Interview with Zayad Motlib

The desire to explore and to create. I have always had a passion for complexity in natural systems, whether biological systems, materials systems, or physical systems. With the new computational developments in deign and fabrication, my passion became how we can learn from the underlying logic behind the formation or the behavior of these system, and use it to create meaningful design at different scales: from products to urban scale.

At both entities that I run: AmorphouStudio and d-NAT (Dubai Network for Art, Architecture, and Technology), we research and design across different scales, from products to architecture and urban scale. We dont have preference in terms of design type or scale. What is important for us is how to be innovative and to manifest our design principles across different products and scales.

First they need to keep exploring and trying different techniques, and to develop their skills and knowledge on materials, fabrication methods and so on. Such practice will help them to decide what is important for them as designers. Then, they need to keep developing and refining their skills in that field.

Innovation and originality of the produced work.

I would like to quote Alain de Botton "Good design is not a quest for a luxury life ... Beauty is a promise of Goodness”.

Beyond its utilitarian purpose , good design inspires us, moves our imagination. It is transcendental.

Designing is part of my daily life. I sketch ideas continuously, as an analogue of digital sketching. Some of these idea get developed beyond the sketch, some stay in my notebook, or computer. It is like a daily activity. I love to design at different scales, from product design scale to master plans. My new passion is to take traditional artifacts and to infuse them with technology to transform them into the future. To use new digital processes to re-think the adaptation of traditional vernacular materials in today’s architecture.

To build the Symbiotic Towers !.

There is no secret here. Beyond talent, great design needs clarity of the idea, hard work, dedication, and resilience.

Frie Otto, Cecil Balmond, Mies van der Rohe, and Zaha Hadid.

The Sydney Opera House, Mies Barcelona pavilion, Frie Otto Munich stadium, Verner Panton chair, and Zaha Hadid glacial collection. They were all pushing design boundaries of their time into future possibilities with form, materials, spatial structure, or techniques.

All the above mentioned designs are among my greatest. What made them great is the originality of the idea within the time frame they were produced. They were transcendental.

They need to have a talent first. After that they need to keep exploring, and to work hard to develop it. Hard work with dedication are essential to refine the talent towards great work.

An astronut, space exploration !.

My design is often inspired by the complex order exhibited in natural systems: biological, cultural, materials, or physical systems. I study the underlying forces behind the formation, or the behavior, of these systems, and look at meaningful ways to re-adapt it in my design pursuits.

Recently Marta Krivosheek has been my big supporter for the growth and development of both the research entity, d-NAT (Dubai network for Art, Architecture, and Technology), and the commercial entity AmorphouStudio - Visionary Architecture and Design Studio. www.d-nat.net, www.amorphoustudio.com

I never regarded myself as a great designer. That was never my goal. But my curiosity, combined with a clarity of what I want to achieve in my designs, then working hard to keep exploring and refining these ideas, is the recipe I have been using to get to where I am now.

Every idea is different, and every idea requires different form and media for its presentation. I use a combination of sketches, renderings, 3d printed models, laser cut boards, etc. Whatever it takes to communicate the idea.

I am working on number of new projects, all looking at innovative use of technology on different design scales. My new passion is to take traditional artifacts and to infuse them with technology to transform them into the future. To use new digital processes to re-think the adaptation of traditional vernacular materials in today’s architecture.

To have my designs getting materialized to their full scale.

Good design inspires and elevates people spirit. It helps creating better environments, and bridging dreams with reality.

I am working on number of new projects, each has its own challenges. I am excited about breaking through these challenges to bring in new innovation for each of them.

The different projects I worked on throughout the years brought me different satisfaction. The one that I consider closer to my heart is a proposal I worked on few years back to bring in new visionary approach to the marshes in southern Iraq. It was a bold vision aimed at providing a conceptual framework to organize the marsh communities of Southern Iraq into a modern and an economically viable entity while addressing most critical ecological concerns. You can view it at my AmorphoStudio site http://www.amorphoustudio.com/projects#/marshes-of-mesopotamia/

The architectural design industry needs to adapt and to catch up with the technological developments in the construction and fabrication industry. Architects need to look at the implication of the new technologies such as machine learning, AI, robotics in creating new design to fabrication workflow. Also, contractors need to upgrade their construction techniques to facilitate the construction of new bespoke design using new technologies such as 3d printing and robotic techniques. I think both design and the construction industries need to go through huge transformation to adapt to the rapid technological changes.

The new design opportunities presented by the evolution of new technologies in Nano materials, Robotics, and 3d printing. I think there is big design space to be explored with these technologies.

This depends on the nature of the project and its complexity. If it is a piece of furniture could be a month, a building can take up to 2 years.

Stay curious. Keep questioning, exploring, and venturing.

I think they feed into each other. First certain design can trigger a certain trend in the public domain. Then other designers start to take notice so they follow that trend. For example the trend today is to use technology and 3d printing in design. As a result, more and more designers follow this trend. However, some of them lack proper understanding to these technologies and their role in design and fabrication. Thus they often produce work that reflects an immature use of such technologies. Personally, I dont like to follow trends. Trends come and go. But good design that is based on sound creative principles, always stays timeless.

It is integral to my design and workflow. I like to explore that space at the intersection of design, nature, and technology. How can technology inform better design decisions that are sustainable, and forward looking.

I have a hybrid design pallet of analogue and digital tools consists of: pens and papers, 3d printer, laser cutter, software mainly Rhino, Maya, grasshopper, and others.

My mind gets inspired with possibilities of other design. Great design is contagious. It creates seeds of new cycle of ideas and aspirations.

Yes I believe in co-design. However this requires shared understanding of the design approach, the workflow, and the objective. Design is becoming more and more a collaborative activity, as designers need to deal with not only the creation of a form, but with technologies, materials, structure, fabrications techniques, etc. So the role of the star designer / architect is gradually fading.

Keep learning, exploring, and questioning. I never felt or regarded myself as a master designer, I always prefer to be a beginner, willing to explore new territories, to venture into the unknown.

The different social media networks facilitated communication with all people of common interest on a global level. I continuously communicate and exchange ideas with like-minded people, as well as share images of what we are developing or researching. Both our d-NAT and AmorphouStudio networks keep expanding, as we keep reaching out to more people to share ideas.

Looking at anything that is familiar with fresh eyes, as if I am seeing it for the first time. Driving the ideas to their realization is my big motivator.

I think we are at the boarder line of three huge revolutions: Bio-tech, Nano-tech, and AI or robotics. Each of these technologies can transform the design field into new horizons. However I am interested more in their intersection, when we combine Nano-tech with robotics, and the possibilities that may come out of that. What we see happening in todays design and technology is what we used to see in the Sci-Fi some 50 years ago. With the intersection of these three strands, we are yet to create the Sci-Fi of 3020. This might not be on earth alone anymore, and certainly not with biological creatures alone !.

I run two entities: d-NAT (Dubai Network for Art, Architecture and Technology)- www.d-nat.net , and AmorphouStudio - www.amorphoustudio.com. d-NAT is an educational / research based platform where we organize workshops and events to explore new design tools and workflows. Our workshops examine digital design and fabrication processes at the intersection of Design, Nature and Technology. They aim to introduce new form of design thinking. AmorphouStudio is the visionary practice where we implement some of these processes in real projects. Our projects span across multiple scale and domains from jewelry, to furniture, products, interior, and architecture.

Creating a form, or an experience, that embodies a promise of goodness and a capacity to inspire.

Something that I neither done before, nor that I have any experience doing it. It is that feeling of getting lost, being insecure, that drives the best creative impulse.

Zaha Hadid liquid glacial collection. It has that sense of of something that is ethereal, transcendental, sophisticated, but with ultimate simplicity. It combines materials, physics, gravity, fabrication techniques to produce beauty.

A house in Amman. It was my first job after graduation, and I got to design a house on a mountain in Amman. I had to deal with complex site topography, new construction materials, and a very specific family brief.

I work with a wide range of materials. They all offer different possibilities in design. Nowadays I am developing a series of furniture using 3d printing technology. Using topological optimization process in the design, 3d printing offers the possibility of achieving a jointless monolithic pieces that combines art and technology. I also love the use of Fibre composites for the combination of strength, light weight, and versatility. I also drawn into using earthy clay materials in my architecture, for their ecological and thermal advantages.

Talking to like-minded people on subjects related to future technologies, new design ideas, nature processes of formation, and the like. I often come up with design concepts out of these conversations.

Keep the clarity and simplicity of initial concept through to its realization. Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication, to quote Leonardo da Vinci.

In a state of Flow. Totally in the present, while my mind is continously connecting the dots into shapes and forms.

Clarity of the idea and Performance are two key aspects. The design needs to communicate visually and functionally the purpose it has been created for.

It needs to be visually engaging. It communicates to our senses its purpose. When it captures our vision, we look closely at other aspects such as materiality, details, being fit to purpose etc.

Designers play a key role for society and environment. Both the social and the environmental agenda are vital for the success of any design. In our design, environmental data inform the form generation and details, to achieve a symbiosis between the environment and the architecture.

There are two revolutions that are happening in a parallel way. The revolution of materials science including Nano materials, and the AI revolution in robotics and fabrication techniques. Both these revolutions are causing huge disturbance in design possibilities across all domains. They are transforming the design fields as they are expanding the toolset, and the processes of materializing ideas and creating forms.

Last exhibition was at “Made in Tashkeel” in Nad Alshiba, Dubai. We have exhibited some of our work-in-progress in the form of sketches, renderings and 3d prints. Next exhibition is going to be in d3, Dubai Design District, during Dubai Design Week in November.

My design is often inspired by the complex order exhibited in natural systems: biological, cultural, materials, or physical systems. I study the underlying forces behind the formation, or the behavior, of these systems, and look at meaningful ways to re-adapt it in my design pursuits.

My passion to explore and understand the complex forces shaping the natural formations and the processes behind their generation. My curiosity in researching new materials and fabrication techniques, and the cross-disciplinary application of certain design techniques from one discipline into another. My aim is to create sustainable solutions directed towards achieving a symbiosis between the building and the natural environment.

I currently live in Dubai. There is always a debate about whether the new technological integration in buildings design will affect the cultural identity of the place. My take on this is that cultural identity is not something that happened in the past, some 30,50, or 100 years ago, and stopped there. So whenever we want to address the cultural identity we need to go back and borrow some of the elements that have been used in that time. Cultural identity is something that evolves with the place, and the future vision of the place. Dubai is an evolving city that aspires to be a tech-hub for the region, and to have 20% of its buildings to be 3d printed. So its identity needs to evolve to reflect that, rather than anchoring it in the past.

The process and the toolset vary depends on the nature of the project and the concept. Sometimes in Furniture design, sometimes I go from a sketch into 3d printing. Then we start revising and developing the design by upscaling the model gradually to full scale. Buildings design is more complex, as there are many restrictions and requirements that we need to comply with. We often use different software and prototypes to conceptualize our ideas, and to move them from concept into design details and development.

I am gradually replacing most of the furniture items with new 3d printed ones that is developed at my studio, such as a coffee table, a table lamp, book shelves, bed side tables and so on. These pieces are giving the place a new spirit, and help bridging the ambience of where I work, and where I live.

Never stop experimenting, questioning, and exploring. Your learning journey never stops after graduation, it starts from there.

Follow your gut feeling on what is right. Don’t try to force in a certain pre-conceived idea. Keep looking. Start with a white canvas in your head, and keep exploring.

Intuition, desire to explore, observation, resilience

A mix pallet of analogue and digital tools. Pens and papers, a Mac laptop, 3d printer, laser cutter, and lots cardboards !. Software, mainly Rhino, Maya, and Grasshopper.

Hopelessly well !

It varies based on the concept, and the workflow I am using to realize it. Sometimes the concept starts on paper, and gets developed with a grasshopper script, then gets 3d printed and so on. Other times we use Maya polygonal modeling too within the process, which makes it more complicated.

Do you still use pen and papers? Because of the digital processes we explore at d-NAT, most people tend to think that all our work is driven by computer modeling and scripting to develop our concepts. We often get critiqued that our work is just digital driven, or being a product of a certain script. And this is far from the truth. Our process is complex, non-linear, and uses a variety of media as we see necessary to inform its development.

The one I never tried before, and have little to no knowledge on how to do it. When I am pushed into a zone of insecurity, of not knowing what to do. This space sparks the best creative impulse.

To be able to push the ideas I am developing with the symbiotic towers into reality. I think Dubai needs this type of developments that address the environment and the social context in a sustainable way. Dubai needs new typologies of high-rise buildings that are departing from the prevailing glass boxes, or the outdated 19th century forms, and towards typologies that are driven by contextual data. We need to design for better living and working standards, with less reliance on the electrical resources and the prevailing air-conditioning system, and better symbiosis with the natural environment.

By email, though lots of people write to me using the social networks too.