a- House in Soan Garden

Location: Soan Garden, Islamabad
Plot size: 35’x65’

I have tried to express this theory into this house project that the buildings can’t be static by establishing their limits, edges and boundaries instead they go through a continuous process of growth before taking their final shape. The different colored bars and unequal lines are showing the effect of extremely high speed. These lines represent the colors of life that are responsible for the formation of any object, in this case are forming a house building. They are coming from an unknown source or infinity travelling at extremely high speed, forming the building and kept on moving to an unknown destination which is shown in the boundary wall. This phenomenon represents that the building formation is still in progress and who knows when we will achieve that ideal state when the building will be completed. These colored rays of life just and only triggered the formation process and this process is still progressing and no one knows what the result will be like because we as humans still have to discover that ultimate part of knowledge which will give this building its final form. This is the reason the building has different angles and a mix of straight and tapered edges because as mentioned earlier the formation process has been triggered and the building is in the growth phase like any object in the nature, for example a plant; it goes through different twists and turns and takes different forms before taking the final shape of a tree, same is the case with a baby when it goes through different phases of formation before birth, same is the process here, these uneven and unparallel lines are showing those twists and turns the building is taking before it will take its final shape. In the case of plant as Allah is the creator and knows the final shape so the plant finally achieves that in a matter of few months or years but we as humans still have to uncover that knowledge before we can understand and are able to put a full stop of completion.

Different blocks and masses are showing this growth, like when a building is made with Lego, the child knows the final shape as seen in the booklet and during the construction, the pieces are fitted into their specific place. Same is the case shown here, different blocks are being fitted into their original place but we don’t have the booklet like in case of Lego and we still have to discover that knowledge before these building blocks can get to their right place.
I strongly believe that every part of the building should have its own individual identity. This phenomena is again in line with nature, every tree, every flower everything have their own unique identity and all the parts of the objects around us form a whole yet securing their individuality, for example let’s look at the human body, different parts of the body like hands, arms, legs, head etc. all form a human body together but if analyzed each part is maintaining its individual identity at the same time and no part is intruding or disturbing the freedom and identity of the other part. Let’s take another example of a tree, all the parts of the tree, the stem, branches, leaves and fruits – all of them together form a tree but still have their individual identity and if the leaves or fruits are plucked from the tree, that individual leaf comes out as a whole object and none of its remaining is left on the tree or if the flower is plucked, it comes out as a whole object with its complete identity and no part of the plant is intruding into another part, like we never saw a branch passing through the flower or fruit passing through the branch, it means each object is not allowed to enter the territory of the other object, they may live together but are not allowed to snatch the freedom of their neighboring objects. Same is the case in architecture, each element of the building deserves to have its own identity and freedom, for example the window should not be allowed to enter the territory of the wall as the wall has its own identity and the windows pasted in the middle of the walls takes that pride and sense of ownership from the wall which is the right it deserves. Same should be the case with other elements, the doors should not intrude into the walls rather should be designed in such a way that although the doors, windows and walls should be connected to one another and should fulfill the purpose without sacrificing their own individual identity.
This is what I have tried to achieve here and there are no windows pasted on the walls or doors pasted in the middle of the walls. In this building every element exists but has its own identity and does not intrude into their neighbor’s space. The big glass window at the corner of the first floor has its own individuality and if removed from the building, will not affect the other parts as its not intruding into the territory of any other walls, same is the case with the curtain wall with dark grey glass, this whole block can be taken out and will not damage the look of the rest of the building because its not going into the territory of other member of the form and has its own individuality, similarly all the masses and elements can be taken out and placed back like in a piece of puzzle and will not destabilize the form. The windows, doors, and walls everything co-exists together in harmony and all these parts are forming a whole like in human body and maintain their individuality at the same time. If a window is taken out from the middle of a wall it leaves a blank hole behind, which shows that the window invaded the individuality of that wall but if a flower is plucked from a plant the plant may not look good but the flower didn’t eat up any part of the branch like the window had eaten up the space to create that hole into the wall, this is the call of nature and should be tried to explore and applied. The architecture we see around us is not responding to this call of nature and our institutes should make reforms so that we can at least start thinking on these lines that there is still an X-factor which is missing from our designs.  The terrace does exist but the railing is not seen as a separate entity and is not intruding into the territory of the walls. All the elements and masses of the building are interlocking and overlapping due to the growth process mentioned earlier, as a result all the elements are coming out and emerging from one another and are showing a movement in their formation and this is the reason the building is not silent and definitive and there is no full stop. The building is being formed and not complete and may take a lifetime before it reaches its glory.
Regarding the finishes and colors, That final shape of any living specie is again not final but the object is still growing, we humans see different phases of life but there is not a single moment which we can say is the final shape of our formation, like from birth to youth and youth to old age and after that we fade out from the face of the planet, it means the formation process is never ending and continues all the time. Same is the case shown in the building, again it is in accordance with nature, the life is not smooth, there are moments of happiness and bumps of hardships as well, so how can our buildings which are designed for humans, why shouldn’t they respond to this aspect of life. How can the buildings have same colors and finishes showing a smoothness and giving the impression of”everything is ok”. Everything is not ok in our lives. The white color shows the birth of the building. An overall grey neutral color is showing that most part of our lives is on average neutral and is an even road and all of us are running into the same daily cycle, from morning to evening and back to next morning, all of us are rushing to catch up with the running time and dark and light grey texture tones shows this fluctuation we face in our lives on daily basis but as a whole is constant so major portion of the building is grey texture paint. Dark grey glass shows those bumps of hardships we face in our lives and the bright orangish portion depicts those delightful moments we enjoy. The white lines along the rays of colors shows the traces of the rays of life as they hit with enormous amount of speed and released huge amount of energy which is required for the formation of every living thing and in our case was required to form this building and those life forming color bars hit the building with such a speed and moved ahead to another unpredictable destination that these color rays left their traces behind and these white lines shows those traces and shows the route of the passing rays only. As the white color shows the birth signs when the building was newly born like a baby with a life without worries and with the passage of time the building started growing older shown in the grey tones but the colored rays of life had hit with such a force that huge amount of energy was released and that is due to this tremendous amount of energy that the white traces are still white and it will take some more time before they will turn dark like rest of the building. The small tearing up patches shows the aging factor and as the growth process is s still continuing the building is getting older and older and showing signs of old age like a human body, in a old age some parts like hands or legs may not look that old but the wrinkles around eyes shows the signs of aging, these patches are showing those wrinkles of old age.
Overall the building is truly a remarkable piece of art and it took a lot of effort and energy to bring the concept into reality.

b- House in G-13

Location: G-13, Islamabad
Plot Size: 30’x60’

In this project again we maintained our design philosophy and successfully transformed our concepts into another masterpiece. Planning wise extremely efficient plan accommodating 2 beds with attached baths on each floor. The zigzag form of the building shows the continuous process of growth of the building and one can’t predict when it is going to take its final shape and in which direction will it take its next turn and what it will be like in the future? No one knows.
The windows are not created by making holes in the walls but are separate entities with their own individuality and same is true for walls. Both the windows and walls co-exist with each other yet maintaining their separate identity and complementing each other at the same time and if the windows  or walls are removed from the building, the overall form doesn’t get destroyed as in the case of ordinary buildings

c- House in Sohan Islamabad

Location: Sohan, Islamabad
Plot size: complex

This was a very challenging and exciting project due to the complex geometry of the site. Achieving an ideal and functional plan fulfilling all the requirements was the major task because the site is getting narrow as we move towards the back and overall is more triangular in shape but we still managed to provide the best solution to our client. Once you enter the house there is a corridor leading towards the lounge and the corridor is glazed throughout and is open to nice views so the person experiences a feeling of openness with changing views as we move along the curved wall. Each room has perfect geometry and placed in the right zone of the house, for instance the bedrooms are at the far corner as they require privacy and should be away from the main traffic flow (i.e. near the main entrance). The drawing, dining and kitchen are forming perfect functional relationship. All the corridors are lit up with natural light so there are no tunnel effects which we always try to kill. Overall it is a good design. The project is still in the concept stage and the exterior form is yet to be finalized.

d- Matser plan of Housing Society in Sheikhupura

In addition to custom home design services, we provide one of country’s best master planning solutions to developers and corporate clients. As Mr. Arqam has extensive experience in master planning and acted as the lead master planner for Emaar Paksitan’s canyon views project in Islamabad and was involved in master planning of Mirador villages and Alma townhome villages and Mr. Arqam  is very well aware of Emaar’s (one of world’s biggest developer) guidelines and concept for master planning residential communities.
If we talk about this masterplan, the concept was developed in consultation with American Architect Mazen N Issa. The initial problem which restricted our design form was the electric transmission lines which run through the site and we have to provide at least 7 meter clearance on both sides of the electric lines so this 14 meter space can’t be used for dwellings and for human habitats and that meant wastage of a lot of land which means a substantial loss to the developer. We came up with an ideal solution to this problem and proposed the main boulevard along the electric lines thus utilizing that 14 metres space of land. So initially our main boulevard was frozen. The commercial district and amenities are placed in the centre for easy approach from all houses inside the development. The main difference you will notice in the master plan which distinguishes this planning from the rest of developments is that no house opens up directly on the main boulevard which in other developments becomes a reason for traffic congestion and slow movement of traffic but here the cars can move freely on the main boulevard without any fear of seeing a backing up car from the houses on the main road. Second important thing is that all village entrances are provided on the main ring road around the commercial district and there is one entrance for each village, this enables to control security and traffic flow and increases the overall efficiency of the design. There is not a single house which does not belong to any village and the whole residential development is divided into 5 villages. Another main design concept incorporated is that you see the view of park in front once you enter into any village. This is provided to give a feeling of openness and enhances importance of the community gathering space once the visitor enters the village. Inside planning is again extremely efficient and curving roads provide a changing view at every segment of the road while driving and the visitor experiences curiosity and enjoyment at the same time while moving inside. Another important aspect is that unlike other developments which are mostly designed in grid iron pattern with cross roads at every junction which is the main reason for inefficient flow of traffic is eliminated in our design and there are no cross roads provided thus eliminating the risk of traffic hazards.
Overall we find the design very interesting and shall provide the residents the true essence of living in a residential community.