On the campus of a private international university, the dual programme provides: student housing in 198 individual rooms, with central dining facilities and a kitchen; and a cultural centre, 250-seat auditorium, and tea room and terraced garden that are open to the university community and general public. Both functions are separate and organised around a shared double-height atrium that is an exhibition space. The curved building is constructed of poured-in-place and prefabricated concrete. An aluminium double skin surrounds the building and serves as a mesh or mashrabiyya for protection against sun and noise from a nearby vehicular road; patterning of the aluminium is based on a work of Arabic calligraphy by the noted Tunisian artist Shoof.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture