Personal Information

 Assistant Professor

Department of  Architecture

Architecture and Planning Faculty

Contact Information

Phone: 6400000 Ext. 67920

Email: abzahrani@kau.edu.sa

Dr. Adel Bakheet Alzahrani

 Assistant Professor

Profile

Dr. Alzahrani specialty is focused on the future of placemaking, Healthy Residential Neighborhoods, Street Design for promoting walkability, and what makes streets and public spaces better places for the living and economic welfare.

He has a diverse educational background (architecture, urban design and landscape architecture) that has allowed him to adapt to a variety of design roles and perspectives.

Dr. Alzahrani is a trained architect and urbanist who has more than 14-years of global and local professional experience. His global experience started in Feb. 2007 as a full time senior architect and urban designer at ZNARCH Associates in Cambridge, MA, United States for few years. His design collaborations included projects in North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Syria). For example, the very well-known project under construction is Shams Central Park and Public Landscape in Abu Dhabi, UAE, one of the landmarks and one of the first green developments in the region. Another well-known urban design project is Hail Housing, Hail, Saudi Arabia, that promotes the concept of walkability and life between buildings. His architecture and urban design projects included co-housing neighborhoods, institutional buildings, and town master planning. Fortunately, he was given the opportunity of an urban design training at the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) at Boston and contributed to the Boston Future Plan.

Also, Adel was invited to an urban design workshop as a trainer at the UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) collaborating with (Future Saudi Cities Program) for the small and medium cities that took a place in Aljouf City in December 2018. In April 2019, Dr. Alzahrani was invited to collaborate as an urban design and placemaking facilitator by Murray Associates, a placemaking organization based UK, for the “Future City Place-Making” workshop, organized by October Higher Institute of Engineering and Technology (OHI) cooperating with the University of Dundee and the University of Glasgow, that took place in Cairo, Egypt, using the collaborative design ‘charrette’ model planning, reviewing, drawing and testing ideas to upgrade the master plan of the Capital-Way City.

Dr. Alzahrani had taught at the United States as a full-time faculty at Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT), School of Architecture for 3 years. He was invited by faculty members at Boston University, WIT, Virginia Tech, and Harvard GSD as a guest critic as well as leading workshops on urban design process.

Education

  • 2001

    Bachelor degree from ArchitectureFaculty of Environmental Design, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, المملكة العربية السعودية

  • 2007

    Master degree from City Planning and Community Design Department of City Planning and Urban Affaires, Boston University , Boston, امــريــكـا

  • 2015

    Doctorate degree from ArchitectureCollege of Architecture and Urban Studies - School of Architecture + Design, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), بلاكسبيرج, امــريــكـا

Employment

  • 2001-2002

    Junior Architect, HTH Kener A/S - Saudi Branch, Jeddah, المملكة العربية السعودية

  • 2002-2004

    Architecture Designer, Abdulaziz Kamel Partners, Beautat Business Park, Jeddah, المملكة العربية السعودية

  • 2006-2006

    Urban Designer Intern, Boston Redevelopment Authority BRA , Boston, MA, امــريــكـا

  • 2006-2009

    Adjunct Professor of Architecture, Wentworth Institute of Technology WIT - School of Architecture, Boston, MA, امــريــكـا

  • 2007-2009

    Senior Architect and Urban Designer, ZNA-Zeybekoglu Nayman Associates, Inc., , Cambridge, MA, امــريــكـا

  • 2012-2014

    Design Instructor, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, VA, امــريــكـا

  • 2015-2016

    Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture, KAU - Faculty of Environmental Design, Jeddah, المملكة العربية السعودية

  • 2015-2016

    Assistant Professor of Architecture, Dar Al-Hekma University -School of Architecture, Jeddah, المملكة العربية السعودية

  • 2016-حاليا

    Assistant Professor of Architecture , KAU - Faculty of Architecture and Planning - Architecture Dept., Jeddah, المملكة العربية السعودية

  • 2016-حاليا

    Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture, Dar Al-Hekma University - School of Architecture, Jeddah, المملكة العربية السعودية

  • 2017-حاليا

    Founder and Principle , Pictogram PlaceMakers Studio PPMS , Jeddah, المملكة العربية السعودية

Research Interests

  • Design for healthy living
  • International components of sustainable neighborhood
  • Community engagement in design process
  • Sustainable urban design and assessment methodologies
  • International public health and built environment
  • International engagement between academic and practice application within the pedagogy of the built environment
  • Worldwide healthy cities initiatives for pushing cities to be more environment-friendly and energy efficiency
  • Creative thinking process in design pedagogy

Scientific interests

Scientific interests

  • Integration between the foundations of architectural design and urban design
  • Community Design and Sustainability
  • Architecture role in making healthy and livable cities
  • Creative design process
  • ٍResearch Methodology in debtor and public health
  • Leadership in the design process

 Design interests

  • University campus design
  • Institutional buildings and their link within city fabric
  • Urban transformation of streets and urban spaces
  • Mixed use
  • Co-housing and modular system
  • Sustainable urban design for residential environments
  • Street design and public spaces

Courses

Architectural Design and Technology 245 ARCH
Design Principles II 175 ARCH
Design Principles I 155 ARCH
Introduction to Architectural Design 101 AR
Freehand Sketching 100 AR
Graduation Studio Design 500 AR
Basic of Architecture Design 102 AR
Studio Design V 305 AR
Urban Design: Principles and Techniques 620 AR

Areas of expertise

? Workshop Facilitator:Future City PlaceMaking Workshop (New Urbanism Academy) Collaborating, Egypt Apr. 5 – 10, 2019 - Inter-disciplinary technique using the collaborative design ‘charrette’ model planning, reviewing, drawing and testing ideas each day during the five days, and developing an overall urbanistic approach that seeks to incorporate the perspective of users, residents, visitors through occasional role play.
Urban Design Trainer Dec. 10 - 13, 2018 - Urban Design Trainer at UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) collaborating with (Future Saudi Cities Program)
International Competition Jury Reviewer Oct. 2018 - Building 4Humanity: Resilient Design Competition, http://2018.buildresilience.org, Coimbra, Portugal, the Building 4Humanity Resilient Design Competition and The Marielle Franco Community Design Award
Critic for Capstone Project Reviews Fall 2010 - ?Virginia Tech, School of Architecture and Design Research, VA, USA
Critic for Capstone Projects Reviews Spring 2009 - ? Wentworth Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture , MA, USA
Academic accreditation Reviewer for Architecture and Design college Ministry of Higher Education, Architecture and Design Programs Reviewer, Saudi Arabia
Urban Design and Architecture Workshop A Discussion Workshop addressing the entrepreneurial ideas that supports Future Masterplan of Al-Khafji ? ARAMCO GULF OPERATION, Alkhafi
International Competition Abstract Reviewer for August Congress ? The 57th IFLA Worls Landscape Architects Summit, Penang, Malaysia ? Reviewing abstracts for; Homogenous Culture and Diverse Population; Transient Living; and Natural Disaster – Expect the Unexpected.