My Portfolio

EMAN MAGDY AREF900 07 3740American University in CairoMajor: ArchitectureMinor: ArtDate: 12/9/2011

MY PORTFOLIO

AENG 220/Fall 09 : Three dimensional studio and workshop

Eman Magdy Aref

Rectilinear Assignment and project

Curvilinear Assignment

Fragments Exercise

Curvilinear/Planar Exercise and project ProjectPlanar Exercise

AENG 220/Fall 09 : Three dimensional studio and workshop

Eman Magdy Aref

Final Project “Reading Relaxation Corner”

I then, tried playing with those forms in such a way that I could make a new and interesting composition. I thought they would work well for a piece of furniture, and as it’s originally a cone, so it works well in a corner. A reading/ relaxation corner I designed, a chaise long (long chair) and a lighting unit which works also as a mini library. The lighting part is the higher part of the cone, it’s a little bent, and is supposed to be built inside the head of the cone, not to destroy its design. The red cushion on the chair has a shape that is exactly like that which is cut out of the lighting unit for the shelves.

A Simple, New, Modern design with cool, fashionable colors to match. I chose red and black together, because they match my design in its modernity, and style. They are also extremely popular, and hip. My cone shaped furniture looks very elegant when closed, its two parts could be placed facing eachother, and one of them slightly angled away, as seen in my fragments exercise. Therefore it works well as a sculpture in itself, so it could be closed to its original cone shape, and placed in the corner of the house. Besides, the fact that it looks nice as a sculpture, it will also minimize space.

I was first inspired by the extremely interesting forms that can be fragmented out of a cone, when doing the fragments exercise. One in precise, I believe was a pretty successful one, had the cone fragmented vertically giving two non-symmetrical and elegantly looking forms.

ARTV 201/Fall 09 : Drawing I

Eman Magdy Aref

MY PIANOA Piano is an object of special interest to me because of three main reasons. First, it’s a musical instrument with a very soft,tender voice; it could give you a variety of different, yet very powerful feelings, according to the piece being played. It might boost your spirits up, give you a sense of love, and magically touches your heart to remind you of people you love and memories you adore. Music in general or any kind of art can do so, but a piano in specific is a very sensitive instrument, ithugely differs weather you press softly or powerfully on the fingers of the piano, a deep or shallow sound, and if the pedal is being used. Your feelings massively and directly affect how a piece is being heard.

A second reason, is the way it looks. It has a very beautiful appearance. I always feel that every home must have a piano as both a decoration, and a part that adds emotions to otherwise a dull room with still furniture, just like the effect, a piece of art has on a room.

A third and very important reason, is its family heritage. My piano has been present in the family for a long time. It was my grandmother’s mother, who was a very special, sweet, sensitive person with a quite appreciative attitude towards music, as I’ve been told. Later, this piano was given to my aunt, when she was young and now it’s mine, because she gave it to me when I was a young girl, when she noticed my interest in music and specially the piano. This has been the best gift I’ve everbeen given, and the most important in terms of affecting my life.

ARTV 314/Fall 09 : Modern and Contemporary Architecture

Eman Magdy Aref


Eman Magdy Aref


Eman Magdy Aref


Eman Magdy Aref


Eman Magdy Aref


Eman Magdy Aref

AENG 273/ Spring 10: DIGITAL COMMUNICATION TOOLS FOR ARCHITECTS

Eman Magdy Aref

Elevation 2

Live Section

Elevation 4

Elevation 1

Elevation 3

Section 1

AENG 273/ Spring 10: DIGITAL COMMUNICATION TOOLS FOR ARCHITECTS

Eman Magdy Aref

Ground Floor

First Floor

Exterior View

Second Floor

Layout

RHET 345/ Spring 10 : The Writer’s Workshop

Eman Magdy Aref

LOST IN A DREAM

Art in all of its forms is a way if not the only way of expressing ourselves with complete freedom. It unleashes your imagination, and lets it go wild and free. Draw whichever your creativity brings up to your mind, painting with the endless array of colors in the rainbow, having each shade of its own special characteristics and feelings to evoke, writing, a discovering process of ourselves, our imagination and the world around us and music, carries you to a whole new dimension, bringing you into a new world.

A few months ago, an idea was brought to life. In the form of an art piece, a drawing was created to express the artist’s feelings, portray their thoughts and send a message. It was drawn by the strokes of pencils of different line weights. Through only pencil, a big hand on the left corner comes out of the paper, to be seen, heard and felt. It looks as if it belongs to an elderly with all its weird wrinkles, but yet doesn’t feel comfortable to the eye. It’s strange and scary, the fingers look a bit ugly and the nails are frighteningly weird. To a huge contrast, this hand is not lying dead on the paper; it’s not placed in handcuffs either. It is playing the piano, the softest and sweetest instrument of all.

It all began when I was just an innocent little girl. I used to leave home and travel with my grandparents to Alexandria, one of the loveliest cities in the world. I was only two years, the very first time they took me with them. We used to take the journey by car, Alex is quite a distance from Cairo and the journey is pretty exhausting. I used to keep on calculating how much time is remaining, over and over again. However, all I had in mind

was the energy and excitement of spending a holiday with my grandparents in our place in Alex, which I would call my second home or probably even as it’s the most place I have been connected to, it actually has all the qualities of making it my “home sweet home”.

A big door hidden by bushes of pink and orange gohanameyaflowers is seen from a distance. I yell into my grandparents’ ears “Finally, we have arrived. We have arrived” and I sing a famous song written about “Alexandria” and its wonderful weather, its turquoise beaches, its golden sun and its good and sweet people. A gold metal plate nailed into the walls beside the door carries my grandfather’s name, it’s usually also covered by the over-flowing and eye-mesmerizing gohanameyas. Grandpa keeps the keys of his entire life in one heavy weighted key chain, he takes them out and I run out of the car screaming “Grandpa, wait. I want to open the door” and he’d reply “You are still a young girl Emy, you can’t open it by yourself”. But when he sees my disappointed face, he’d instantly ask me to come over and we would open it together. It was actually difficult to open this huge door especially with the key chain Grandpa uses, I used to feel like its heavy weight is going to pull me to the ground if Grandpa let goes of my hand opening the door alone, also because there was two locks above each other that we should open to finally get inside.

Once we are inside, an involuntary smile gets drawn on my face every time I place my foot on the very first white chalky stone planted in the grass, one of a series that keep going in a zigzag

RHET 345/ Spring 10 : The Writer’s Workshop

Eman Magdy Aref

A GOLDEN FLOWER

So is every friendship doomed to end? Must there always be an expiry date? I wonder.

*********A right turn on the high way, lots of bushes in the fields below. A

minaret and dome lost in the middle, and those bulky wavy stems, so close to

the high way’s fence, stare to state a point of view. Then I come to see that

beautiful sad palm tree, in the distance all alone. My upper eye lashes reach

out for the ones below as a huge truck carrying boxes, furniture or even camels

comes and blocks the view. My heart is pumping harder and harder each

second. This is one of many, of my typical daily scenes, but its intensity never

seems to wear away, because simply it’s has so much truth. And now, the

moment I’m always afraid of has come. Now I will get blinded by the neon

light, and not notice the world around me. As I come to notice that same old

tree with all the beautiful red flowers, I also come to see that very familiar

apartment block with the Aladdin domes above, and snapshots and lovely,

depressing thoughts start sneaking into my head, without taking any

permission. It’s her house.

*********“Her eyes are like stars glowing with innocence,

Her cheeks are like birds flying with happiness”

A beautiful, innocent, tall and slim girl, with the fun black curly long hair, is seen

a few of cars away. Those words out of a poem I wrote when a young girl seem so

true. But, if I would want to reach her, I would have to kill a storm. I would have

to cross the steaming sea of cars that seem to never halt. In order to reach her, I

must survive the area’s infection with noise, but mostly, I must survive its’

spilling scenes of accidents into my helpless mind. I have to cross a street.

So, there we were, on one of our usual weekly hangouts. The driver dropped

me and Sara at one of the cafés, but it was full, so we needed to go somewhere

else. Since the driver has already left, Sara decided we go to that other near-by

café. As we left the place, I asked Sara raising one eye brow at her “So where is

it?!”. In a low voice, she answers “Well, it’s very close, probably would take us

10 minutes walking. We just need to cross that street in front of us”. As she

expected, I replied shouting “Are you crazy? Do you want us to get killed? This

is one of Cairo’s biggest streets, one with two huge lanes, each with waves of

fast storming cars in opposite directions. No one here looks around them

while driving and that’s why you don’t see many people crossing it especially

from our spot”. “Emy, do you want us to spend our time in the street?”. It took

me a moment to reply “Well, if you think you can get us safe on the other side,

well then let’s go”. She took my hand and we literally ran like crazy. I knew

this was wrong, but thank God, we made it safely on the other side. Even

though, that feeling didn’t last for long. Only until I realized that we are

trapped on a rock, with the crazy cars in both our front and back. As Sara

notices I was freaking out, and that I can only be crazy for a moment or two,

she shouts “Emy, grow up, it’s just a second and we’ll be safe”. I kept refusing

for so long, she took my hand and ran, but sadly, my hand slipped with a

careful order from my brain. That was when the overwhelming moment got

me petrified. Sara was on the other side, and I had to deal with the noisy

steam flowing both at my front and back. I get distracted from all the hassle

by the refreshing tone of my phone. I answer, and over the screaming noise

around me, another scream interrupts, this time right into my ear “

ARTV 202/Spring 10 : Painting

Eman Magdy Aref

EGPT 203/ Fall 10 : Egyptology

Eman Magdy Aref

Design of a New Kingdom Cult Temple for Anubis and Wepwawet

Our Design:

We are designing a temple for the god Anubis and Wepwawet in Assiut in Upper Egypt. Our model is made out of clay and since ancient Egyptian architecture

is based on symmetry, the model is representing a section, cut right in the middle of the temple.

Since Assiut is in Upper Egypt, we decided that the columns should be lotus columns, so we have both the lotiform and the open lotus. At the pronaos, we added

columns with the heads of the God just like the ones at the temple of Hathor which started in the middle kingdom onwards.

Since the temple is dedicated to two Gods, Anubis and Wepwatwet, it should therefore have two shrines, two barques and two hypostyle halls. Anubis is the

god associated with death and the afterlife; he has the head of a jackal and Wepwawet is the God associated to war and thus to death; he has the head of a wolf.

We’ve also decided to add sphinxes aligned outside as a symbol of protection and to mark the entrance of the temple. Therefore we have made our sphinxes jackal-

headed resembling Anubis and supposedly on the other side of the temple, the sphinxes should be wolf- headed resembling Wepwawet.

At the entrance we have placed an obelisk of 10.4 m height and 1.63 m width to represent the benben stone or a petrified sun beam. Also, a sacred lake is present

outside. The first Pylon leads to the peristyle court and then to the pronaos with a row of columns, followed by two successive hypostyle halls. The first

hypostyle hall has clerestory lighting, the columns in the central aisle are taller in order to let the light in; and the second hypostyle has two entryways at the back,

each leading to a different barque. Behind each barque is a shrine surrounded by magazines.

ARTV 321/Fall 10 : Introduction to Architecture Engineering

Eman Magdy Aref


Eman Magdy Aref


Eman Magdy Aref

ARTV 351/Spring 11 : Design Studio I

Eman Magdy Aref


Eman Magdy Aref

Layout


Eman Magdy Aref

ARTV 201/Spring 11 : Drawing II

Eman Magdy Aref

Art and Design

Eman Magdy Aref

I have chosen this design because it’s quite modern yet gives a sense of the Egyptian Culture. This is provided through the choice of colors and textures used specially in the first A on the left. Also, the choice of text format is close to the form of the pyramid along with the desert like colors. Moreover, the AUC symbol is not just a symbol but it also adds to my design a feeling that this Architecture Association is in Egypt and that is because of its Islamic related geometric design.

Architecture Association logo competition

Cover page for the first Architecture yearbook SIMPLY

ART

IGCSE Art

Eman Magdy Aref

Personal Photography

Eman Magdy Aref

Personal Photography

Eman Magdy Aref

Documents

My Portfolio