The architect overseeing Bee’ah’s futuristic new headquarters also designs with a studio she co-founded. As Sharjah entered lockdown, she shared what keeps life beautiful for her.
INTERVIEW BY RIMA SABINA AOUF
One of the greenest and most beautiful buildings in Sharjah is an environmental-management headquarters. For Nada Taryam, director of civil and architectural projects at UAE environmental-management pioneer Bee’ah, it makes complete sense.
“Bee’ah is all about the well-being and the health of the citizens of Sharjah,” she says. “And it’s all driving His Highness’s vision for Sharjah becoming the most sustainable city in the Middle East.”
Taryam, who holds degrees from the American University of Sharjah and the Architectural Association in London, not only spearheads Bee’ah’s building works, but she also keeps up a more experimental practice with two other young designers at the studio Architecture + Other Things, where they combine hot new technologies such as computational design with more traditional elements of Emirati culture. And she recently joined 48 other artists, poets and creatives to produce the new UAE logo. The common thread motivating her work, she says, is that they’re “culturally rooted projects that give back to the region.”
When it is completed at the end of the year, Bee’ah’s landmark HQ, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, will be a game changer, showcasing new possibilities for environmentally considerate architecture. Optimised to achieve zero-net-energy consumption in future, it is expected to get LEED Platinum Certification, the highest environmental rating possible. It also provides a window into the office of the future, with a suite of smart technologies that saw it named “Most Intelligent Building” at the 2019 Digie Awards.
You’re overseeing the construction of Bee’ah’s revolutionary headquarters. What makes this building special?
It’s the embodiment of Bee’ah’s core pillars, sustainability and digitalisation. But we also had the chance to create an iconic landmark for the Emirate of Sharjah, and we did so. We realise the importance of the built environment and the effect it has over shaping cities, so we took that chance to come up with something unusual, or an unexpected design for the building. The context of the building is very exciting in itself—it’s in the middle of the desert and the design mimics the lines of the surrounding dunes. It’s also right opposite our environmental-management facilities. In the future we aim to connect all of that and create a unified hub for Bee’ah.
People have this preconception that green buildings need to look a certain way and are probably boxy. We hope that this project sets a new standard for green building. We’re trying to integrate sustainability, technology and architecture in a way that sets a new standard for thinking about architecture.
What are some of the ways that artificial intelligence and technology will be integrated into the building?
It is designed to optimise energy and create a pleasant, seamless environment. Technology nowadays is a big part of our lives, and we thought that our buildings should speak the same language. AI technology [will] eventually learn from the employees’ preferences, whether it’s temperature control or adjusting light levels or preferences during scheduling meetings and so on. For visitors, it’s to create a seamless entry and exit.
Let’s talk a bit about the design world. Who are some local practitioners who inspire you?
A friend, Ammar Kalo, whose brand is called Kalo. He uses different woodwork methods to come up with furniture pieces. We’ve also worked with him in Bee’ah a lot. He takes a product, in Bee’ah’s case it’s a recycled product, and he completely rethinks it to come up with a new creative design. Another is Aljoud Lootah. She comes up with these product designs which put a more contemporary twist on traditional patterns and designs from the UAE.
And if we’re talking globally, do you have any favourite designers?
I don’t want to be predictable and say Zaha [Hadid], but I do love her work. There’s a very strong formal language. Whether it’s a building or a small product, right away you can see it’s Zaha. I don’t think I can say that about many people. And she’s found a way even after her passing for the team to continue that legacy. They have a set of these formal techniques which can go on.
Tell us about your studio. What is its focus?
Architecture + Other Things is an experimental studio. We specialise in architecture, product design and design research. It’s research based and rooted in the material and cultural environments that the projects belong to. We integrate architecture, computational design, product design and material research. We believe in cross-disciplinary research and collaborate with our clients and experts like artists, landscape architects and anthropologists.
Tell us about a couple of your favourite projects.
Recently we worked with Irthi, the contemporary crafts council in Sharjah, on a collection called Hajar. It’s a furniture collection, but more conceptual, and made out of rammed earth and camel leather. We ran some workshops with a team of female artisans from the Dibba area in Sharjah, and it was a very interesting, productive way of coming up with a design. We integrated those earthen materials with safeefah, which is a way of weaving dried palm fronds. In the olden days they used to create different household products from them. Irthi have developed a centre in Dubai where they give these female artisans a job by teaching them how to do new methods in weaving. It was an exciting project, because we got to collaborate with them and set up these labs, and a collection went to London Design Week. It was meant to go to Salone in Milan but unfortunately [due to the pandemic] that didn’t happen.
Another exciting project we worked on was called Where do the twigs go?, where we designed the pavilions for the fourth edition of “Abwab” as part of the 2018 Dubai Design Week. Abwab is an annual exhibition, architectural installation and a highlight of Dubai Design Week. The project integrates alternative methods of sourcing materials that are outside the mainstream construction supply chain, as well as testing the architectural possibilities of paper pulp, an environmentally friendly and sprayable material.
You also have a background in urban design. What lessons from other cities would you like to see applied in the Emirates?
I think it’s important to go back and study the way that our grandparents or great-grandparents used to live and the way that they designed, because it’s more related to the environment and the climate. We should apply some of those learnings to drive the way that we design cities now.
Top photograph courtesy of Bouguessa
