DE-lab

Join us this Wednesday, 15 October at 14:30 in The Library Hall, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, for an inspiring talk by Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem — Professor of Computational Design and Director of the Design Experimentation Lab (DE-Lab).

Explore how AI is transforming design education and professional workflows, from conceptual thinking and generative design to real applications in architecture and engineering practice.

Graduation Project Reveal | DE-Lab – Architectural Engineering Department - Faculty of Engineering – Ain Shams University

QULIS — Mining City Based on Diversity of Counts

We are proud to present the graduation project QULIS, a forward-looking urban proposal envisioning a mining city that thrives through modularity, adaptability, and diversity. Rooted in the hexagonal crystalline logic of minerals, the project redefines how extractive cities can evolve into sustainable, interactive, and expandable living environments.

At its core, QULIS is inspired by the geometry of crystals, translating their parametric formations into a resilient urban fabric. The city is conceived as a flexible system, where units aggregate, adapt, and expand based on both environmental and social needs. By merging natural logic with computational design, QULIS emerges as a futuristic prototype for mining-based communities.

🎯 Objective
To design an extendible mining city that integrates economy, community, and environment into a balanced system. The goal is to provide a self-sustaining model for resource-based urbanism, where extraction is not just industrial but also cultural and social, shaping a city that is dynamic, inclusive, and sustainable.

🏛 Key Features
🔹 Crystalline Parametric Logic
The urban fabric is derived from crystal growth principles, where hexagonal and polygonal units interlock to form a scalable and adaptive layout.

🔹 Modular Urban Structure
The city evolves through clusters of modules that serve residential, administrative, and industrial functions, enabling flexible growth while preserving balance between zones.

🔹 Central Park & Interactive Layers
At the heart of QULIS lies a central park with commercial kiosks, fostering social life and cultural engagement. Urban zones are designed to be interactive, adapting in real-time with feedback loops to population needs.

🔹 Self-Sustaining Systems
QULIS integrates zones for plantations, renewable energy, and resource management, ensuring a closed-loop approach that minimizes environmental impact while supporting community self-reliance.

💡 The Algorithmic & Parametric Design Journey
⿡ Concept Development – Translating the crystalline geometry of minerals into an urban design framework.
⿢ Parametric Studies – Defining scalable units and testing aggregation rules through Grasshopper-based simulations.
⿣ Urban & Extension Studies – Mapping how the city evolves at different scales and scenarios, from initial settlement to long-term growth.
⿤ Interactive Planning – Introducing adaptability by allowing zones to adjust based on feedback, distance, and density.

🌍 Why It Matters
QULIS challenges conventional mining settlements by proposing a mineral-inspired, human-centered urbanism. It reimagines mining cities as places not of extraction alone but of innovation, culture, and resilience. By merging natural crystalline logic with computational urbanism, it introduces a blueprint for future-ready, adaptive cities capable of thriving in challenging environments.

👏 Congratulations to the talented student team behind QULIS for their groundbreaking work in parametric and urban generative design!

Nada Mohamed

Rodeen Ahmed El-Gendy

Mahmod Rashaawn

Manar Tarek

Ramez Raafat

📧 For more information, please contact:
Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem
DE-Lab Director
📩 [email protected]

📸 Attached: Images & videos showcasing the project journey and AI-driven workflow.
📢 Stay tuned for our next posts featuring both group projects and individual projects from the Class of 2025!

🚀 Graduation Project Reveal | DE-Lab – Architectural Engineering Department - Faculty of Engineering – Ain Shams University
Ain Shams University
Independent Community for the Future — Cellular Desert Colony

We are proud to present the DE-Lab Class of 2025 Graduation Project — a future-forward vision for a scalable, self-sufficient community designed to thrive in Egypt’s desert landscapes.

This project pushes the boundaries of architectural innovation by integrating a full end-to-end AI-powered design workflow, transforming ideas into validated, detailed, and photorealistic visions with unprecedented speed and precision.

At its core, Cellular Desert Colony is built on modular, self-sustaining blocks, each functioning as an independent living or working unit. Through AI-driven space optimization, these units can adapt, reorganize, and evolve over time to ensure efficient resource use, resilient layouts, and sustainable growth.

🎯 Objective
Design a scalable, self-sufficient community in the Egyptian desert, utilizing AI for space layout optimization and functional adaptability — creating a resilient living environment capable of thriving under harsh conditions while remaining sustainable and responsive to its inhabitants’ needs.

🏛 Key Features

🔹 Cellular Design

Scalability: Modular blocks can be added, removed, or reorganized with ease.

Flexibility: Each block serves a specific function — residential, commercial, or agricultural — and can be reconfigured as needs change.

🔹 AI-Driven Space Optimization

Dynamic Planning: AI algorithms generate efficient, functional layouts.

Adaptive Systems: The layout automatically adjusts in response to real-time population or environmental data.

💡 The AI-Enhanced Design Journey

⿡ Interactive & VR-Driven Genesis
Two parallel concept creation systems:

Interactive Physical Model — Architects use physical modular blocks to plan zoning and circulation, with real-time validation ensuring compliance with functional and safety constraints.

Immersive VR Experience — A human-scale virtual design space where architects shape 3D forms, assess visibility, and refine spatial qualities from day one.

⿢ AI Architect – Plan & Interior Automation
Once validated, the concept is handed to AI:

ControlNet-powered plan generation produces detailed, optimized floor plans from simple outlines.

Automated furnishing models populate interiors with accurate layouts.

Intelligent vectorization converts AI outputs into precise, real-world-ready plans.

⿣ AI-Driven Exterior Alchemy

High-quality concept shots define the final style and materiality.

360° AI styling ensures visual consistency from every angle.

Multi-view AI reconstruction produces a fully textured, detailed 3D model, ready for photorealistic rendering.

🌍 Why It Matters
This project goes far beyond futuristic aesthetics — it represents a new paradigm in architectural practice. Cellular Desert Colony showcases how the AI-powered design workflow developed by the DE-Lab team can transform the way communities are conceived, planned, and realized.

By merging human creativity with a fully integrated AI pipeline, the system enables real-time optimization of layouts, functions, and resources, ensuring that every design decision is backed by data, adaptability, and efficiency.

The result is a self-sufficient, adaptable community model that can dynamically respond to environmental conditions, resource constraints, and shifting human needs — proving that architects and AI can collaborate to create living environments that are not only resilient and scalable, but truly future-ready.

👏 Congratulations to the DE-Lab 2025 Graduation Group for pioneering a new frontier in architectural design!

🏫 Architectural Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering – Ain Shams University

📧 For more information, please contact:
Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem
DE-Lab Director
📩 [email protected]

📸 Attached: Images & videos showcasing the project journey and AI-driven workflow.

📢 Stay tuned for our next posts featuring both group projects and individual projects from the Class of 2025!