Nile tunnel Projection Experience’, ‘Interactive installations’, Invited ‘Artist exhibit corner’ and the Egyptian temples of the gods that once protected and nourished Ancient Egypt.

Finally, a museum that emphasizes the richness of the Ancient Egyptian Nile Narrative; tourists of Egypt could now proudly say: ‘Egypt, Where it all began.

Project Location:    6th October City, Cairo
Competition:           Science City International Competition
Project Team:          Lara Waked, Afaf Badran, Nouran Zakaria, Yomna ElDairy, Alia Aboulgheit, Mostafa Magdy, Esraa Abdel Aziz

Growth and development is the essence of all what happens around us in the physical world, in nature, in sciences, in our knowledge of science and in our own perception of our existence, its purpose and where we are heading. In the physical world, it is easy to sense change and track the different phases of growth and development, which may be gradual or abrupt, slow or fast, triggered by inherent stimulus or by synthesis with other components. Growth may also come pleasantly and constructively, taking the positive side; but also can sometimes be fierce and destructive. In all cases it demonstrates a huge power and a continuous change.

In a time when the scientific contributions of the middle east are often forgotten a revival opportunity arises to design a The Cairo Science Museum. The concept and layout of the project is inspired by infinite knowledge from fractal structure via the museum layout of combining historical inventions + contemporary state of the art contributions.

Project Location: Paseo de Castellana, Madrid, Spain
Project type: Academic Final Degree Project at IE University, Spain
Supervisors: Lina Toro, Fernando Rodriguez , Pablo Oriol,  and Manuel Perez Romero, Izaskun Chinchilla, Laura Martínez de Guereñu
Project Status: Submitted Spring 2015

The hybrid Museum/Education center addresses two of the main issues of this Spanish generation, namely ‘youth unemployment’ and the search for an ‘alternative sector of tourism’. The site location suggests a specialized approach towards its architecture, working towards a comprehensive solution that engages with the socio-economic conditions and challenges of its context within an ever changing European society.

The European Union and The European Council both maintain an agenda in the development of entrepreneurship and freelance-ship of European youth as an alternative and complementary solution for youth unemployment within the Euro-zone. The European Union’s Erasmus program includes ‘Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs’ and the European Council maintains the ‘European Youth Foundation’ and The European Youth Centre’ both of which active citizenship via entrepreneurship is promoted.

The centre is designed for youth between the ages of 18-30. Typically youth that is still or recently graduated from university that are or were involved in educational travel organizations such AIESEC and Erasmus or Erasmus Mundus. The aim is inspire an alternative sector of tourism, educational tourism to develop  inter-European and international drive for youth entrepreneurship.

The project functions as a hybrid program of an idea incubator, i.e., a hub for business development, skill networking and investor haven for international entrepreneurial youth. This is complemented by a museum exhibiting the currently developing start-ups and the previously successful start-ups within the contextual views of the city, the business district to the north and the historical and cultural south of Madrid.

The Urban composition between phenomena, need and form defined at multiple scales provides the opportunity for innovative approach towards the architectural relationship between program, economy and the human experience. Through the architecture the opportunities are utilized and the challenges leveraged for the development of the buildings relevant character and identity.

‘The Upward Spiral: European Youth Entrepreneurship Centre’ responds to the socio-economic needs and activity of its context. Within its envelope it maintains a flexible nature, towards its context it becomes a positive icon, providing for its local community and attracting economic development and investment at a global scale for Spanish youth. Thus overcoming the challenges and leveraging benefits for the promotion of active citizenship through entrepreneurial youth initiatives.

Project Location: Segovia, Spain
Project type:  Academic Alternative City Practice at  IE University, Spain
Supervisor: Romina Canna
Project Status: Submitted Fall 2014
Team: Lara Waked and Greta Magani

In the context of Spanish architectural practice, it is unusual for an architectural main branch of the Spanish Architectural Collegio to locate itself in a small city such as Segovia. In the conditions following the 2008-2015 economic crisis in Spain, the architectural practice was struck heavily with major unemployment and apprenticeship became more scarce for students attempting an early familiarization with the professional practice before graduation. While the collegio maintains its control of registering and supervising architects following several issues and crises challenging the architectural activity within Spain, the collegio is struggling to maintain its legitimacy in practice. Within this challenge, a collaborative opportunity presents itself.

The Junior License program is created and designed to return the legitimacy of the collegio via the integration of the upcoming generation of architects. The proposal primarily focuses on the Segovian branch and its neighbouring architectural schools such as IE University’s Architectural degree. The JLP is guided by three main aspects, the collegios professional practice network and its workshops, as a rite of passage to the professional field, and for the students as a means of rethought integration through formal collaboration, projects and mutual interests and the collaborations service towards the benefit to the city to create a suitable professional community not only between the students and the collegio, but at a larger scale with its impact towards the city.

In the field of alternative urbanism, comes the opportunity to utilize nontangible methods and tools to answer complex city challenges. These solutions may lie in the casual discourse about issues within the informal city, suggesting the rethought and development of policy, character and identity.

Project Location: Nava de la Asunción, Spain
Project type: Academic Alternative Landscape Practice at  IE University, Spain
Supervisor: Marta Landazabal Verde
Project Status: Submitted Fall 2014
Team: Lara Waked and Greta Magani

Located along the abandoned rail system, now, a camino connecting Segovia to the city of Olmedo, a minor project is proposed at the Mid way city of Nava de la Asunción. The project is designed to landmark the city along the Caminos path to attract tourism towards the town. By identifying a local potential resource of attraction and leverage, we develop the city’s identity, economy and culture.

Nava de la Asunción is identified as the home to the greatest collection of bird species along the camino as it is situate within several intersections of species’ habitation zones. The development of this resource along with its branding and appropriate integration within and around the city is not only creative but also a scientific task. A research process is executed to identify the different flora and fauna and their relationship to one another and the consequences of their integration within the city. We designed sustainable ecosystems to regulate the species within the different areas of the city’s urban, agricultural, forest and swamp zones, resulting in the design of self-regulating structures for cohabitation and improvement using natural resources to positively complement each zone’s current conditions offered by the flora and fauna.

Project location: Asunción, Paraguay
Project type: Professional Collaboration 2014
Office: Ecosistema Urbano
Project Link: http://ecosistemaurbano.com/portfolio/master-plan-for-the-revitalization-of-the-historic-downtown-of-asuncion/

The development of a suitable holistic approach requires strong research and understanding of the complexity of informal economies and their relationship with formal interventions of integration within the city at multiple scales. The winning proposal is based on an international scale research studying different methods of such integration. Through a combination of exemplary projects and a study of the local conditions and its opportunities, a wide scale collaboration system is designed synergizing both, local bottom up initiatives and top down policies.

At multiple scales proposals and interventions are defined. Firstly by the definition of multiple corridors (The Ecological, Dynamic and Civic). Secondly nodes of community gathering and city development labs. Thirdly global exemplary and local initiatives to inspire possibilities of economic and civic improvement through top down (institutional and governmental) and bottom up (communal and informal) initiatives.

Project Location: Watts, Los Angeles, USA
Project type: Academic Urban Design Studio at Woodbury University, California
Supervisor: Michael Pinto
Project Status: Submitted Spring 2014
Team: Lara Waked, Lauren Amador and Devin Flores

A team project aimed at transforming the city of Watts through the visions of our clients of the WLCAC. In teams of three, we were requested to develop an urban design scheme that responds to the challenging conditions of the city. This by finding what to leverage from these conditions in such a way that creates opportunities for development and organisation of programmes and intervention that would appropriately suit the surrounding community as well as nurture and promote the rich historic background of the district.

The initial process began with the analysis of the different zones and nodes within the district. Our methodology proposes a mediation between residential commercial industrial, public community and educational programmes. Finally the addition of a pedestrian way from the WLCAC to the Museum connects the overall scheme and becomes the centre of a walk-able quarter mile radius plan for the public. The project intends to connect and improve existing zones from residential to public on an urban scale while using methods of ‘everyday urbanism’ to address the needs of the human scale. Personal contributions to the project include collecting data for urban analysis of the surrounding context, documenting and mapping data, concept generation, collaging of vignettes for concept representation, program design and organization.