KEO INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT, Kuwait, 2008-2017, Competition winner, Senior Design Architect (Architecture, Urban Design)
April 2009, KEO won the international design competition.
Dear Keo Family,
Besides the usual suspects involved in this project, I would like to introduce you to a fabulous group that made this project happen: They are really divided into three groups-
The first group that led the project during its full course with their constant drawing, redrawing, and then again redrawing things to get everything working out perfectly. I call them the international architects mafia of KEO- Kirby, Bhaskar, Sam an, and Meshaal. Four different nationalities and unfortunately four different likings for food which always makes ordering late night dinners difficult! They are the workhorses behind this effort and deserve a tremendous amount of appreciation and recognition their continual and relentless pursuit of creating the best design possible. The project could not have happened without them and I hope this good news makes all those long and late nights worth the effort.
The second group which had to rush into action during the last 2 weeks of the project because the designer and the first group kept changing things and nothing was getting done. This team of El Mutaz, Robin, Jobel, and Ahmed showed excellent commitment to a project that they knew nothing about but had to work on in order for us to get it done. Each one played an important role in getting unresolved things working so that the design could look complete. Their efforts gave us the extra horse power we needed during the last couple of weeks and it means a lot to me to be able to get such great commitment so quickly.
The third group is Mathew and his crew…words really can’t describe what they mean to us. They stay as long as we do just in case something is needed and continually re-mount drawings which we make changes on without ever a complaint. They set up the entire presentation at the Arab Fund building two hours before and sneaked into as many of the other presentation as they could to tell me that all the other schemes were horrible! It was almost too easy for me to come in and simply describe what the project was as a result of their efforts. We all know what Mathew means to this organization and I was very excited that he was in the room during the presentation. I was just afraid that he would get angry with the committee if they said anything negative about our design, but thankfully, this did not happen. The excitement he felt after the presentation was very genuine and quite obviously, this quality and quantity of material does not just get produced without his brilliant organization skills and commitment. Special thanks to Abraham, Joe and Mohammad. I know it pains them to smile at me whenever they see me, but they do anyways and they are a wonderful group!!
Finally, there is always an incident in every project which you treasure the most and during KIA, this honor goes to Fizza who recently joined KEO as a young architect. Seeing the amount of work and hours that were being put into the project during the last few weeks, she insisted that she would come in both days of her weekend to help out. So during the week, she worked late nights on BARWA and on the final weekend before the submission, she spent easily 14 hours a day on Thursday and on Friday to help out on the final presentation boards. Her parents had to come pick her up at 1am in the morning after we had to force her to go home! Her unselfish attitude and hard work is very special and will always be something we will never forget.
You all have done a great job! Congrats to all of you.
Raj Patel
Pricipal designer
KEO International Consultant