Category: Design

Yesterday it was announced that Kuwait’s airspace was reopening and flights would be resuming again. It also looks like the airport got a bit of a facelift during the closure.

There are photos circulating online showing a revamped interior of Terminal 1. This is the main terminal where most airlines operate, and previously the departure area was covered in grey aluminum panels. Based on the photos, it looks like the space is now finished with stone or ceramic tiles, although it’s hard to tell from the low resolution images.

I don’t want to judge it just yet, not until I see it in person, but the bar was set so low that any change is a good change.

The photos aren’t great quality, but they’re the best I could find.

After being open since the early 80s, last year Al Muthana Complex closed down and all the tenants and residents were asked to vacate so the building could be renovated. Multiple design firms submitted proposals, and a couple of months ago PACE won the project and will be leading the redevelopment of the complex.

Although the project is still in the early stages and the design hasn’t been finalized yet, I managed to find renders from the initial proposals by PACE, as well as two other firms, DKEC and Bernard Khoury (DW5). Bernard Khoury caught me by surprise since he’s based in Lebanon and I’m a fan of his work. I’m not sure how many firms pitched for the project, but these are the three I was able to find.

The ones above are the directions PACE proposed while the ones below are from Bernard Khoury.

In January I posted that the Thunayan Al Ghanim building was being restored, and yesterday I was able to find out a lot more about the project. The building is considered an important part of Kuwait’s architectural history since when it was constructed in the 1950s, it was one of the most advanced buildings in the country with a lot of firsts. It was designed by the renowned architect Sayed Karim, who later worked on other projects in Kuwait including the Ahmadi Cinema.

Yesterday I got a walkthrough of the building, where they took me through the restoration process and explained the plan. Spoiler, it’s all good news.

The thing I was most concerned about was the facade. I was worried they might cover it with alucobond panels or modernize it with glass, but that’s not the plan. In fact, it’s the opposite. The family has been digging through archives, looking for original drawings and plans, and investigating on site to understand how the building originally looked so they can restore it as closely as possible. They’re even trying to match details like the exact color of the window frames and the tiny mosaics that sit under each window.

Over the past 70 years or so, the building has gone through a lot of changes. Some were destructive, but most were superficial, like painting over original mosaics or covering walls with plasterboard. Once restoration began, they started uncovering remnants of the original building hidden beneath, almost like discovering artifacts at an archaeological site.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was hearing about the investigative work they’ve been doing to understand how the building evolved. For example, it was originally meant to have three additional floors, but that plan was canceled late into construction. That ended up working in its favor, since the structure was built to support a taller, heavier building, which likely helped it survive this long. They also found plans showing the building was meant to have adjustable directional louvers on the facade for shading, and even indications that the building may have originally been designed to include residential apartments.

It’s pretty fascinating how much they’ve been able to uncover, and eventually all of their findings will be shared with the public.

I really wish more people cared about restoring old buildings like this. Although, over the past few years I have started to see more old buildings being restored. Some are doing the bare minimum, but at least they aren’t being demolished and replaced with generic, soulless buildings.

This is going to be a new series where I highlight beautifully designed spaces in Kuwait that are no longer around. I figured I’d start with one I really loved and that still holds up today, Octium Jewelry.

The store opened in 360 Mall back in 2009 and was designed by the Spanish artist and designer, Jaime Hayon. Jamie works with different mediums, from design and sculpture to painting, ceramics, glass and installations. I think he’s fairly well known since when I mentioned him to my wife she immediately recognized the name and even pulled out a book she had about his work.

Jaime has an unconventional and playful approach to design. Most of the elements in the Octium store were custom made, with each piece of jewelry placed in its own unique display environment within this fantasy-like interior. The result was a space that felt more like an art installation than a typical jewelry store, and it helped put Octium on the map internationally. In 2013, the Spanish edition of Vogue listed it as one of the 12 most beautiful jewelry boutiques in the world.

In one of Jaime’s recent Instagram posts, he mentions his passion for designing beautiful doors. He’s fascinated by the idea of entering a space in a special way, that first point of contact. Looking back at the Octium door, you can tell this is something he’s been obsessed with from the very beginning.

I’m not sure exactly when the Octium store closed down, but their website is still online and feels like a time capsule that probably hasn’t been updated since. Check out more photos below taken from Jaime’s hayonstudio.com

I’d heard about this beautiful rooftop pool from a few friends who had been to it, and I knew which building had it, but until now I hadn’t actually seen any photos of it.

The pool is located on the rooftop of an unassuming building in Jabriya. The building and rooftop were designed by the architecture and interior design firm ARCHJS and is part of a private residence. The view looks incredible and even though it’s in Jabriya, it wouldn’t look out of place in Palm Jumeirah.

For more photos of the building, check their instagram @arch_js

This is a great initiative by a group who created a badge of gratitude and recognition for those on the frontlines, symbolized by Kuwait’s national flower, the Al Arfaj.

The Al Arfaj blooms in harsh conditions, which makes it a symbol of resilience and the ability to rise under pressure. It reflects the people on the frontlines who protect Kuwait and continue to give it strength, so that like the flower, the country comes back stronger.

The badge is meant as a simple expression of appreciation for those who sacrifice for Kuwait’s security, safety and stability.

It will be available for free to anyone who wants to wear one as a sign of support. Right now it’s being shared organically, but in a few days it will be available to pick up from different locations around Kuwait. If you want one, they’ll be announcing the locations soon on @alarfajflower

AD Middle East recently featured République in their magazine along with some really nice photos that were taken by the photographer Ingrid Rasmussen. I posted about République when they first opened, but looking at these photos now, I don’t think mine did the space justice.

The interior was originally conceived as a pop-up by Gastronomica founder Basil Al Salem after his travels in Vietnam. The look draws from Indochine design, which flourished between the 1920s and 1945 and blended French Art Deco elegance with traditional Vietnamese details. The space was designed by the group’s in-house design team which included Abdullah Al Muzaini, Ahmad Jankieh, and Ashish Bartwal, with styling by Jade Botanics.

République at Jõn closed down for the season already so if you wanted to pass by and check it out you can’t anymore. But the restaurant has now popped up at Cocoa Room at JACC for dinner.

If you want to check out the AD Middle East article, click here.

Over Eid a very cool looking coffee shop opened up in Shaab called Studio Roast. It’s Kuwait’s first air roastery and blends coffee with a full sound experience powered by Bang & Olufsen. It’s a new project by BNK and led by two time barista champion Hamad AlMajed.

Unlike regular roasting, air roasting uses hot air to keep the beans moving while they roast, which helps bring out their natural flavors. They also use an AI system that spots and removes defects during the process, so every batch is consistent.

My favorite part though is the interior, for a number of reasons. The space has a warm vintage feel with lots of wood and period correct fabrics, and the hand drawn ceiling gives the place a really unique look. Some of the walls and surfaces are even crafted from coffee waste. It’s one of the best looking coffee shops in Kuwait if not the best.

But what really caught my attention was the sound experience by Bang & Olufsen. They have some of their most beautiful speakers scattered around, but my favorite piece was the BeoSound 9000 displayed in the back corner. It was my dream CD player growing up, and just a couple of months ago I was on eBay looking for one before convincing myself I didn’t really need it. After seeing it again in person, I need it.

Studio Roast is located in the brand new Eleven Residence apartment complex in Shaab Al Bahri (Google Maps). They’re open daily from 7AM to 11PM, and you can follow them on Instagram @studioroast.kw

The Cobogo House is a private villa in Funaitees that was completed a few years ago, but last month it got featured on the Natuzzi website which is how I came to find out about it.

The name of the project comes from the cobogó bricks used across the villa’s façade. These are decorative perforated concrete blocks, similar in concept to Islamic mashrabiya screens, that let air and light through while still giving you shade and privacy. The bricks also cast interesting light and shadow inside the house which you will notice in some of the interior photos.

Cobogo House was designed by the local architecture firm Babnimnim, who are probably most known for the beautiful contemporary mosque in Al Massayel, the Mamluki Lancet Mosque.

To check out all the photos of the space, the photographer Mohammad Ashkanani has the photos here.

@balsayegh on twitter spotted the above poster at the Kuwait Airport which was clearly created using Ai. I’m really curious if the graphic designer noticed something was off and didn’t really care, or if he didn’t notice anything at all.

There is always something intriguing about looking into other people’s homes in Kuwait. Not many people like sharing their homes, so it becomes a mix of curiosity and a little bit of nosiness, seeing how others live, their furniture choices, and the small details. I personally appreciate it when they do, mostly because I’m curious by nature.

This latest project from NADA Design Studio gives us a look inside an open plan contemporary farmhouse in Wafra. According to them, the interior was shaped around family living, dining, and play, while still being grounded in the surrounding landscape. I think my favorite design feature is the bookshelf, I just love the combination of the wood they used with the dark brown brick backdrop.

If you want to check out more photos, click here.

Studio Marmi is a newly opened natural stone gallery in Shuwaikh. It’s the largest of its kind, and I found the concept really interesting when they explained it to me. Unlike most natural stone showrooms, Studio Marmi doesn’t display small samples of each stone. Instead, they showcase full uncut slabs, meaning the stone you choose is the exact stone you get.

Most of the time when you’re shopping for natural stone for your home or a commercial space, you pick a stone based on a showroom sample, and since that sample is usually just a display piece, you often end up getting something similar instead. Because Studio Marmi displays the actual slabs, the stone you pick with all its unique characteristics is the one you actually get. Browsing the slabs is a unique experience as well, since they use a crane mechanism to move them around for viewing and selection.

This is also why their space is so large and feels more like a warehouse than a traditional showroom. As you walk around, you’ll see each stone clearly labeled with information on its strength, best uses, and pricing. They carry stones of varying strengths, from softer options like limestone and marble to harder ones like quartzite and crystal, all curated by them and imported from Brazil.

In addition to their impressive space, all their inventory is also available on their website. Once a new slab arrives, it’s photographed and added to their live online inventory along with all the relevant details. They also have a 3D visualizer that helps you see how a specific natural stone might look in a kitchen or home environment.

If you want to pass by their showroom, here is their location on Google Maps. You can also check out their website studiomarmi.com.kw or check out their instagram account @studiomarmikw

Yesterday I shared a video called Kuwait Nights 1984 created by Faisal Alrajhi and instantly fell in love with it. He created the video using AI, so after sharing his post on my story I got in touch with him to see if he could share his process with my readers.

Due to the length of his project he couldn’t share the full breakdown, so instead we decided to focus on one of my favorite scenes, the Green Island sequence.

Step 1 – Creating the visuals

The first thing Faisal did was create a custom prompt on Google Gemini:

“Create an 8-bit pixel-art scene of Kuwaiti people relaxing, sitting on benches, and walking inside Green Island. Show the iconic tower in the background, kids running in the distance, and palm trees lining the walkways. Use retro warm tones and subtle pixel shading.”

For the pixel-art images, he used the Google Gemini app along with Freepik’s Nano Banana feature. Freepik gave him higher-resolution results, which made a big difference when putting everything together into a video. He also added reference photos he found on Google, like shots of Green Island, to help the AI recreate the scenes more accurately.

Once he had all the images generated, he did some light touch-ups in Photoshop to clean things up, fix small details, and remove anything the AI added that didn’t belong.

Step 2 – Converting stills to animation

Once he had a scene he liked, Faisal then animated the images using an image-to-video AI tool from Freepik.

Step 3 – Creating the soundtrack

For the music Faisal used the AI music generator Suno. He gave Suno 30 seconds of the original song he wanted to use then used the following prompt to convert it into an 8-bit video-game style soundtrack:

“A playful 8-bit track opens with bright, pulsating chiptune synths and a bouncy, syncopated square wave melody. Driving 8-bit percussion interlocks with rapid arpeggios, playful sound effects, and simple bass, keeping the energy high. Short bridge introduces quirky glitch textures.”

Step 4 – Combining the scenes

The final step was putting everything together, he used Final Cut Pro.

So in case you want to replicate this video style, just follow steps 1 and 2 over and over for the different scenes and then combine them using a video editor.

When I posted this on Instagram, someone people left comments hating on the fact AI was used to create this. I think there is a huge misconception or naivety on how difficult and even impossible it would be to create a video like this without AI. One follower left a comment saying that Faisal should have instead “learn how to do pixel art and write music” as if it’s something someone can do by watching a YouTube video and not requiring any talent. I think that comment is actually more insulting to artists than him using AI to create this video. But even if Faisal was a pixel artists, it wouldn’t necessarily also mean he would know how to animate or compose music. Even if he did, the process of creating something like this would have taken months. Hiring a team to create a video like this especially when it’s something just for fun is also not realistic or feasible. AI has its issues, but in this instance it’s allowed someone to create something that wouldn’t be possible without the use of AI.

Make sure to check out Faisal’s Instagram account, he posts a lot of cool tech videos and they’re always informative. @f_alrajhii

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A post shared by Faisal Alrajhi – فيصل الراجحي (@f_alrajhii)

Made using AI but still very cool, makes me wish we had AI back when I was working in advertising. Link

This past weekend Al Andalus revealed The Petal Pavilion, their new pop-up kiosk located at the center of their plaza. I’m currently halfway across the world on vacation, but they sent over photos of the project for me to share.

The Petal Pavilion was originally designed as a functional oyster bar by the Copenhagen-based studio @lasovskyjohansson for an art fair in Denmark a few years ago. The design won many awards and a version of that pavilion stands at the Design Museum Denmark, serving as a permanent café installation.

What’s cool is that this isn’t a copy of that design, Al Andalus actually worked with the original architects to reinterpret their award-winning concept to meet their specific requirements and adapt it to our unique weather. The result is this new 6.5-meter-tall kiosk where the petal folds open and blooms during the day, casting shadows below, but as daylight fades, the pavilion’s surfaces come alive with colored linear lighting.

The Petal will be hosting different pop-ups throughout the year with the first being @boostcafe from November 6 to December 31 followed by @kello.kw in January.