ACI-KC’s respected Award of Excellence is given to a significant and deserving project that has been substantially completed in the preceding two years.

The award acknowledges and appreciates various aspects of substantially completed projects :

Outstanding work in concrete construction and practices
Innovative architectural and structural design
Response to cultural considerations and traditions
Architectural landmarks and iconic structures
High standards of construction
Imaginative Renewal and renovation
Creative use of concrete
Public appreciation of a project

The award is presented to the developer of the project, but it also acknowledges the design and supervision consultants, general contractor and the main concrete supplier. The Chapter has bestowed this award every year since 2001, except for 2019 and 2020 as our activities were curtailed due to covid restrictions.

The Award of Excellence for the Year 2021 was presented to Kuwait University’s new College of Engineering and Petroleum, which was honoured as ‘a sustainably designed high education facility that seamlessly combines functional and elegant architecture with contemporary engineering and smart systems’. The grand award ceremony was conducted on 31st May, 2022 in Hashemi Ballroom of Radisson Blue Hotel.

History

Kuwait University was established in 1966 by an Amiri Decree, and its first campus was in Khaldiya. Every few years thereafter, new decrees were issued and more colleges were added, and the university ultimately expanded to six campuses.

The College of Engineering was established by a decree issued in 1974. With the growth in student numbers, the College’s first building needed expansion and KH 14, pictured here, was completed in the mid-90's. Decree N30/2004, issued on 6th May 2004, authorized the establishment of a new university in Shadadiya; and on 19th February 2005, almost 50 years after the establishment of Kuwait University, the foundation stone for the new Sabah Al Salem University City was laid.

The new city, conceived and planned on a 6.0 million m2 site, comprises two main parts : the large sciences, humanities and administration campus; and the health sciences campus.

It will ultimately accommodate almost 40,000 students. Implementation of the new campus has begun and a number of its iconic buildings, some pictured here, are already in use.

Functional Requirements

Within the new campus, College of Engineering and Petroleum (COEP) occupies a site of 73,500 m2. It brings together the University’s engineering and allied technical disciplines into one massive facility that accommodates six colleges :

Civil Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Industrial Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Architecture

These departments are now together in a well developed and dynamic facility that incorporates smart technologies, and invokes a lively and great collegial environment. The School of Architecture, however, will ultimately have its own building.The design brief called for a development with separate facilities for male and female students, numbering over 5500 in total, and served by more than 1400 facility members.

Site : 73,500 m2
Gross Area : 290,000 m2
Students : 5500
Faculty : 1410
Laboratories : 533
Classrooms : 115
Auditoria (500 seats) : 2
Student Services
Separate Facilities for Male / Female Students

The academic and research programme, requiring about 530 general and special laboratories, 115 classrooms, two 500 seat auditoria and a host of other support provisions, added up to almost 290,000 m2 of built-up area. Given the relatively small site, a clever design approach had to be conceived for this massive facility.

MIT Infinite Corridor

The planning and design inspiration came from the ‘Infinite Corridor’ at the world renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, more commonly known as MIT. MIT’s Infinite Corridor is a 251 m long hallway that connects and runs through all its major buildings.

The design solution for COEP was the re imagining of this linear layout by folding it back on itself several times. The critical design challenge was to create a unique form that not only satisfied functional and programme requirements, but also permits exterior views, brings in daylight along the perimeter, and ultimately fosters a healthier, more conducive learning environment. The zig-zagging masses also gave the opportunity to create shaded courtyards and breakout spaces along what ultimately became a 6.2 km multilevel walkway.

Planning and Architectural Form

The building’s conception ultimately led to a dynamic new facility that, from ground up, projects a unified whole, while celebrating the unique design expression of each college. As the Design Consultants said, rather than a disjointed architectural showcase, each college individually interprets the overall campus guidelines, and boldly expresses its own specific programmes.

Originally planned to accommodate separate male and female facilities, the directive was modified mid-way to enable many of the sophisticated laboratories and workshops to be shared. The College’s programmatic components have been manifested into the zigzag plan form referred to above, and the footprints of the female and male buildings are separated by the landscaped Oasis that traverses the entire University campus. The ground floor plan shows how classrooms, laboratories, offices, and shared and external spaces are organized. The building configuration comprises bold architectural forms that vary in height from 3-7 floors.

Architecturally, as these masses and volumes wrap around themselves, they create constantly changing shadows and textures. Elevations are clad with terracotta rain-screens, which in addition to their sustainable properties and resilience to extreme and harsh climate, are notable for their elegance and colour.

Design Features

A grand multi-storey multi-use galleria is an all weather focal space which houses students’ services, and is a place where they gather for breaks, meals, study and informal congregations. Faculty offices overlook this soaring glass topped space that is serviced by an integrated cleaning and maintenance gantry that virtually disappears when not in use.

The buildings’ interiors reflect a comfortable atmosphere and ambience, well suited to an academic facility. Interiors are characterized by carefully selected materials and colours with controlled natural, general and special area lighting. The courtyards between the folding blocks become well shaded external breakout areas that are also used for outdoor experimentation.

The high walls and tent structures provide deep shading and protect the perimeter. There are two specialized non-duplicated laboratories that serve both the men’s and women’s campuses: a 3,500 m2 ocean engineering laboratory features a giant tank holding 1.4 million litres of water to facilitate modeling of coastal structures; and a state-of-the-art seismic engineering laboratory is of a scale previously unavailable to the university’s students.

Engineering Systems

The structural system is generally reinforced concrete, with framing done with a combination of ribbed and flat floor slabs. Connecting bridges are either steel with concrete decking or pre-stressed beams with concrete slabs. The foundation is a 750 mm thick raft, and basement walls are 600 mm thick reinforced concrete. As would be expected, the complex is designed to satisfy rigorous sustainability and engineering standards.

Building services are designed to comply with LEED silver rating, and are carefully designed to include an efficient chilled water system producing 12,000 tonnes of refrigeration; automated energy and water conservation; as well as special ventilation, exhaust, waste, safety and control systems for the laboratories.