Architecture Exhibition 2018 at the Student Mall, KFUPM

The students of ARC 103 and ARC 114 from the Department of Architecture, KFUPM exhibited a selection of their work from Term 172 at the five-day ‘Architecture Exhibition – 2018’. The event was held from 26 April to 01 May, 2018 at the Student Mall, KFUPM, to increase awareness of the study of architecture at KFUPM. This was the second such exhibition, following a similar one last year held towards the end of Term172.

Learning by Doing: A centrepiece of the exhibition was a dome-structure, five meters in diameter and three meters high. The entire structure was constructed from three unique shapes cut from 10 sheets of 18mm plywood. In all there were a total of 510 interlocking pieces which came together to form the dome. Architect Robert Clark, from the USA, and a designer of this dome structure, provided the digital files from which the plywood pieces were cut at a local CNC (Computer Numerical Control) shop. It took the students about 150 man-hours to finish these pieces with sandpaper and to then join them to construct the beautiful dome. For a majority of the students this was their first experience using woodworking tools and fabrication techniques. The lessons learned are expected to serve them well in years to come.

Digital Fabrication: One unique aspect of the dome structure at the Architecture Exhibition-2018 was the exposure of the students to the rapidly expanding world of ‘digital fabrication’. The success of the project was very much dependent on the precision cutting of the 510 plywood pieces, which only a CNC machine could do. The project gave the students first-hand exposure to the limitless possibilities of digital fabrication as a tool to make architecture come alive. This experience will come in handy in their future projects at school and in their professional lives.

Team Work: The assembly of the dome was a great example of teamwork between many individuals. All at KFUPM were invited for this event via email and posters. Senior students from other years, and faculty members from other courses, pitched in with their time and energy during the physical construction of the dome. It was a wonderful display of collaboration and cooperation among colleagues and classmates.

Design for Disassembly: The entire exhibition was designed and constructed by the students with disassembly in mind. As a result, once the exhibition was over its various components were easily dismantled and ‘flat-packed’ for easy transportation to storage. This was also the case last year, which allowed the 5m² square base of the dome to be fully reused from the previous year’s exhibition. The 510 pieces of the dome itself were all connected with slip-joints and nut-and-bolt fasteners, allowing for easy disassembly, transportation and reassembly at new locations.

Overall, it was a great learning experience for all the students from the Department of Architecture, KFUPM and a good exposure of their work to the greater KFUPM community.