Today, through our reference to one of the architectural articles written by the ArchUp website, which specializes in architecture and architectural journals, a press interview with one of the Saudi architects and specialists in the field of engineering consultancy caught our attention, and he also has a background in the field of hotels and housing for Hajj. Business in Saudi Arabia, a country that is currently witnessing a tremendous development in the field of architecture and architectural projects through the launch of a new concept of urban planning and through the Crown Prince’s launch of a project that some may see as dreamy or imaginary, which is The Line Project in Neom the future city, during this interview I will We talk with a Saudi architect about the latest news and about the latest architectural studies he is conducting. We chose for this interview the Saudi architect Ibrahim Jawharji, a Saudi architectural consultant, known inside and outside the Kingdom. Makkah and works in a prestigious position as a consultant and board member for a hotel company in Makkah and has built many hotels in Makkah. Ibrahim holds the record of Ibrahim as a contracting consultant with prestigious clients such as the NEOM project and Kathal As with the Saudi Ministry of Interior, we completed the meeting via video communication, and here are the most important points:-
Q1: How do you classify architecture, is it a profession that is acquired by study or a hobby that is born by nature?
A1: Architecture is a wide field that enters into everything. I see that there are some architects who are gifted by nature, and some architects acquire that by studying, and this is reflected in the architectural field in which he works. Whoever focuses on design, I think he is intellectually talented, but whoever focuses on engineering plans and routine work has He has a profession, and in the end, I see that the two fields are linked together, and the architect must combine them.
Q2: Speaking of consolidation, how do you combine your profession as an architect with your position in a hotel company and a jewelry company? Don’t you see that as a conflict of interest?
A2: Indeed, the architect must master integration and diversity. When designing a dwelling, you must take off the architect’s hat and wear the owner’s hat, and when you design a kitchen, you must be a chef, and if you have the opportunity to design a hospital, you must look at the building from the angle of the patient and the doctor, while following the architectural codes. In the design, the emotional aspect is important. The architect must possess a feeling and identity. It must be a clear mental image and transfer it to the minds of the users and their veins, even the smallest cell in the body of the user of the architectural space. As for the other works, I am proud to tell you that they are positions within our family company. We have been specialized in the jewelry field for more than 100 years, and we are also proud that we have been providing hospitality services to pilgrims in Makkah for more than 45 years, and this is an honor we cherish
Q3: What did the merging of architecture and hotels help you with?
A3: Too much to imagine. Having passion in this field with linking studies to the market situation. I consider that the situation in the Kingdom has developed in mid-2017 for the better. It helped us to develop plans more clearly for the market situation. I started developing studies in 2018 in the field of preparing an application that helps Finding a fair price for the prices of hotel units in Makkah, because as you know, hotels in Makkah do not have fixed prices and this is controlled by brokers and buyers of Hajj packages, but now the matter has evolved into something better than that, then the matter has evolved into architectural ideas for housing Hajj, it is really It feels great for me to be able to do what I love every day. In particular, being able to combine from all the things I’m passionate about – architecture, hospitality, everything else, the cool, all the things that make beautiful experiences.
Q4: We have seen your ideas in tent design projects and solutions to accommodate the holy sites in Makkah for this step, do you think it might succeed?
A4: Until now, I do not think that anyone has 20 new architectural ideas that may be out of the box for pilgrim housing solutions in Minna in the future. I think that our team is the best and strongest in that we have spent more than 1000 hours of research and design on this In this regard, because we believe that the achievement must be in Mecca by the sons of Mecca to ensure sustainability, and Saudi Arabia pervades this matter.
Q5: What are the difficulties you faced in designing proposals for the future Mina tents?
A5: The movement of pilgrims from 0-3 million during a specific time with their movement in an interesting way made us think about this matter very challenging, and to convince the mental image of the pilgrim that tents, container buildings or transport containers may be inappropriate solutions, add to the hygiene solutions And prayer and collective action, it’s a very complex thing, I see, so I was pushing to produce 20 new and revolutionary design proposals.
Q6: Saudi Arabia presents the NEOM project as a revolutionary project. What do you think of that?
A6: I must tell you that I am very proud of this unprecedented achievement, and here is the compass of architecture returning to Saudi Arabia and its place again. I had the honor of contracting NEOM with us as a Saudi consultant and architect since the beginning of the project, in addition to my excessive passion for the project, but we must say that The rules of the game have changed Studies indicate that human construction of cities in a pragmatic way
London was built in 200 years
Dubai built in 20 years
NEOM now will build in 10 years
Q7: What is the biggest problem faced by the Saudi architect?
A 7: I think that there are no problems, but there may be a difference in the architectural production. Most of the Saudi architects follow the system (design plans) and this is not compatible with the values of architecture because it looks at what is shown as a plan of a horizontal projection, we see that this is contrary to reality and the direction Architecture I do not think that the Egyptians 5,000 years ago designed the pyramids in the same way, so why do most of the architects follow this approach?
Q8: What are your current plans, on the architectural level?
A8: As you know, we look at challenges, we are convinced that architecture is for everything, we enter architectural competitions and complete our work in current projects that we abide by contracts, plans are open.
