Heriot-Watt University Dubai Campus students showcase their work at Dubai Design District (d3)

Two teams from Heriot-Watt University’s Dubai Campus’ first and second year Architecture and Interior Design students have showcased their model design work at the Dubai Design District (d3).

The talented Heriot-Watt students were amongst the eight finalists in a contest, organized by Heriot Watt University in collaboration with Dubai Design Week at d3, that set a unique challenge to the region’s young, prospective designers: to develop a design that illustrated the in-between spaces. Titled “Designing the Void”, the inter-university competition encouraged students to animate the parts of a design that usually ignore “the voids”, creating an interactive outdoor node within the urban landscape.

The initial 32 participating teams of four students were invited to submit a digital design and a small scale 3D model of their design to the judges. Eight groups were then selected from this batch and given the opportunity to develop full scale models of their designs. The shortlisted models were chosen on October 26th and exhibited at the Heriot-Watt University Dubai Campus during Dubai Design Week from 26th – 29th October. The work of these talented finalists has now been relocated to Dubai’s celebrated design district, d3.

Since its official launch in April 2015, d3 organised a number of education initiatives, which to date have included panel discussions, international talent exchange and mentorship opportunities, and will expand these in 2017 to include a growing number of formal programmes and partnerships with major international players. Additionally, the launch of Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (DIDI) at d3, also supports the government’s efforts to develop design talent in the region. Given the importance of innovation as a key driver of development across sectors, Dubai is taking the lead in establishing educational institutions that help students meet the requirements of the job market, thereby raising its profile as a hub for both talent and enterprises specialised in creativity and design.

Mohammad Saeed Al-Shehhi, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Design District (d3), commented: “d3 is proud to welcome the talented students from Heriot-Watt University into our creative community. Our collaboration with such a highly reputed educational partner highlights our vision to help nurture aspiring young talent, simultaneously showcasing d3’s role as a hub for design and innovation that pushes creativity forward to drive and develop the design sector for the benefit of the wider economy.”

Vanessa Northway, Associate Head of School of Textiles and Design at Heriot-Watt University, said: “This has been a challenging but incredibly rewarding experience for our students. We are so immensely proud of them and are happy to see them carry the Heriot-Watt name high. To make up two thirds of the finalists selected in a region-wide contest shows the level of talent we have here at our university.” 

The finalist students were:

• Team DV17: Halah Ashraff, Tuleen Karazon, Abdulla Ibrahim, and Wisam Ali
• Team DV22: Aniqa Amir, Muskaan Motiwala,  Sabrina Khanfar, and Anoushka Kolahalu  

Heriot-Watt University School of Textiles & Design is the second oldest textile institution in the world, dating back to 1883,  the school specialises in the education of professionals and practitioners in the global textile and clothing industries, it established a reputation as one of the world's leading textile institutions and has close links with industry, and an excellent reputation for providing professionally orientated programmes to ensure Heriot-Watt graduates are successful in securing employment in the dynamic fashion, textile and design sectors.

Heriot-Watt University is ranked among the top 10 universities in the UK; the university has been operating in Dubai since 2005 with almost 4,000 students studying across 50+ undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in various disciplines including Design Studies, Engineering, Built Environment, Social Sciences and IT at the Dubai Campus.