WSU EUNOIA Volume II

NEW FACULTY TEACHING AWARD
Omar Al-Hassawi is the first WSU recipient of the annual teaching award since 1990.
“This teaching award reflects his command of
teaching craft and genuine care for the future
success of our graduates.”
UNDER THE BRIDGE
JHOANA AVANTE | JOVANNIE LAFORGA | JOSE BECERRA
HACK-A-HOUSE COMPETITION | FALL 2020
Generating innovative ideas
to create affordable housing in
any desired area of the world
was the given challenge. The
island of O’ahu, HI is home to
two of the poorest cities in the
nation. To assist with lowering
the cost of the design, existing
structures were utilized, as well
as an invasive tree species on the
island for the primary material.
Omar Al-Hassawi, Assistant Professor
of School of Design + Construction
and Graduate Head of the WSU
Architecture Program, recieved the
American Institute of Architecture
Students and Association of Collegiate
Schools of Architecture (ACSA) New
Faculty Teaching Award.
The award honors early career,
architecture faculty members who
demonstrate excellence in teaching
performance. ACSA is an international
association of architecture schools
and represents about 7,000 faculty
who teach more than 40,000 students
in the U.S. and Canada.
Al-Hassawi, Assistant Professor in the
School of Design and Construction,
teaches graduate design studios and a
passive environmental control systems
course. He is the first WSU recipient
of the annual teaching award since
1990.
In Al-Hassawi’s courses, students
have designed projects ranging from
affordable homeless shelters
and a mixed-use development using
mass timber to a memorial for a WSU
alumnus who died during Operation
Desert Storm.
In 2018, Al-Hassawi and Professor
Ayad Rahmani led students on a
trip to Jordan as part of the School
of Design and Construction course,
Global Engagement in Design and
Construction. A team of his students
won a national prize for their design
of a waste to energy power plant,
and another student received an
honorable mention in an international
competition for his project to transform
cities through sustainability and use of
renewable resources.
Earlier this year, Al-Hassawi
and his colleague, David Drake,
received a grant from VentureWell to
support curriculum development for
courses in sustainable building and
entrepreneurship. The grant was one of
13 awarded from throughout the U.S.
Al-Hassawi’s research has focused
on passive cooling systems that can
be applied to building design by
architects. He practiced architecture
across the Middle East and was
involved in the design of key projects
in the region such as the Capital
Market Authority Tower in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian
Embassy in Amman, Jordan. He holds
a PhD in Design, Environment, and the
Arts from Arizona State University, a
Master of Architecture from University
of Arizona, and a bachelor’s degree
from University of Jordan.
“Omar inspires student success
through rigorously designed courses
infused with his optimism for how
architecture can benefit society,”
said Matt Melcher, Associate
Professor in the School of Design and
Construction and one of Al-Hassawi’s
nominators.
52 53
volume ii
eunoia