In a first for the region, the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) successfully hosted a conference organized around the theme, “Representation: Process and Practice Across Design Disciplines (PPADD).” The conference explored a broad range of representational strategies, methods and media in contemporary art and design education and practice.

The international group of scholars attending PPADD discussed a variety of topics including the role of representation in design, integrating digital and analog processes to support design communication, pedagogical approaches to representation and communication, teaching design communication at the beginning of the curriculum, design communication across disciplines, and visual communication and representation across cultures.

The conference opened with a keynote address by well-known Jordanian architect Rasem Jamal Badran, who showed the audience how his own representation of design ideas have evolved from childhood through his induction into the profession and continue to move forward into the future. The presentation was followed by a dialog between Badran and Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, founder of the Sharjah-based Barjeel Art Foundation, in which they considered various contemporary trends in architecture and design. The exchange between Badran and Sheikh Sultan was both good humored as well as a serious critique of the state of contemporary Arab architectural expression. The two critics conversed carefully, but honestly about architecture of the time and architecture of the region.

More than 50 CAAD students participated in the conference and related activities such as a workshop on journaling by Professor Mohamed Bilbeisi from Oklahoma State University. During the conference, CAAD hosted a well-curated exhibition of faculty scholarship that reflected the broad diversity of scholarship being generated at the college.

In addition to the keynote address, conference presentations, and other activities, participants also visited the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Summing up the success of PPADD, author Courtney Coyne-Jensen from Malmö, Sweden, said: “It was a deeply inspiring conference, and I am happily digesting all the good vitamins of the presentations, cross-pollinations, and the proceedings.”

The PPADD organizing committee consisted of CAAD faculty members Brian Dougan, Associate Professor of Architecture; Kevin Mitchell, Professor of Architecture, and Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer; and Gregory Watson, Professor of Architecture. The conference was made possible through generous support from the Barjeel Art Foundation. 

For more information, please visit: https://www.aus.edu/conferences/representation-process-and-practice-acro...