The Department of Interior Design and Architecture in the Ramez G. Chagoury, Faculty of Architecture, Arts and Design (RC-FAAD) at Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) participated on April 9, 2018, in “IBDAA 2018” competition held at the American University of Beirut (AUB).
The AUB Nature Conservation Center has developed over the years the IBDAA into a platform, encouraging an unconventional approach toward education. The Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG) launched by the United Nations is the inspiration for IBDAA’s theme. The SDGs seek a transformational vision that integrates the three scopes of sustainable development: social, economic, and environmental.
This year’s IBDAA theme was based on SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. It contemplates coming up with ameliorated urban design, planning and management to foster spaces that are “more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.”
Seven Universities participated in this year’s IBDAA event:
- Notre Dame Universit- Louaize (NDU)
- AUB
- Lebanese American University (LAU)
- Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK)
- Lebanese International University (LIU)
- Haigazian University
- Modern University for Business and Science (MUBS)
Multiple projects were presented for this renowned competition under the supervision of instructors at NDU Rina Shebaby, Wissam Melhim, Janine Baroud, and Issam Chemaly.
“Tilastic,” the project prepared by Jad Sainbai, Tracey Barhouch, and Christelle Lahoud, and instructed by Rina Shebaby, won second prize. This project created a sustainable solution to solve two major problems simultaneously. The first is the plastic waste problem and the second is the demand for construction materials in both the public and private sectors. The journey started when a group of designers met to create an idea that could change our perspective of plastic waste. The idea went through an analytical procedure until “Tileastic” was born—an idea that helps in converting through heating and molding raw plastic materials into tiles, and then adding a small finishing touch that produces a heavy duty, infinite, and decorative design.