The Gulf is a rapidly developing region. Coming into being alongside skyscrapers, stadia, and man-made islands are universities and campuses. In a region in which governmental discourse often revolves around human development, higher education plays a major role in forming citizens and developing economies. In this talk, Bader al-Bader focuses on
uwait University's new sex-segregated mega-campus on the edge of the city, examining its design as an overtly gendered space. Since Kuwait is a city state, and its university the only public institution of higher learning, much hope rests upon the institution's efficacy. The new singular campus consolidates, integrates, and homogenizes the disparate extant university campuses dispersed across the city. The new singular campus establishes a novel form of separation that leverages architectural design and persuasion skills. Keeping in mind the constitutional requirement of equity and non-discrimination, the design of the new mega-campus exhibits the major lengths to which the design endeavor went in attempting to emphasize equality through mirroring. 

Bader al-Bader is a Ph.D. student in the Taubman College of Architecture and
Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, interested in studying the spaces in
which of the magic of higher education takes place. He is currently a co-coordinator
of Interdisciplinary Islamic Studies Seminar and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Committee co-chair at Graduate Rackham International. Visit persistentpasts.com to
learn more about the most recent exhibition he has worked on.

Sponsored by: Department of Near Eastern Studies