DE-lab

11/09/2026

Genius Loci 6 – Winners Announcement
Form by Code – From Chat to a Space

De-LAB, Faculty of Engineering – Ain Shams University, is delighted to announce the final results of Genius Loci 6: Form by Code – From Chat to a Space, organized by De-LAB and proudly sponsored by Archigen.

This edition challenged students to explore a different way of thinking about architectural design: beginning with an idea and a spatial concept, translating them into design language and parametric rules, and ultimately using Archigen GEN.FORM to transform those intentions into coded, editable architectural form.

The competition placed particular emphasis not only on the final image, but on the complete design journey:

Idea → Slogan → Design Language → Parameters → Architectural Expression → Chat-to-Code → Form → Space

The participating teams documented their GEN.FORM prompts, iterations, parameter changes, decisions, working files, screen recordings, and final architectural outcomes, allowing the jury to evaluate both the quality of the final proposal and the intelligence of the process behind it.

After the final jury review, we are pleased to announce the results.

🥇 FIRST PLACE
Team 18 — The QuadBit

Team Members

Noraan Sameh Mostafa
Rawan Ali Sabry
Shahd Mohamed Baiomy
Sama Ahmed

Congratulations to The QuadBit for achieving First Place in Genius Loci 6.

🥈 SECOND PLACE
Team 17 — The Grid

Team Members

Mariam Ahmed Ibrahim El Kotb
Menna Tallah Sherif Zaghloul El Shimy
Yousef Hamdy Yousef Moawad

Congratulations to The Grid for achieving Second Place.

🥉 THIRD PLACE
Team 11 — Morph

Team Members

Rana Amr Mohamed Fahmy
Allaa Muhammed Elsaid Zaki

Congratulations to Morph for achieving Third Place.

JURY MENTIONS

In addition to the three winning positions, the Jury selected a group of distinguished submissions for Jury Mention, recognizing the quality of their design thinking, architectural expression, experimentation, process development, and overall competition performance.

Jury Mentions are presented without internal ranking.

Team 01 — Algoform
Esraa Appas Khalil Apayazid
Malak Ahmed Mohamed Abd Elraheem
Youssef Khaled Mohamed Abd Elraheem
Rawan Hesham Mohamed Mohamed

Team 04 — Designed by Trio
Eman Safwat Yahia Moslih
Farah Shareef Abdou Hossameldin
Heba Osama Mostafa Fahmy

Team 06 — Forma Nova Studio
Mariam Osama Hammam Abdullah
Raneem Medhat Nabil Abdelaziz
Qamar Yossry Mostafa Aboellel
Nour Waleed Mohammed Zaki

Team 08 — HenGai
Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Alyan
Soumia Siddig Mohyeldin Siddig
Nagham Ahmed Gharieb Sayed Ahmed
Pola Walid Gamil Ghatas

Team 12 — OrigO
Alaa Metwaly Salem Mohamed
Hala Salah Abdelrahman Mostafa
Hana Ali Lotfy Mohamedein
Zienab Othman Wahba Salem

Team 13 — OSES
Omar Hussien Karam
Shahd Omar Ali Elzoghby
Sama Mohamed Hosney Elsaid
Eslam Mohamed Kamel

Team 21 — The Blue Print
Yousef Alaa Mohammed
Salma Mahmoud Mohammed
Khaled Wael Mohammed
Mariem Mahmoud Mohammed
Jury Committee

De-LAB extends its sincere appreciation to our distinguished Jury Committee for their time, expertise, thoughtful evaluation, and valuable contribution to the competition:

Prof. Dr. Hazem Eldaly
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Ezzeldin
Dr. Abdulrahman Ayman
Dr. Ahmed Nady
Eng. Mohamed Darwish
Eng. Mohamed Elalfy

Their diverse academic, architectural, computational, and professional perspectives were an essential part of the evaluation process.

Competition Organizer

Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem
De-LAB – Design Experimentation Lab
Faculty of Engineering – Ain Shams University

Sponsored by Archigen

A special acknowledgment goes to Archigen for sponsoring Genius Loci 6 and supporting this experiment in the emerging relationship between architectural intelligence, AI, parametric design, and chat-to-code form generation.

Through Archigen GEN.FORM, students were challenged not simply to ask AI for an architectural image, but to communicate architectural intentions, develop rules, control parameters, generate iterations, and progressively construct a form through conversation and code.

That distinction was central to this year's competition:

Do not only prompt the image. Prompt the architecture.

To All Participants

We are extremely pleased with the level of experimentation, curiosity, commitment, and design ambition demonstrated throughout the competition.

Every team went through a process of translating an abstract idea into a structured architectural system—testing alternatives, making decisions, confronting technical limitations, documenting iterations, and learning how emerging AI tools can become part of a genuine architectural design process.

Genius Loci 6 was therefore not simply a competition for the most attractive final form.

It was an experiment in a new architectural workflow:

**A slogan becomes a concept.

A concept becomes parameters.
Parameters become form.
Form becomes space.**

Congratulations to our three winning teams, our Jury Mention teams, and to all students who participated in Genius Loci 6.

We look forward to continuing the Genius Loci journey and pushing the boundaries of architectural design, computation, technology, and artificial intelligence even further.

De-LAB Team
Genius Loci 6 — Form by Code
From Chat to a Space
Sponsored by ArchiGen

30/08/2026

🎓 Graduation Project Spotlight | DE-Lab

We are pleased to showcase Digital Roots Community Campus, a graduation project developed by Sara Mohamed Ali Mahmoud Abdou.

Proposed on a Nile island in Maghagha, Minya, Digital Roots is an agri-tech academy and community hub where farmers become the primary students.

The project responds to challenges including low incomes, literacy gaps, low crop yields, water waste, and seasonal flooding. Beginning with local farming realities, the project develops through research, testing, and training before returning knowledge to the community through public learning and engagement.

Digital Roots explores how architecture can become an active platform for connecting technology, agriculture, education, and local communities.

🔹 Student: Sara Mohamed Ali Mahmoud Abdou
📧 Email: [email protected]
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-abdou-105729276/
🎨 Behance: https://www.behance.net/saraabdou

This project is part of the ongoing academic and research activities of the Design Experimentation Lab (DE-Lab), Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.

For more information and collaboration inquiries:

Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem
DE-Lab Director
📧 [email protected]

29/08/2026

🎓 Graduation Project Spotlight | DE-Lab

We are pleased to showcase After The Burn, a graduation project developed by Shahd Haytham.

After The Burn reimagines industrial architecture by transforming a conventional factory into a civic destination.

Rather than occupying the Nile waterfront with inaccessible industrial buildings, the project's production facilities are relocated underground. This allows the ground level to become an open public landscape that reconnects people with the river.

Elevated research, exhibition, and educational spaces create a transparent dialogue between industry and society, allowing visitors to experience the journey of rice straw recycling while public life, environmental awareness, and innovation coexist within a single architectural framework.

🔹 Student: Shahd Haytham
📧 Email: [email protected]
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahd-haytham-noureldeen-258958279/
🎨 Behance: https://www.behance.net/shahdhaytham

This project is part of the ongoing academic and research activities of the Design Experimentation Lab (DE-Lab), Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.

For more information and collaboration inquiries:

Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem
DE-Lab Director
📧 [email protected]

28/08/2026

🎓 Graduation Project Spotlight | DE-Lab

We are pleased to showcase SYNTROPY, a graduation project developed by Reina Yasser.

SYNTROPY is an integrated agro-industrial logistics ecosystem built on a Nile island in Beheira Governorate, Egypt, designed to eliminate the two root causes of the region's catastrophic 30–40% annual post-harvest loss: the vibration and heat damage of road freight, and the complete absence of cold chain infrastructure. By replacing trucks entirely with Nile barges — which deliver zero vibration, stable temperatures, 93% lower carbon emissions, and 90–95% lower fuel costs per tonne-kilometre — and routing all produce through a single linear circulation spine from marine staging through sorting, QA certification, geothermal-cooled cold chain storage, and outgoing dispatch bays directly to a community market, SYNTROPY creates the unbroken Farm-to-Global supply chain that Beheira has never had. The cold chain itself is powered by the sun and cooled by the earth — a ground-source geothermal heat pump network drawing on the island's stable 18–22°C alluvial ground temperature delivers a Coefficient of Performance of 4.4, consuming 60% less energy and producing 95% fewer carbon emissions than conventional refrigeration, with the 3MW rooftop solar array covering 85% of the system's electricity demand. Branching off the operational spine without interrupting it, an Agricultural Heritage Exhibition and Museum makes visible to every visitor, farmer, and policymaker exactly why logistics and cold chain infrastructure matter. The measurable outcomes of this infrastructure are a 75% reduction in post-harvest loss by Year 10, a 55% increase in average farmer income, 9–36 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent methane emissions avoided annually, 400 formal jobs paying 2.3 times the local informal agricultural wage, 500 certified training graduates, and 2,600 community market visitors per day accessing fresh certified produce at 15–25% below informal market prices — making SYNTROPY not merely a logistics project but the foundational infrastructure of a regional food system that should have been built a generation ago.

🔹 Student: Reina Yasser
📧 Email: [email protected]
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reina-khial-81ab45220
🎨 Behance: https://www.behance.net/rinakhaial

This project is part of the ongoing academic and research activities of the Design Experimentation Lab (DE-Lab), Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.

For more information and collaboration inquiries:

Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem
DE-Lab Director
📧 [email protected]

27/08/2026

🎓 Graduation Project Spotlight | DE-Lab

We are pleased to showcase Nile Wheat Nexus, a graduation project developed by Andrew Ashraf Wasfy Habib.

Egypt imports more than half of the wheat it consumes, making food security a critical national challenge. Nile Wheat Nexus addresses this issue by focusing not only on increasing production, but also on reducing losses across the entire wheat value chain.

The project proposes an urban-scale applied research, pilot-demonstration, and knowledge-transfer campus that brings together research, testing, training, certification, policy support, and public communication into one integrated seed-to-bread improvement pipeline. The project aims to transform real challenges into practical protocols, standards, dashboards, and training programs.

🔹 Student: Andrew Ashraf Wasfy Habib
📧 Email: [email protected]
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewashraff/
🎨 Behance: https://www.behance.net/andrewashraff

This project is part of the ongoing academic and research activities of the Design Experimentation Lab (DE-Lab), Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.

For more information and collaboration inquiries:

Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem
DE-Lab Director
📧 [email protected]

03/07/2026

Genius Loci 6: Form by Code – From Chat to a Space

De-LAB is pleased to announce the launch of Genius Loci 6, sponsored by Archigen, under the theme:

Form by Code
From Chat to a Space

This year’s challenge invites UG2023 students to explore a new architectural design paradigm, where a simple geometric idea becomes an architectural space through chat-based instructions, coded form generation, and controlled transformations using Archigen GEN.FORM.

Participants will design an urban pavilion as a spatial algorithm, moving from primitive forms, design rules, and coded operations toward a meaningful architectural space.

Competition Timeline
Competition announcement: 01/07/2026
Registration deadline: 15/07/2026
Submission: 10/08/2026
Winners announcement: 15/08/2026

Participation
Teams of 3–4 students
3-week training opportunity for UG2023- UG2018 students
Final submission: 2 A2 digital landscape boards

Registration Form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeD8lcvb4SIdvnMrCI7Gd8m8RLwsxtkBqDo9ZiZT54Q0i-HMQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Important note: Each student must register individually on the SIS.

Free subscription for ASU students.

Stay tuned for the workshops, jury announcement, and further details.

De-LAB Team
www.de-lab.org
[email protected]

23/06/2026

🎓 DE-Lab 2026 Graduation Project Closing Ceremony
Monday 22 / 6 / 2026

Resilient Nile Futures: Co-Designing Cairo 2050 with Symbiotic City Agents

Congratulations to the DE-Lab 2026 Graduation Group on the successful completion of this year’s graduation project.

This year, DE-Lab explored a new frontier in architectural education and design research. Rather than using AI as a tool for image generation alone, the 2026 graduation project reimagined AI as an active design partner — one capable of supporting negotiation, testing scenarios, revealing hidden relationships, and expanding the architect’s ability to think across environmental, urban, social, and cultural dimensions.

Under the theme Resilient Nile Futures: Co-Designing Cairo 2050 with Symbiotic City Agents, students investigated how architecture can move beyond static solutions toward adaptive, intelligent, and context-aware futures. The project positioned the Nile not only as a geographic and environmental system, but as a living framework where ecology, identity, development, and human needs must continuously interact.

At the core of this year’s work was a bold idea:
the future architect is not replaced by AI — but empowered by it.
AI becomes a medium for deeper understanding, sharper evaluation, wider exploration, and more informed design decisions.

Through this approach, students learned to work with AI agents as collaborators — simulating diverse needs, balancing competing priorities, and transforming complexity into meaningful architectural and urban visions. This year’s project was not only about designing forms; it was about designing relationships, systems, futures, and decisions.

🔹 Resilient Nile Futures
🔹 Adaptive Islands and Riverfronts
🔹 AI Agents for Architectural Design Negotiation and Co-Creation

We extend our sincere appreciation to all those who honored us with their presence and contributed to the success of the final jury and closing ceremony.

Honored Guests & Jury Members

Invited Professors from Other Universities and Institutions
Prof. Dr. Alaa Elmandour – Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University
Prof. Dr. Sahar Morsy – Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University
Prof. Dr. Ahmed Atef – Dean of Engineering and Business, CIC – Canadian International College
Prof. Dr. Doaa Kamal – Vice Dean of Community Service & Environment Development, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Future University in Egypt
Prof. Dr. Mona Helmy – Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, The British University in Egypt
Prof. Dr. Passaint Massoud – Head of Environmental & Sustainable Architecture Department, The British University in Egypt
Prof. Dr. Sherif Ahmed – Professor of Architecture, Military Technical College
Dr. Hossam Bahgat – Architecture Engineering Department, El Shorouk Academy
Dr. Mazin Abdul Karim – Arab Academy for Science and Technology

Senior Professionals from Industry and Practice
Eng. Mohamed Nada – Technical Director, Hassan Allam Holding
Eng. Mohamed Ramadan – Digital Delivery Director, Hassan Allam Construction
Eng. Waleed Gamal – Design Director, MIMAR
Eng. Raouf Abdelnaby – CEO, RDS Architecture
Eng. Taher Saeed – CEO, CAD Masters
Dr. Sherif Hazem Mansour – Advisor to the Minister for Facility Management, Ministry of Finance, Egypt

Senior Professors from the Architectural Engineering Department, Ain Shams University
Prof. Dr. Ali Elfaramawy
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Gabr
Prof. Dr. Gamal Elkhouly
Prof. Dr. Galal Abada
Prof. Dr. Diaa Ibrahim
Prof. Dr. Tamer Elgabaly
Prof. Dr. Mohamed El-Fayoumi – Urban Design and Planning Department
Dr. Ahmed Safwat
Dr. Ayman Ramadan

Prof. Dr. Hazem Eldaly – Head of the Architectural Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University

DE-Lab Director:
Prof. Dr. Ayman Assem

DE-Lab Academic Team:
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Ezzeldin
A. Prof. Dr. Abdulrahman Ayman Fahmy
Eng. Ahmed Nady
Eng. Mohamed Darwish
Eng. Mohamed Alaa
Eng. Mahmoud Tarek
Eng. Nouran Ahmed Ezz Eldin

Graduation Project Team
Eng. Abdalrahman Sherif Tarek Aly Ezzat Sakr
Eng. Abdelrahman Mohamed Ahmed Hassan Helal
Eng. Abdelrahman Yasser Gamal El Din
Eng. Andrew Ashraf Wasfy Habib
Eng. Clara George Shaker
Eng. Fatma Sayed Hassan
Eng. Mazen Osama Baioumy Abdelghani
Eng. Mohamed Khaled Abd Elghany
Eng. Omar Walid Mohammed
Eng. Reina Yasser Ali Elsayid Khial
Eng. Sara Mohamed Ali Mahmoud
Eng. Shahd Ahmed Ahmed Abdo Alabbasy
Eng. Shahd Haytham Sayed
Eng. Youstina Samy Foraize Hafez

👏 A very special thanks to our students — for your commitment, intelligence, resilience, and vision throughout this journey. Your work reflects a new generation of architects who can navigate complexity, direct intelligent tools, and imagine adaptive futures with creativity, responsibility, and purpose.

🌿 We also extend our gratitude to all faculty members, guests, jurors, and professionals whose valuable feedback and support enriched this year’s experience.

📍 DE-Lab continues to explore the future of architectural education through computation, AI, experimentation, and design innovation.
✨ Stay tuned for more details, highlights, and snapshots from the project journey.

16/10/2025

12/10/2025

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.

16/09/2025

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

VITALIS — City as a Living Organism
A self-sufficient desert city grown from slime-mold intelligence (Physarealm)

We are proud to present VITALIS, a new urban model for Moghra Oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert. The city’s structure is generated through agent-based slime-mold simulations that organize movement and program into a clear hierarchy, while an algae-driven circular economy links production, energy, water, and waste so every output becomes the next input. A triangular modular system stabilizes deconstructed forms and scales seamlessly from buildings to districts, with VR (Unreal Engine) used to evaluate massing and interior experience at real scale.
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🎯 Objective

Design a scalable, self-sufficient settlement where biological intelligence shapes circulation and closed-loop systems power a resilient, algae-centered economy.
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🏛 Key Features
🔹Generative Circulation Network (L0/L1/L2):
A three-tier system emerges from Physarealm: L0 Green Heart (ecological corridors and shaded public space), L1 Pedestrian Spine (human-scale connectivity and plazas), and L2 Service/Vehicle Network (logistics with minimal conflict). Nodes anchor civic, research, and production hubs.

🔹Triangular Modular System:
A robust triangular module delivers structural stability, clean spans, and flexible aggregation—supporting VITALIS’s expressive, deconstructed architecture.

🔹Circular Economy Engine:
Algae cultivation → processing → biomaterials/bio-fuel/nutrition → waste valorization → water & energy feedback. Interdependent loops reduce imports and lock resources into a citywide metabolism.

🔹Layered Urban Morphology:
Green corridors braid through plazas and paths; pedestrian routes stitch clusters; utilities and production loops run in protected belts; architectural canopies and courtyards temper microclimate and guide wayfinding.

🔹VR-Guided Design:
Unreal Engine (VR) tests walkability, sightlines, and interior comfort inside complex forms, refining both public realm and building layouts.
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💡 Design Journey

⿡ Criteria-led Site Selection:
Moghra Oasis chosen for algae biodiversity and its suitability to support a circular economy—prioritizing resource availability and closed-loop feasibility.

⿢ Simulation-Led Layout:
Physarealm generates and ranks paths, lengths, and nodes; this hierarchy seeds zoning, services, and public space.

⿣ Program & Structure Calibration:
Adjacency rules align living, research/production, logistics, and green/blue systems; the triangular module standardizes spans and fabrication logic.

⿤ Human-in-the-Loop Refinement:
Real-scale VR informs interior articulation and deconstructed envelopes, ensuring the algorithmic plan performs spatially.

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🌍 Why It Matters

VITALIS translates biology into urban logic and algae into economy, offering a pragmatic path for regenerative desert living where ecology, infrastructure, and community co-evolve.

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

Mahmoud Ezzat

Sama Mohsen

Fatma Elboghdadi

Alaa Mohamed

Rana Medany

🏫 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.