Q&A with RAYA ANI, Design Director RAW-NYC Architects (NYC, Dubai)

Named one of the most influential architects in the Middle East. Raya Ani is a multidisciplinary architect and urban designer with more than 25 years of international experience, having worked in Baghdad, Boston, Dubai, Germany, and New York City. She was the 2017 President of the American Institute of Architects-Middle East Chapter.

Her interests in melding innovation, sustainability, and technology, and her drive to empower and lead by example has resulted in her becoming the founder and design director of RAW-NYC Architects, an award-winning interdisciplinary studio based in New York City and Dubai. Raya was bestowed upon the title of Fellow American Institute of Architects for her excellence in design and outstanding contributions in the field of architecture.

Raya’s boundless energy to inspire and empower through her creative and strategic visions is seen in projects such as the Iraqi House of Creativity – a project she designed to empower orphaned Iraqi children by giving them a special world of their own. In addition, Raya created the opportunity for Iraq to be visible at a world expo by first lobbying for Iraq to participate and then designing the Iraq Pavilion, which is currently under construction.

With Raya, there is no coincidence! Her unparalleled creativity, thought-provoking strategies coupled with her broad architectural experience worldwide makes her truly effective at inspiring, motivating, creating and making things happen.

Q1. How do you see the COVID-19 pandemic influencing architecture? What kind of spaces can we expect to see created to live and work in?

The pandemic had more of an immediate influence on space planning with certain spatial preferences as well as a shift away from dense urban areas.

What have we been gravitating to?

During these COVID times, we are gravitating towards flexible and adaptable spaces. A desire for a home that is suited to work remotely. Adjustable spaces with walls and partitions that could give us visual and acoustic privacy are more appreciated.

Larger and malleable spaces that are ready to transform right before our eyes are currently in demand. Home nowadays carries the responsibility to be a home, to be an office, to be a café, to be an outdoor space, to be a gym, to be many more things besides being a house or an apartment.

What matters to us the most during this pandemic?

We need our home and offices to accommodate all our changing needs and moods. We might even prefer different aesthetics for every space to expand what might be a limited sensory environment during COVID. We are probably bored of being confined with the sameness.

Typically, homes are not tailored to function or feel like an office space, and transitions between a bedroom and a study area should be more than a corridor. We secretly demand that of our home, while our office needs to feel safe and comfortable with an option to work in isolation from others when needed.

We need buildings and spaces that compensate for our lost freedom.

Separated and segregated spaces are favored rather than spaces that flow into each other. As we are now hyper aware of cleanliness and our personal space, it has been important to ensure our protection from infected family members.

Outdoor spaces are becoming even more important and we need more of them, and with variety and more options of how we could experience them. 

Q2. If you were the Master Planner can you briefly describe how you envision the architecture of a futuristic Arabian city such as the Line in Neom?

This question reminded me of the master plan we did for Liberland in 2016.

At the end of 2015, I created the RAW-NYC initiative and assembled the “Live and Let Live” team for Liberland and the team structure was based on the book “The Ten Faces of Innovation” by Kelley. Strategists, environmentalists, architects, urbanists and economists assumed different roles on the initiative reflecting their experience and interest. We all believed in the idea of Liberland to embrace innovation, freedom and to provide equal opportunities to all.

The team collaborated in an interdisciplinary manner to craft the urban and architectural vision that balances density with quality of life while embracing economic, social values with the political system of Liberland for maximum freedom and entrepreneurial innovation.

It was designed as an algae-powered micro nation for self-empowering innovators. It focused on optimum population density coupled with unlimited physical and symbolic access, integrating the built and existing natural environment into an adaptable and resilient urban fabric.

We envisioned it in the form of an Inverted Archeology where it enables the city to leave the formwork of its historical buildup for generations to come. It is layered, where each layer functions as a mixed-use, walkable, connected, and compact city formed by highly adaptive modular structures.

So to maximize the available developable space within the seven square kilometer area, all public structures will serve multiple programs and thus allowing the community to be in flux. The resultant frame is ever-evolving as it grows vertically through self-sufficient horizontal stacks..

Spatially, the proposed car-free Master Plan creates transit-oriented developments around the three hubs. Each hub is a compact dense development around a major transit station, with diverse activities and programs ensuring seamless movement. Residential space is strategically located in each of these nodes providing easy access to businesses and services; residents can opt for multiple forms of residences maintaining their freedom to choose how and where to dwell. 

The Urban space we planned in Liberland was regenerative. It is powered in part by algae growing on the underside of each horizontal slab, with building integrated photovoltaics and rooftop solar arrays. The city also mitigates the heat island effect and rainwater runoff with vertical gardens and green roofs. We used rooftops to grow food resulting in the highest degree of self-sufficiency possible.

We wanted to achieve a zero-waste community by using state-of-the-art waste to energy generation facilities. Human, agricultural and organic waste is converted into biogas for cooking, while non-organic waste is used to power buildings. Each horizontal layer houses the completed set of urban services connecting major and minor centers of activity, and a network of pipes directs waste directly to recycling plants.

Since Liberland is Located in a floodplain, we embraced rising waters with floodable parks, rather than disrupt the natural water cycle with costly infrastructure. Irrigation ponds collect rising waters while maintaining public green spaces that are scattered throughout the city. We had a buffer zone along the coast integrating key floodplains while preserving an area for migratory and native birds. This way we are protecting the micro-nation’s ecosystem from flooding.

Q3. What advice do you have for contractors and suppliers in the region who are looking to leaders like yourself to create their post-pandemic business plans?

Many businesses were disrupted in fundamental ways. The future has never been predictable and we felt it more intensely since the start of COVID19 wave. The pandemic, however, has given us an opportunity to slow down, reflect, adjust, re-think, and re-strategize. It is a time where we were given a chance to evaluate what we have been doing regardless of what business we are in. It might be painful for some but I look at it as if we are developing a business muscle. We need to be Agile.

Opportunities are found in the hardest situations. A conventional business plan would not work in these types of situations, as we need an agile business plan beyond survival mode with built-in flexibility and adaptability. Contractors are probably struggling with ongoing interruption of work and constant revisions of deadlines.

Don’t commit to a business plan that limits you.

People who survive challenges and prosper are people who are not locked into a set of beliefs or systems that might have been effective in the past but no longer effective. That process of letting go of what you were accustomed to, the part that no longer works or serves, the holding to certain aspects of your business plans that delays you from seeing other opportunities whether in the pandemic or post- pandemic time.

I believe the need to have a live document, where your business plan gets updated regularly allowing the business to evolve and respond to shifting market conditions.

Create a strategy with options

Look at the architecture of the business and create strategies on certain aspects of the business.

A business strategy that could strive in this time no doubt has built-in flexibility and strategic innovative thinking. You might need investors to back up your company and you probably have to navigate unpredictable workflow, deadlines and ongoing disruption, cash flow, assets, liabilities and the balance of short term and long term staffing and the income vs the outgoing, control cost as well as finding ways to generate revenues.

Break up the challenge & collaborate

Keep the focus and break up the challenges into smaller pieces and try to tackle them one by one. If you don’t have those qualities, then it is about finding the person who could strategize towards agility. This requires a certain type of skill so seek it. Also you might want to think about collaborating with the right people.

I believe we all have to leverage what we got.

We have to first answer the right questions.

I would ask myself the following questions:

• Who are your future clients? Where are your client’s needs? Anticipating what your clients need and adapting accordingly is the key to emerging out of this period being more empowered.
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• What strategic moves are you required to take? Everyone will make a move and you need to assess what is your next move. How do you stand out from your competitors? Get the best people for these types of challenges.
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• What are the things you need to let go of? What sets you apart from your competitors? What do we now know? And how do we act? And what do we now know that we did not know last year?
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• What is your business about? What makes you stand out from the rest?
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• What can you provide to clients? What their needs are relative to what you can offer? And how quickly these solutions can come?
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• How does your business really make money? Who brings in the money and drives the business and what makes them the business drivers? Some things will change, some will stay, and some will transform. The critical part is to identify and differentiate between them.

Q4. Are there any major or exciting projects that you are currently working on?

One of the most challenging and meaningful projects I am currently working on is the Iraq Pavilion at Expo 2020. My journey with this project started back in December, 2018 and I am still working on it. 

I always have had a strong passion and commitment to empower Iraqis, to give them a choice, to make their voices heard. Therefore, for the pavilion design I ensured the involvement and the participation of the Iraqi public in choosing the design that best represents them, so I decided to create three different designs and let the public vote; Stories of Light, The colors of Iraq and Al Saliya which was uploaded on a website that was created with the help of Iraqi volunteers (www.Iraqpavilion.com).

Al Saliya design got the highest public vote by Iraqis. During that time, I was regularly communicating with the Expo 2020 team and reaching out to the Iraqi government. I was then invited by the Iraqi government to present the three designs where I explained how I engaged the public in the decision making process. I was very pleased when the jury from the government side also selected Al Saliya design. Iraq then officially signed in September 2019 to participate at Expo 2020.

Every one of the three designs is unique and they all achieve the purpose of creating a meaningful and iconic Pavilion for Iraq while celebrating Iraq’s rich history and highlighting the future potential of Iraq and its people. 

I did not stop there! As after I accomplished the above I wanted to make sure that we not only have a great design that the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people are excited about but also to make sure the content is in sync with the larger vision of the Iraq Pavilion which is to empower Iraqis in the public and private sector, to make Iraq visible and to open up opportunities and possibilities for Iraqis.

Throughout the process and due to the challenging circumstances Iraqi’s has been experiencing, I had to function beyond being an architect and a designer. I had to get involved in all aspects of the process including the content generated for the pavilion.

We are also working on a confidential project that we hope comes into reality soon. A project that could lay the groundwork for future possibilities. A project within which you could explore the beauty of space and the connection it establishes with nature, a place where you are inspired to grow and experience calmness.