THE ARCHITECTURAL PRINTSCAPE: KUWAIT THROUGH MATERIAL, PRINT AND FORM
Yasmeen Abdal
The Architectural Printscape is the visual language of a cityscape—how we read our cities through surface, material,
form, and structure. Spaces communicate societal values, preserve memory, and articulate heritage. I analyze Kuwait’s
architectural printscape through three primary lenses: material (building blocks), print (murals), and form (structure).
Examined within spatial and temporal contexts, these elements develop a symbolic, nonlinear, palimpsestic narrative. By
reinterpreting architecture as a communicative medium—something to be read—I position it as a layered palimpsest
embedding the urban environment with social, cultural, and political meaning. Architecture becomes an instrument for
expressing historical and future identities. Through the lens of non-places, supermodernity, and identity loss under the
homogenizing forces of globalization, I show how the architectural printscape reclaims meaning and resists cultural
erasure, furthering the argument of architecture as both a container and driver of cultural narratives. Architecture
thus becomes a living documentation—a printscape of our personal, collective, and historical narratives through which we
exist.
THESIS BOOK
The book design reflects the architectural printscape, using archival materials and a palimpsestic structure. It mirrors how cities are read through layered histories and materials. Typography and visual layout function as architectural elements, with scale, alignment, and hierarchy reinforcing the central metaphor of reading architecture through a layered, palimpsestic narrative.
HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY BRIDGES
This video project documents multiple bridges across Kuwait, exploring how architectural symbols—embossed, engraved, or painted—reflect layers of cultural memory. By capturing these details, the project reveals how bridges function as narrative sites, connecting historical and contemporary identities within the city’s evolving architectural printscape.
WEAVING HERITAGE
This speculative design project reimagines Kuwait’s highway infrastructure by embedding cultural symbols into a series of concrete blocks, transforming highways—often seen as transient, utilitarian non-places—into carriers of memory. Drawing from heritage motifs like the traditional dhow and Sadu weaving, it challenges the erasure of history, reclaiming these spaces as narrative sites that connect architecture, identity, and place.
SYMBOLS IN TRANSIT
Abdulrasul Salman’s abstract highway murals, painted in the 1980s and drawn from Kuwait’s cultural symbols, transform concrete bridges into a palimpsest of identity. Juxtaposing archival footage of pre-oil Kuwait with Salman’s murals, the project reveals how his work embeds traditional motifs in modern infrastructure, preserving cultural memory. This curated montage layers past narratives within contemporary spaces, forging a connection between Kuwait’s heritage and its evolving urban landscape.
THE MECHANIZATION OF MAN
These risograph prints explore Kuwait’s economic shift from pearl diving to oil-driven modernization. The first print, focused on the era of pearl diving and traditional craftsmanship, honors Kuwait’s maritime heritage. The second print emphasizes the rapid modernization and the introduction of automobiles, together forming a contrast-based dialogue around Kuwait’s transformative history.
A EULOGY TO KUWAIT’S FORGOTTEN MODERNITY
This eulogy commemorates Kuwait’s golden era of modernization (1940s–1980s), a period marked by rapid transformation and cultural growth following the oil discovery. It honors modernist structures as symbols of national ambition, identity, and optimism. As these landmarks face demolition, the eulogy mourns the loss of collective memory and heritage, urging recognition of this visionary era as foundational to Kuwait’s modern identity—one that must be remembered and preserved, not erased.
A BRUTALIST TAXONOMY
Arab Brutalism in Kuwait reflects layered narratives—national ambition, geopolitics and cultural identity. Embracing global modernism while fostering Arab collaboration, Kuwait developed a hybrid architectural language. Through abstracted taxonomies of Brutalist forms, this project explores how Arab Brutalism communicates identity, bridging tradition, experimentation, and the image of a sovereign state.