Thesis work entitled: Drawing and Reconstructing Culture : Designing a Malaysian Multicultural School in Putrajaya. The project addresses significant and contemporary questions about how we define “cityness” in a post-colonial world.

Awarded the Creative, Arts, Research, and Travel Grant (Putrajaya, Malaysia 2010) / the Diener Brick Award 2010 / Temple Alumni Thesis Award 2010. Work Exhibited at the AIA Center for Architecture, Phialdelphia, PA. Work presented at the City Council, Harrisburg, PA. Work presented at Senireka Architects, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

It draws upon the premise by contemporary Malaysian scholar, Ross King, that “…great creativity and leaps to new modes of thought and life” are most likely to occur in places where “different cultures meet.” From this, Muhammad-Hanif’s project will speculate on the ways in which an architect can use diverse techniques of visualization to present the multiplicity, diversity and heterogeneous character of the city to in turn provide a strategy by which the segregated and institutionalized order of a school (in this case, sited in Putrajaya) is challenged. By both “drawing the city” (literally) and drawing upon the city (metaphorically), Muhammad-Hanif will propose the design of a school that sets up spatial dynamics that promote a diversity of life, social interaction, and learning, thus combating traditional segregation found in such settings.