Mohamad Nasri - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Mohamad Nasri
Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture XVI, Dec 16, 2019
In this paper, we attempt to redefine the heritage of craftsmanship and to find out how and where... more In this paper, we attempt to redefine the heritage of craftsmanship and to find out how and where it can exist alongside mass-production within our industrialized and digitalized society and within the setup of our industrial architectural heritage. This theoretical background is grounded through a design intervention that injects an urban/architectural program, with interactive public and craftsmen/designers' spaces, within an urban hiatus that is dominated by an industrial environment of an abandoned early 20th century train station in the vicinity of the seaport of Tripoli, Lebanon. The paper starts by explaining the process of transformation of the notion of craftsmanship and its relationship with manufacturing and mass production since the industrial revolution. It then articulates the recent attempts at reviving craftsmanship through the paradigm of individuation through consumption where craftsmanship becomes not only a means of expressing individuality, but also a communal experience based on technology and digital expertise, and on the role of the designer. Then the paper moves into the design intervention in Tripoli where the revival of craftsmanship is projected onto the domain of revitalization of industrial and architectural heritage, in a place where different historical and architectural eras collapse into a number of abandoned sites and buildings, reconnected and regenerated in a new urban/architectural scheme, in an attempt at rescuing the district from the destined obsolescence it is heading towards. Finally, the paper concludes with highlighting the importance of salvaging potential socioeconomic patterns, especially in the domain of craftsmanship, through a smarter and more sustainable reclaiming of parts of the city that are belittled under the tag of "abandoned industrial sites" or "deserted industrial buildings".
WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, 2018
This paper introduces a methodological distinction between three different scholarly interpretati... more This paper introduces a methodological distinction between three different scholarly interpretations of the forms and meanings of geometric ornaments in our heritage of Islamic art and architecture: an external cultural position, an esoteric religious argument, and an internal scientific approach. The major part of the paper is then directed beyond cultural allegiances or prescriptions of the Islamic faith and revolves instead around the internal formalistic and purely aesthetic aspects of reconstructing and making of geometric patterns, with the aim of exploring their vocabulary of perception, and their generative principles and inherent processes. The analysis starts at the very basic level where geometric patterns can be perceived as packing of open or enclosed surface polygons or linear configurations. Other means of perception relate to polygons' apparent and inherent geometry, tone or colour, and the application of a quasi-third dimension either through figure-ground reversal or by perceiving linear designs as interlocking elements beyond the 2d plane. The paper then investigates the relationship between means of visual perception and the inherent repetition, geometry and symmetry of patterns on the level of constituent polygons, repetitive tiles, and the design as a whole. Beyond the narrow meanings of likeness and identity in bilateral symmetry, alternative concepts of symmetry are introduced and then applied in setting up a comprehensive vocabulary of 2d geometric patterns based on the classification discovered by crystallographers and developed by mathematicians. The paper concludes by demonstrating the power of combining geometric and symmetry systems in recreating traditional designs or generating new patterns.
Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture XVI, Dec 16, 2019
In this paper, we attempt to redefine the heritage of craftsmanship and to find out how and where... more In this paper, we attempt to redefine the heritage of craftsmanship and to find out how and where it can exist alongside mass-production within our industrialized and digitalized society and within the setup of our industrial architectural heritage. This theoretical background is grounded through a design intervention that injects an urban/architectural program, with interactive public and craftsmen/designers' spaces, within an urban hiatus that is dominated by an industrial environment of an abandoned early 20th century train station in the vicinity of the seaport of Tripoli, Lebanon. The paper starts by explaining the process of transformation of the notion of craftsmanship and its relationship with manufacturing and mass production since the industrial revolution. It then articulates the recent attempts at reviving craftsmanship through the paradigm of individuation through consumption where craftsmanship becomes not only a means of expressing individuality, but also a communal experience based on technology and digital expertise, and on the role of the designer. Then the paper moves into the design intervention in Tripoli where the revival of craftsmanship is projected onto the domain of revitalization of industrial and architectural heritage, in a place where different historical and architectural eras collapse into a number of abandoned sites and buildings, reconnected and regenerated in a new urban/architectural scheme, in an attempt at rescuing the district from the destined obsolescence it is heading towards. Finally, the paper concludes with highlighting the importance of salvaging potential socioeconomic patterns, especially in the domain of craftsmanship, through a smarter and more sustainable reclaiming of parts of the city that are belittled under the tag of "abandoned industrial sites" or "deserted industrial buildings".
WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, 2018
This paper introduces a methodological distinction between three different scholarly interpretati... more This paper introduces a methodological distinction between three different scholarly interpretations of the forms and meanings of geometric ornaments in our heritage of Islamic art and architecture: an external cultural position, an esoteric religious argument, and an internal scientific approach. The major part of the paper is then directed beyond cultural allegiances or prescriptions of the Islamic faith and revolves instead around the internal formalistic and purely aesthetic aspects of reconstructing and making of geometric patterns, with the aim of exploring their vocabulary of perception, and their generative principles and inherent processes. The analysis starts at the very basic level where geometric patterns can be perceived as packing of open or enclosed surface polygons or linear configurations. Other means of perception relate to polygons' apparent and inherent geometry, tone or colour, and the application of a quasi-third dimension either through figure-ground reversal or by perceiving linear designs as interlocking elements beyond the 2d plane. The paper then investigates the relationship between means of visual perception and the inherent repetition, geometry and symmetry of patterns on the level of constituent polygons, repetitive tiles, and the design as a whole. Beyond the narrow meanings of likeness and identity in bilateral symmetry, alternative concepts of symmetry are introduced and then applied in setting up a comprehensive vocabulary of 2d geometric patterns based on the classification discovered by crystallographers and developed by mathematicians. The paper concludes by demonstrating the power of combining geometric and symmetry systems in recreating traditional designs or generating new patterns.