Yara Nahas

Originally from Lebanon, I am a recent graduate with a master’s degree in interior design from Royal College of Art. Coming from a multicultural background, my work is always looking for new opportunities to create new concepts, redesigning a space beyond aesthetics and analyzing how it can be used to achieve better functionality or usage.

As an Interior Architect I believe that design is not just what it looks like and feels like. It has a much deeper meaning. "Design is how it works", as said Steve Jobs, and spaces we create can speak for themselves. No pattern should be without some sort of meaning, no detail should be just a detail; they are what makes the design which is defined by the light and shade we give them.

Nowadays, Architects and Designers usually tend to create spaces designed to perform rather than to listen. I therefore wanted to challenge the norms by creating a space where people are able to listen and not just perform, and this is what the emphasis of the project was about: LISTENING.

Throughout the year, we have been working with natural landscapes, sounds and extremely heavy structures. Instead of attempting to hide and repress them, I chose to highlight them by making them the background for each one of the experiences, all without altering the original structure but by creating demountable designs to shed even more light on these beautiful historical monuments.

SITE VIEW

THEATRE VIEW

BEHIND THE ABSORBING PANELS - QUIET SPACE

COFFEE AREA BEHIND THE THEATRE

COFFEE AREA

AERIAL VIEW

STAIRCASE VIEW

STRAIRCASE DESIGN — Material: galvanized checkered plates

STAIRCASE VIEW

AERIAL VIEW

Medium:

Reinforced concrete. White stainless steel. Galvanized checkered plates. Absorbing panels

EXPRESSING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN ARCHITECTURE & NATURE — LINK FOR HIGH RESOLUTION VIDEO: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pold0uollbuylw9/My%20Video1_Trim.mp4?dl=0

Medium:

Reinforced concrete. White stainless steel. Galvanized checkered plates. Absorbing panels

SOUND MIRRORS LOCATION — Particularly focusing on the sound mirrors located in Dungeness, they were constructed in the late 30’s to detect enemy aircraft, but were quickly replaced by a newer technology and remained barely used. There are 3 huge concrete historical monuments: the wall and the 2 smaller sound mirrors. Therefore, starting to think about reintroducing sound was a key element to the thesis project.

The proposal would be:

-A unique performance location

-Cinema, theatre, opera, poetry, live music

-Combines sound of nature & performance sound

-Revitalizes Dungeness as a destination

Medium:

Reinforced concrete. White stainless steel. Galvanized checkered plates. Absorbing panels

DRONE SCREENSHOTS FOOTAGE —

FOUR SAMPLES OF COLOUR SPECTRUM PICKED FROM THE SITE ITSELF —

UNIQUE COLOUR PALETTE & ROTATABLE ABSORBING PANELS — Rotatable absorbing panels to play with the intensity of the sound in the theatre.

MATERIALS — Hard and resistant materials, taking into consideration the wet and windy weather. The absorbing panels were included to create an interplay of sound and silence.

HOW DID I START WORKING WITH THE VISUAL INTERPRETATION FROM THE SITE ITSELF?

While visiting the sound mirrors, footage of the site (screenshots below) has been taken by a drone.

Having this amazing color swatch, I then created four samples of colour spectrum taken from the site itself, and combined them into a unique palette which later came to become the core of the entire process of the project.

Medium:

Reinforced concrete. White stainless steel. Galvanized checkered plates. Absorbing panels

DIAGRAMS EXPERIMENTATION

SOUND MIRRORS DIAGRAMS

PLAN STAIRCASE DESIGN — The colour of the staircase was picked from the colour spectrum from the site itself. Material: Galvanized checkered plates.

SECTION STAIRCASE DESIGN — Sound & nature come together to create a natural symphony for a unique experience.

DETAIL1 STAIRCASE DESIGN

DETAIL 2&3 STAIRCASE DESIGN

Staircase Design: implanting on the original structure a floating staircase that will be embedded on the floor to allow the balance between the two parts of the design.

The lower part of the staircase will be creating a stage floor to the audience, while listening to the music coming from the sound mirror.