Hamad ‘calls’ to preserve Kuwait’s historical buildings
Young Hamad’s favorite pastime art and design
This is the second and the last in a series of articles on Hamad Jassem Al Fawaz an open-minded, highly educated, dynamic young architect, owner of his own company and a passionate about his family history.
HBy Lidia Qattan
— Editor
amad Al Fawaz was born on March 8th 1982, in many ways he is a reminder of the old enterprising Kuwaiti spirit that made the country prosperous and renowned throughout the Gulf region long before the oil entered the equation and transformed the life and spirit of the country!
In the eighties, at the time Hamad was growing up, Kuwait was undergoing radical changes triggered by the Iran-Iraq war and its deleterious effects on the Gulf region. Kuwait in particular suffered more than any other of the GCC countries because of its closeness to the war-zone and because of its sympathizing with Iraq in the conflict. Hence it was made to suffer heavy retaliation from Iran, beginning the so called Tankers’ war that prompted Kuwait to reflag its ships under the USA and Russia protection; it also suffered from terrorists attacks that rocked the country.
Soon after the Iran-Iraq war ended with the humiliation of Iraq, which was reduced to near bankruptcy, the Iraqi regime invaded Kuwait on the 2nd of August 1990, to get at its riches.
The Iraqi invasion and the aftermath of that painful episode in the history of Kuwait disintegrated the feeling of community that sparked among its people during the invasion, but faded away soon after the liberation, when people wrapped in their own priorities became more materialistic. The spreading of corruption triggered a state of quasi apathy that affected the whole tenor of life. But in spite of the deterioration in the method of teaching in government schools, Hamad and his siblings were never sent to private ones, because according to his father’s belief “A student is smart wherever he goes to private or government schools”.
Spurred by his parents to study hard Hamad was an “A” student throughout his school days, but the effect of the education he had in Kuwait was felt later-on when he went to the USA to continue his higher education. Hamad was still in high school when he made up his mind to study architecture, since he were a little boy art and design were his favorite pastime, in growing up architecture took his interest. At graduation with a high GPA, he got a scholarship to study abroad. He was a seventeen years old teenager when he went to the USA; his first shock in attending University was discovering that no one informed him about the schedule of enrollment at the College of Architecture in Pennsylvania. To avoid losing one year and his scholarship Hamad took the advice of his cousin studying at the Oklahoma State University, to send his application, he was accepted.
Life in the States was radically different from the one Hamad experienced at home. Coming from a very strict family surrounding, the contrast was for him an open mind experience, a fresh-air breath of intellectual and personal freedom that took him by storm, spurring him to try everything within the limits of his religious and cultural upbringing of which he felt proud.
His knowledge of the English language was poor, so his first year abroad was not of his standard as a student, especially when he became involved in the Arab Students organization. In discovering the corruption and hypocrisies in that organization, he left it and formed his own group of congenial friends, but realizing that his involvement with the group was affecting his study, he left it.
The time Hamad spent in the States was for him an open-mind experience that engendered new feeling of commitments and understanding of the true values he had always taken for granted and made him to look at life in a broader perspective and dimension.
At graduation in 2006 with a BS degree in Architectural Engineering, Hamad didn’t attended the graduation ceremony in protest, because George Bush was the guest of honor and he was contrary to his policy in the Middle East.
At his return home with soaring dreams and expectations, as every fresh graduate feels when coming home from abroad, Hamad thought to apply for a job in the private sector to gain first-hand experience, but in choosing one of the top firms in the country he was let down.
When he confided with his uncle, Fawaz
Lidia Qattan
about the incident, his uncle advised him to apply for a job in a middle-sized company where he would gain a wider experience, than working in a big firm that only gave him a routine job.
Taking his uncle’s advice Hamad applied at the Integrated Project Management & Consultancy Company, in which one of his cousins was a silent partner. Working with him as a Junior Designer-Architect Hamad got engaged in designing buildings for the KOC (Kuwait Oil Company) as well as private villas and chalets.
Firm
A quick learner and focused in everything he was doing Hamad soon became a team member in design for the ABK (Ahli Bank of Kuwait) and for the NBK (the National Bank of Kuwait). In the meantime while accompanying his cousin, he mastered new concepts in following-up and obtaining needed permits from the Kuwait Municipality and from the Fire Brigade Department. He also became skilled in preparing and rewriting contracts and construction specifications according to client and firm requirements, and he gained firsthand experience working as a site engineer at the Desman International School extension and at the NBK (National Bank of Kuwait) branch in Rumaitheya.
Hamad’s total salary in his first year as a junior architect amounted to KD 740: he was getting KD 500 from the company he was working with and an additional KD 240 from the government, to encourage privatization. His salary jumped to KD 1,100 plus the extra KD from the government, when he moved to the Joun Real Estate Company in 2008, as an Assistant Manager at the Asset Management Department.
There he was dealing with business consultation for massive real estate development projects and buildings maintenance. Working well under pressure Hamad soon became experienced in syndications and getting loans from international Banks for his company’s projects.
Appreciated for his good leadership qualities and hard work Hamad became a team leader in the company’s main projects in Fujairah, UAE and a team Committee Leader and Coordinator for saving company assets in Fujairah, in Syria and in Egypt. He also became a team member in the legal committee to bypass all legal obligations in securing asset income and ownership. since then his enterprise has been gaining a good reputation in the market and is getting stronger.
Besides running his company in 2012, Hamad started working at the Kuwait Dynamics Limited for Contracting and Logistics as Technical and Business Development Manager, and became involved in a multitude of projects both in public and private sectors that broadened his field of understanding and expertise. He also became Member of the Architectural and Design team and Head of the Committee of Construction Management and Financial probability of various projects.
Hamad’s growing knowledge and expertise gained him the position of Head Committee Management Guidance and Direction of other project engineers, which ensures that clients and their projects receive personal attention and the best quality delivery.
Besides working at the Kuwait Dynamic Limited and in his own company, Hamad became a consultant at the Youth Ministry for Engineering, Design offices. Besides his growing engagements he also writes in his electronic block, expressing his ideas and opinions on social, political and religious issues.
Recently, in his concern to preserve for posterity buildings worthy of preservation because of their historical or architectural values, he started writing a book on “Architecture and Politics” in which he discloses the indifference of local authorities in the Middle East in preserving the past. Incidentally in his concern for the preservation of the historical past of his country Hamad Al Fawaz echoes the struggle of other young architects in the midfifties in Kuwait when they were warning through their writings and lectures of the loss of its cultural heritage posterity would suffer when the old Kuwaiti City was being systematically destroyed to make way for a new modern one.
Too late old timers realized the loss of the Firig they used to live in and the places they used to play and gather. Recently an attempt has been made to bring back the memory in creating the “Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Village”, for holiday makers, to give them a glimpse of what used to be a typical Kuwaiti Ferij. Obviously it is only an attempt in giving an idea of what in structure it used to be, but devoid of the strong spirit of community that pervaded the original.
Concluded