Ali Kadir: Designing for Humans
This discussion features Dubai-based architect and designer Ali Kadir. Anna Robb dives into Ali’s multidisciplinary approach to architecture, blending physical craft, digital fabrication, and storytelling. From founding Bender3D to exploring responsive environments, Ali shares how tools like 3D printing, AI, and AR are reshaping the design process. He also reflects on cultural contrasts between the UK and Dubai, the role of messiness in creativity, and how the next generation of architects can think critically and design with empathy.
A Frustration that Sparked Innovation
For Ali Kadir, traditional architectural processes often felt limiting. During university, he found himself searching for ways to represent the emotional and physical atmosphere of a site in Edinburgh—something beyond drawings and models. His solution came through data collection and 3D printing.
“The geometries became very complex and layered, which pushed me toward 3D printing. That’s where it all began.”
From this curiosity, Bender3D was born—a venture rooted in merging environmental data, human experience, and generative technology to build responsive spatial forms.
Digital Tools: Enhancing, Not Replacing, the Human Element
While Ali is deeply immersed in digital innovation, he’s quick to clarify the role of tools like AI and generative design.
“Once a designer knows they’ve already overcome the buildability challenge, it opens up their creativity.”
He sees AI as a powerful aid for iteration and ideation, especially for data-driven design or spatial programming. But ultimately, architecture remains a human practice—and AI, he says, lacks the empathy to fully replace the human role in spatial storytelling.
Architecture as Storytelling
Ali’s approach to design is rooted in narrative and emotion. Rather than beginning with form or function, he starts with the human story embedded in the site.
“Each pocket of space contains a story… It’s important to look at the story of the people first, then morph the space based off that.”
He believes that the experience of a place—its geometry, its transformation across the day, its interaction with people—should emerge from the needs and stories of its users. Whether it’s a plaza, a ceiling, or a wall, every element should adapt and respond.
Cultural Contrast: London vs. Dubai
Having lived and worked in both the UK and the UAE, Ali shared his observations about how culture and climate shape city life—and by extension, design.
In cities like London, the same streetscape morphs throughout the day, from morning cafés to evening pubs. In contrast, Dubai’s urban flow is more segmented—defined by air-conditioned malls and car travel, often lacking that street-level spontaneity.
“In London, one streetscape can completely transform across the day… In Dubai, it’s more about destination-based spaces.”
Still, Ali sees opportunity: from making Dubai more walkable to integrating kinetic and AR-driven design to create hybrid environments.
The Future of Design: Critical Thinking Over Perfection
When mentoring young designers, Ali encourages both experimentation and messiness.
“Let your workflows and sketches be messy… It’s all part of the process.”
He cautions against perfectionism, especially when precision becomes a barrier to creativity. More importantly, he emphasizes critical thinking—asking why something is designed a certain way, and for whom.
He also urges emerging professionals to break away from rigid typologies and discover new uses for their skills:
“Think outside the box in a way that allows your abilities to be reshaped and applied to different people or purposes.”
What Comes After Nightclubs? Reimagining Social Spaces
In a light-hearted but insightful exchange, Anna and Ali discussed the cultural shift away from nightclubs in cities like London—and what these social spaces might become.
Ali envisions adaptable venues: gathering parks by day, immersive digital hubs by night. Spaces that merge the physical and virtual—like AR-enhanced zones for tourism or gaming lounges that still offer in-person connection.
“The digital and physical are morphing into one… and culture should guide how we shape space.”
Final Thoughts: Creative Freedom and Designing for Connection
When asked what he loves most about his work, Ali didn’t hesitate: it’s the creative freedom. The ability to lose himself in a space and reimagine it from the ground up.
What would he change about the industry?
“Our obsession with perfection. It doesn’t always mean good design.”
For Ali, the future of architecture is human. It’s about creating experiences—not just structures—and allowing the design process to remain open, rigorous, and alive with possibility.
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Editor's Note: At StageLync, an international platform for the performing arts, we celebrate the diversity of our writers' backgrounds. We recognize and support their choice to use either American or British English in their articles, respecting their individual preferences and origins. This policy allows us to embrace a wide range of linguistic expressions, enriching our content and reflecting the global nature of our community.
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