American International University

American International University

American International University (AIU), located in Al Jahra (Kuwait), is a private institution that has been designed with a US Higher Education style, with a particular commitment to educating the next generation of Kuwaiti leaders.

This university, unlike its competitors, is located away from Kuwait City, a weakness that they have turned into one of their strengths, fostering a campus community and providing a wide range of amenities for all members.

AIU’s mission is to provide high-quality, relevant, and varied educational programs and opportunities for the intellectual, cultural, and personal growth of all members of its community.

Building

After five intensive months of construction and maximum attention to design, the American International University building in Kuwait has emerged as an aesthetically impressive campus that stands out as a welcoming and user-friendly campus that will serve students of multiple disciplines

Aesthetically, the educational complex, designed by NBBJ Design, offers large and expansive spaces to encourage creative thinking and collaboration. The campus also incorporates thoughtful cultural elements from Kuwait to anchor students and faculty in a sense of community

The design team, NBBJ Design, was directly inspired by a young group of Kuwaitis who planted 350,000 trees to help restore the natural landscape after decades of upheaval. According to Olivia Ryan of NBBJ design, “The architectural base embodies attributes of these desert trees through the exploration of warmth, pattern, canopy, and dappled light.”

Boasting over 4,000 square meters, the academic building is equipped with 32 classrooms, 14 computer labs, a library, a dining hall, a coffee shop, numerous recreation and service areas, prayer rooms, fitness rooms and an auditorium equipped with Figueras seats.

Product supplied

The auditorium of the American International University of Kuwait, with a capacity for more than 300 attendants, has been equipped with Figueras seats of the Sensó model. This seat, with a folding seat, is characterised by an elegant and compact design that allows maximum optimisation of space without sacrificing the comfort of a larger seat.

The Sensó seat has a totally silent automatic folding mechanism, specially designed for seats intended to equip auditoriums or performing arts centres, where guaranteeing a silent return of the seat when it is unoccupied becomes one of the top priorities in the search for the ideal seat for this type of spaces.

For this project, taking into account the needs of the attendees, a power socket and USB plugs have been added to the seat on one of the side panels, allowing the user to charge their computer or portable devices while attending one of the events held there.

One of the peculiarities of this auditorium is the variety of colours chosen to upholster the seats, with blue being the main colour and generating a contrasting effect with the warm tones of the walls and ceiling, as well as between the seats themselves. The choice of this monochromatic scale with different shades gives the space a sense of unity and harmony, also present in other elements of the complex, and generates the sensation of being in a unique and original space, totally in keeping with the rest of the building.