By Gureni Lukwaro
His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qassimi, Supreme Council Member, Ruler of Sharjah and President of American University of Sharjah (AUS) received an artwork done by two final year students from the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) as a token of their appreciation for his unconditional support.
Senior interior design students Hanin Hazeem and Arghavan Mashaallah Hatamabadi created the beautiful portrait of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan using materials reclaimed from the Bee’ah landfill in Sharjah.
“We took a photo of His Highness, pixelated it and used that as a model or blueprint. It was hard work, but when we saw the results we were extremely happy,” said Hanin Abbas Hazeem.
The students, who took the design/build studio course this Spring 2015 semester, were part of the class that built the CAAD Reclaimed Wall, which was also built from materials reclaimed from the Bee’ah landfill.
“In addition to the Reclaimed Wall, Hanin and I were asked to create the Sheikh’s portrait, which we designed as a two-student project. Even though we had a lot to handle at that moment, we thought it was worth the effort and it was also a privilege to for us to produce His Highness’s portrait. It took a lot of sleepless nights and patience to make it happen,” said Arghavan.
“When Arghavan and I did the portrait, we really wanted to gift it to His Highness, just as a token of our appreciation for all that he is doing for us. Normally at each graduation the university gives His Highness a gift, and the two of us wanted this to be the gift during our graduation since we were graduating this spring,” said Hanin.
“As this was an extra project in addition to the class project of building the wall, we had to put in extra hours for the portrait. It took a lot of hard work, a lot of time, effort and patience. But when His Highness came and actually liked it, I felt like it was well worth the extra mile we had to go to make it happen,” said Arghavan.
According to the students, the portrait consisted of more than 2,000 wood pieces that were meticulously placed to form the portrait.
The design/build studio is a required course in the AUS Bachelor of Interior Design degree program.
The College of Architecture, Art and Design at American University of Sharjah offers undergraduate programs in architecture, interior design, visual communication, multimedia design and design management as well as a graduate program in urban planning. You can learn more about these programs here.
Gureni Lukwaro is a Social Media Specialist at the American University of Sharjah.
For more information about American University of Sharjah, please visit www.aus.edu
