Lashes to Ashes: Exploring the Hidden Dimensions of Human Hair
By Rania Chamsine
Abstract:
Hair is power, beauty and seduction: a reflection of ethnicity and religion, and even a canvas for self-expression. A key feature in defining identity and social status, it holds the essence of our individuality. However, once removed from its original and natural setting—the epidermis—hair is seen as waste, and often evokes disgust. The objective of this thesis is to explore human hair, which particularly in the Arabic-Islamic region, carries great significance and raises many religious, cultural, and gender issues. Through design, and informed by critical design theory, I explore how this corporeal material can be reused and re-presented as a means of interrogating the references, symbolism, and connotations of hair both in, and out of, its natural setting.
Opportunities for the Sustainable Use of the Camel in Qatar
By Corby J. Elford
Abstract:
In the course of the modernization of Qatar, the need for camels has greatly diminished; herds have reduced in numbers and are now confined to enclosures. Overall, neglect of this valuable resource means that the camel is threatened with gradual extinction. Currently, there is a need to address problems about sustainable development in Qatar by taking actions such as investing in the existing natural heritage to develop the use of indigenous animals like the camel. Through a review of past and present use of the native dromedary, a new type of sustainable agritourism will be developed that will provide a type of farm where visitors can learn about, and interact with, traditional animals. These farms will create market for a range of camel products, thereby transforming the national symbol of the past into an icon of a sustainable future.
Beyond the Stated Function: Showcasing, Through Everyday Objects, Social Obstacles Imposed on Qatari
By Esra Kazem
Abstract:
This critical design project showcases obstacles that the Qatari culture and society impose on their female youth, hindering them from becoming independent individuals. It critiques the society and its social pressures. It stimulates people to think by challenging narrow assumptions and perceptions. The uncovering of those assumptions can provoke action. This study highlights the effects of social perception and judgment, family authority, and gender favoritism, on the Qatari female youth. It intends to stimulate their awareness and then, through them, it communicates this impact to the society in a seemingly humorous way. Humor is used because it often can bring complex matters to people in simpler and more acceptable language. Through means of critical design, personal everyday objects, and humor, the project aims to communicate the social and cultural forces which impede Qatari female youths' becoming individuals who dream, achieve, and thrive.
Not Another Space Suit: Fusing Technology and Indigenous Solutions to Facilitate Thermal Comfort
By Alia Khairat
Abstract:
Unseen, unheard and unconsidered, Qatar’s migrant worker population is building one of the richest countries in the world. They labor in Qatar’s high heat index1 climate, which is coincidently comparable to an Oriental sauna, wearing the most rudimentary of clothes. Working up to 60 hours a week, migrant workers fall victim to heat stress and dozens are hospitalized daily, starting as early as March and increasing in numbers during the peak months of June to August. Since clothes are essentially a “second skin,” affecting the rate and efficiency with which heat is exchanged between the body and its surroundings, a concept garment was designed to improve thermal comfort. Low-tech, indigenous heat-management systems are combined with new technologies and knowledge of human physiology to design a two-layer suit that aims to optimize heat exchange mechanisms. The suit enhances radiation, convection and evaporation by having a snug-fitting inner wicking layer and a loose-cut outer shell, and by using strategically placed vents, perforations, and Phase Change Material (PCM) packs. Using fiction as a medium of social commentary and critical design, the concept suit borrows from the superhero aesthetic to present the migrant worker in a new light. The suit denotes power, symbolizing the superhuman feat these workers perform and their true worth to the economy. Its aesthetic and function aim to improve worker morale and performance.Mapping, scoping and primary and secondary qualitative and quantitative research have been used throughout the design process. This is in addition to an ethnographic study, field observations, material explorations, body storming and experimentation.
By Lina Mahusain
Abstract:
While some parts of identity remain constant throughout one’s life, many aspects of a person’s identity are subject to rapid and constant change and negotiation. Using theories regarding the role possessions play in the construction, reinforcement, and manifestation of a person’s identity, this thesis project explores the potential to facilitate meaningful insights and awareness into one’s own identity. This will be achieved by designing a reflexive journaling process. A qualitative evaluation of this prototype journal process used by a pilot group of young creative individuals will generate an assessment of the proposed process.
By Aisha Al-Sowaidi
Abstract:
Change and development over an extremely fast period of time in Qatar have shifted the atmospheric sense of the country. The distance created by the skyscrapers and their scale to people has a great impact on the behavior and interaction between the people and the city. In my research, I aim to incorporate the old experiences and behaviors with contemporary design in objects used within the house to maintain the feeling of being home through reliving the fading behaviors and traditions as well as bringing closer the modern city into the home through the use of materials. Through experimentations with human behaviors, materials and senses, I create a series of projects that deal with memory, nostalgia, and traces of time.
By Al Hussein Wanas
Abstract:
Critical Design uses designed artifacts as a critique of consumer culture. However, the complex nature of these artifacts prompted designers to focus on the artifact and present it in an informative, but relatively isolated fashion.The theoretical framework for this thesis is drawn from a similar, yet more recent, design criterion called Design Fiction. The artifacts of Design Fiction are called Diegetic Prototypes: fictional prototypes that function in the social sphere of a film’s structure. This research develops a method for analyzing and creating artifacts, in reference to psychoanalysis theories on the human psyche and perception of objects. It then explores scenarios for presenting these artifacts as diegetic prototypes by exploring and integrating the disciplines of systems/parametric design, digital fabrication, music, animation and film. The scenarios function as micro-narratives. These micro-narratives created through the prototypes will inform the larger narrative structure of the film.