LC – IAPEX 2019

The Institute of Architects Pakistan Lahore Chapter (IAP-LC) organized its annual event ‘IAPEX 2019’ from February 15 – 17, 2019. The event, convened by Ar. Maira Khan and co-convened by Ar. Umar Saeed and Ar. Faisal Riaz, was held at the Lahore International Expo Centre. Attended by architects, designers, planners, academia, social and environmental scientists and experts from related disciplines, the theme for this year’s IAPEX was ‘Lahore Urbanised’. IAPEX 2019 comprised of a number of events which included a three-day building materials exhibition, a symposium session, a forum session, an architectural installation and a design competition. The event was attended by a large number of architects and other professionals from around the country. Notable among the guests include Ar. Muhammad Arif Changezi President IAP, Ar. Jahangir Khan Sherpao, Past President Arcasia, Ar. Pervaiz Vandal, Ar. Sajida Vandal, Ar. Shama Usman, Ar. Faisal Arshad, Ar. Marwat Khan, Ar. Abdul Qadir, Ar. Fawad Suhail Abbasi, Ar. Ar. Farida Abdul Ghaffar, Ar. Mumtaz Jillani, Prof. Dr. Ali Akbar, Prof. Dr. Neelum Naz, Prof. Dr. Syed Tauseef Ahmed, Ar. Rana Atif ur Rahman, Ar

DAY 1 EVENTS (15-02-2019)

i. OPENING CEREMONY

IAPEX 2019 was inaugurated by Ar. Pervaiz Vandal. In a delightful ceremony conducted by Ar. Dr. Shama Anbrine, Honorary Secretary IAP-LC, Convener IAPEX 2019 Ar. Maira Khan warmly welcomed the chief guest and introduced him to the various activities of the IAPEX. Ar. Pervaiz Vandal extended his warm wishes to the team IAPEX for a successful event and highlighted the role of quality architectural education in order to enhance the quality of locally produced architecture. Ar. Muhammad Arif Changezi, President IAP, also extended his warm wishes to the IAPEX team and commended the choice of theme as need of the day. A video message from Ar. Thomar Vonier President UIA was also played in which he commended IAP and the organizers of the event. The ceremony ended with a vote of thanks from Ar. Saad Mahmood Khan, Chairman IAP-LC. Later, the Chief Guest presented a memento to the sponsor, Brighto Paints and the President IAP presented a memento to the chief guest on behalf of the team IAPEX 2019.

ii. SYMPOSIUM SESSION

This time around, the IAPEX 2019 Forum Session and Student Jamboree teams put together a joint symposium. Moderated by Ar. Munazzah Akhtar, the panellists for this session and their presentation titles were as follows:

Lahore: A Changing City

Ar. Marcus Wilkins

Managing Director, Archi-TEX

Biomimicry and the Future of Cities

Ar. Olivia Duncan

Planning Manager, Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities UAE

Urban Edges: Milestone spaces in managing the urban growth process

Ar. Dr. Nabil Mohareb

Head, Architecture – Design & Built Environment, Beirut Arab University Tripoli Campus Lebanon

Urban Lahore: A Conceptual Probe about the Future Development of Lahore

Plnr. Dr. Anis ur Rahmaan

Chairman, CURES (Centre for Urban, Regional, Environmental and Social-Studies), Lahore

The Mirthful Vibe of Lahore

Ar. Amna Rafi Chaudhary Assistant Professor & Program Coordinator, Amity University UAE

Convener Forum Session Ar. Dr. Shama Anbrine thanked the presenters and esteemed guests. The presentations were well-received by the audience and mementos were distributed among the paper presenters in the end by Ar. Muhammad Arif Changezi President IAP.

DAY 2 EVENTS (16-02-2019)

i. Tour de Walled City

A trip to walled city was arranged for the foreign panellists by the organising committee of IAPEX Forum and Student Jamboree. The days started with a scrumptious breakfast in the food street followed by a visit to Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort, Shahi Hammam and ended with a high tea at the Wazir Khan Mosque.

ii. FORUM SESSION

Second half of the day included a forum session convened by Co-convener Forum 2019 Ar. Hafsa Imtiaz highlighting the theme ‘Lahore Urbanised’. Taking Lahore as a primary case study, this year’s forum session deliberated upon various perspectives about the design of cities looking at the issues and strategies behind urban design and aims to feature some of the Lahore’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. The theme is less focused on the history of the city than on the way it is adapting to the challenges of the present and future, notably climate change and population growth.

The following papers were presented:

Abadi – Source – City Symbiosis

By Ar. Zeeshan Zaheer

Understanding Phenomenon of Katachi Abadi; Case study of Human consequences of unplanned urbanisation in Lahore City

By Ar. Mehreen Mustafa

Urban Pockets and Public Spaces of Lahore

By Ar. Saman Malik

The Impact of Development on Heterotopic Space: Then and Now

By Ar. Nabah Ali Saad

“Countering conflicts” in Lahore ́s contemporary urban interiors .

By Ar. Hiba Hashmi

The Rapporteur General’s note was presented by Plnr. Dr. Anis ur Rahmaan The thorough Q&A session was held at the end where the audience were given the opportunity to ask questions to the presenters.

iii. CULTURAL EVENING

Senior IAP Fellow Ar. Ahmed Pervez Mirza was the convener for the beautiful Cultural Evening event held at Convention Centre of Lahore Expo Centre. Cultural Evening is always a colourful event well attended by architects and students. Ar. Ahmad Pervez Mirza did a wonderful job as usual and arranged a lovely evening by renowned singer Hadiqa Kiyani.

DAY 3 EVENTS (17-02-2019)

i. CLOSING CEREMONY

The Closing Ceremony of IAPEX 2019 was held at the Convention Centre of Lahore Expo Centre. Convened by Ar. Dr. Shama Anbrine Honorary Secretary LC-IAP, the event was attended by a large number of architects from Lahore as well as other chapters of IAP. The Chief Guest for the evening was Dr. Muhammad Amjad Saqib (SI), the founder of Akhuwat which is world’s largest interest free microfinance program. The IAPEX 2019 organising committee and sponsors were presented with mementos and some participants received prizes through lucky draw. Winners of an earlier competition regarding the ‘Best Stall Design’ were also awarded mementos.

THREE DAY EVENTS

i. BUILDING MATERIAL EXHIBITION

Under Ar. Umar Saeed (Convener) and Ar. Raja Rehan Tariq (Co-convener), the venue committee put in a day-and-night effort to bring us a grand three-day building material exhibition. The building material exhibition consisted of stalls from various architectural products and vendors. The stalls were also competing for the ‘best designed stall’ award results of which are as follows:

First Prize: Interwood

Second Prize: S Abdullah

Third prize: MASTER Tiles

Special Prize: Brighto Paints

Consolation Prize: Master Offisys

ii. “URBAN FOREST” DESIGN COMPETITION

Following theme of the IAPEX 2019, Lahore Urbanised, the IAP Lahore Chapter, in collaboration with the Pakistan Horticulture Authority and the Punjab Forest Department, organised a design competition open to all Architecture students from Lahore to provide proposals for Urban Forests to be planted around the dense localities of the city. The competition was convened by Ar. Nabah Ali Saad and was well received by the students and architectural institutions.

iii. ARCHITECTURAL INSTALLATION “BRICK2BROB”

This year, Ar. Umar Farooq Khan Kakar (Convener), Ar. Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal (Co-convener) and a dynamic team of young architects created an architectural installation titled Brick2Brob, A Journey through Time. Brick has been used most extensively in all architectural happenings around the world. It has been the most compassionate ally of mortar forming multiple gestures, adhering to the rules of gravity. With time it has acquired different shapes, forms and even new materials. It kept evolving from a BRICK to a BLOB continuously pushing boundaries and giving new meanings to a space by blurring edges and merging planes. With the help of evolutionary software, new avenues can be explored in brick, giving it new connotations; from a Conventionalist wall to the Expressionist wall. At times, challenging the perception of an archetypal wall as a plane, it diffuses/merges itself with the floor and the ceiling, making it more sceptical and esoteric, lookalike of a Blob. This investigation inspired from Greg Lynn’s BLOB WALL is to explore and experience the topological character of a space by merging planes made out of conventional bricks, thus, to call it a BROB ……A BLOB MADE FROM BRICKS.

iv. IAP LOUNGE

Like very year, Ar. Saad Sarfraz Ahmad and his team organised the IAP Lounge with refreshments for the member architects. This year it also featured an Architects’ wall pin up activity showcasing the location and contribution of their work in the city of Lahore.

v. STUDENT JAMBOREE

As part of IAPEX 2019, Architecture Student Jamboree (February 14 – 17, 2019) was convened by Ar. Sarah Javed Shah with Ar. Usman Muhammad Bakhsh as Deputy Convener and Ar. Jawad Ahmad Tahir and Ar. Muhammad Saad Khan as Advisors. This event, held at the Convention Centre of Lahore International Expo Centre, catered for various activities for architecture students from across the country. This time the theme of Jamboree was ‘Lahore Urbanised: Dream or Reality’. This year it was attended by nearly 1200 students from across the country. The event comprised of a delightful opening ceremony on February 14, 2019 with flag raising ceremony and a vibrant musical performance by Xarb-the band. The later days saw events like Quiz competition, convened by Ar. Rabia Ahmad Qureshi, Student Workshops conducted by Ar. Amna Rafi Chaudhry, Ar. Shahid Jamal and Ar. Khurram Amer. Two roundtable events were also part of this Jamboree. Roundtable Event for Faculty and Students was moderated by Ar. Zahra Khan Afridi and Ar. Zeeshan Zaheer, whereas Roundtable Event for Young Architects was conducted by Ar. Amsal Abid and Ar. Arwa Hassan. The event ended with a delightful closing ceremony on the evening of February 17, 2019.

vi. BEHIND THE SCENES

In addition to the untiring efforts by the aforementioned, an event of this magnitude would not have been possible without the behind-the-scene support of a devoted Advisory committee including Ar. Saad Mahmood Khan Chairman LC-IAP, Ar. Faizullah Qureshi Vice Chairman LC-IAP, senior IAP fellows Ar. Syed Muhammad Irfan, Ar. Kalim A. Siddiqui, Ar. Sajjad Kausar, Ar. Azhar N. Syed, Ar. Ahmad Pervez Mirza and Ar. Arshad Chughtai. A dedicated Secretariat led by Ar. Azhar Mamoon Sualehi, a Transport team by Ar. Raja Rehan Tariq and Ar. Zohaib Naveed, Marketing team led by Ar. Yousaf Ghouri and Graphics team led by Ar. Saher Faiz Qureshi. In addition, Ar. Husnain R. Khan Honorary Treasurer, Ar. Raza Ahsan Member EC LC-IAP, Mr. Farooq Sultan Manager LC-IAP, faculty members and student volunteers from all architectural institutions under the Lahore Chapter extended their help in all matters pertaining to management of this event.