Monday, December 7, 2009

Lecture on contemporary egyptian architecture @ IUS


Contrast Designs partner Mazin A. Karim was invited for a guest lecture at the International University of Sarajevo. The lecture titled 'Contested Situations / Opposed Realities' briefly exposed realities about contemporary architecture and urban design in Egypt, and Cairo in specific. This was followed by related student work from the Arab Academy of Science and Technology (AAST), and from Contrast Studio.





Sunday, December 6, 2009

Contrast Designs invited critic @ IUS

Contrast Designs partner Mazin A.Karim was invited as guest critic for midterm reviews at the International University of Sarajevo, in Bosnia. The reviews included undergraduate 2nd year students design studio projects.




Friday, November 13, 2009

Contrast Studio joins School of the Future Competition Jury

Contrast Studio partner and co-founder Mazin A.Karim was invited as a jury member for the 'school of the future' competition for Magaz magazine. The jury met over 2 days discussing and selecting 3 winning projects.

The jury also included Johannes Kister (Germany), Daniel Dendra (Germany), Farouk Al-Gohary (Cairo), Ayman Wanas (Cairo), Aly Gabr (Cairo), Tarek Naga (LA & Cairo), Ahmed Mito (Cairo).



Tuesday, October 20, 2009

HTW Chur visits Contrast Studio


A group of 30 students from the HTW Chur in Switzerland visited Contrast Studio last week with their professors Daniel Walser and Placido Perez. They were given a quick brief of our studio space and previous projects by studio partner Kareem Nabil. Then discussions went on between the swiss students and our own team.

Many thanks to the HTW Chur studio and to our own studio team (Marwa, Nermeen, Meral & Karim) for organizing this event.



Sunday, October 4, 2009

Nasser Museum Results Announced

Earlier this year Contrast teamed up with EGI for the competition to design the new Nasser Museum in Cairo.

The ministry of culture announced the winners recently...
http://gem.gov.eg/gamal_abd-nasser/index2.htm

Unfortunately our scheme was not selected as one of the winners, but was selected as one of the finalists. Finalists projects including our proposal are on show till the 15th of October at the GEM site.


Here are some images of our scheme.


Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Sneak Preview of Screen Table



Here is a sneak preview of our Screen Table prototype.
Contrast Designs for Araek (www.araek.com)

Friday, July 17, 2009

the Screen Table


During a long product design workshop, cOntrast teamed up with japanese designer Shinishiro Ogata http://www.simplicity.co.jp/index10_e.html to design a number of furniture pieces for the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milano 2009. The work was exhibited in the egyptian booth under the theme Kyme. Unfortunately our Screen Table was never finished on time for the salone.

The Screen Table is a response to our contemporary dynamic and fast lifestyle. A table, seat, lap tray, lighting unit... its a compact everyday home unit. An accumulation of layers of egyptian history, abstracted patterns and materials... the screen table is a furniture piece with a story behind it... and its history embedded within it.

Many thanks go to our design team Anais Mikellian & Aicha Mansour

Saturday, July 11, 2009

cOntrast submits entry for the Nasser Museum


Contrast Studio teamed up with EGI in the recent architectural competition to design a museum for the egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. The competition, initiated by the ministry of culture, targeted to transform the president's house into a museum that would accomodate his personal belongings as well as a large number of other related exhibits, that are considered to be part of the egyptian political history.

Sneak preview of our proposal coming soon.



Results are expected by late September 2009.

Alef Bookstores nears completion


Alef Bookstores celebrated their soft opening last week in their first branch at 132 ElMerghany st, Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt. Since February 2009 Contrast Studio has been working on the interior design concept and theme of the bookstore chain. This is only the first branch of the chain which will soon expand to cover many districts of Cairo battling against Diwan and el Shorouk bookstores.

Contrast would like to thank everybody who worked with them on this project, and contributed to its realization.

Contrast Studio at the AA

During the first 3 weeks of June, Mazin A. Karim was invited to take part of the AA visiting teachers program in London, to lecture about the academic work at the AAST, where he teaches with his partner Kareem Hammouda. The workshop included 10 other participants from Lebanon, US, Canada, Turkey, Greece, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador.

http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/

Contrast Studio INTRO

cOntrast designs is a multi-disciplinary design studio practicing in the fields of architecture, planning and interior design. It was founded in 2006 by 3 architects practicing in Cairo, Kareem Hammouda, Mazin A.Karim, and Tamer Nader.

Besides producing contemporary architecture and urbanism , they also focus on cultural analysis , critical investigations and the production of ideas. Their work has been exhibited internationally and most recently at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2009, Milan, and at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2008.