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This exhibition spotlights graduate and undergraduate level design work by students from the University of Maryland and Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad, Iraq. Developed as a cross-cultural design studio by Gensler’s Washington, DC office, in collaboration with Madlen Simon, AIA, Shaimaa Hameed Hussein, and Marlene Shade, AIA for spring 2016, students were offered an unparalleled opportunity to examine architecture and design through the lens of a different culture.

Using digital and video technology, as well as social media, 16 students from Al-Nahrain University tackled a design challenge in DC’s Washington Circle and eight students from UMD proposed a design intervention in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square. Together, the students explored the challenges they share and those unique to each culture, fostering greater communication and extending the relationship beyond the discipline. The studio also doubled as a design competition: by the project’s end, two students from each institution joined Gensler for an internship in their DC office this summer.

Credits

Organized by Marlene Shade, AIA, Associate Principle of Dewberry, Zahraa Alwash, JJ Rivers and Ahmed Khalil of Gensler on behalf of the University of Maryland and Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad, Iraq in cooperation with AIA|DC for the SIGAL Gallery.

Sponsored by Gensler.

Supported in part by ABC Imaging.