←
Her practice critically examines the intersections of architecture, identity, and narrative, focusing on how urban environments and built forms embody layered cultural memory—particularly in the Gulf region and within diasporic contexts. Through archival research and experimental media, Abdal explores how space, language, and image operate as vehicles for cultural storytelling and memory preservation.
In 2023, she contributed to Kuwait’s National Pavilion at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, where she designed and published the essay Desert Architecture: Diction a Design Methodology. At the 19th Biennale (2025), her brutalist drawings from The Architectural Printscape were exhibited, extending her ongoing investigation into Kuwait’s built environment.
Her writing appears in Kahf Magazine (2025), where she adapted a section of her MFA thesis The Architectural Printscape, and in Prattfolio (2025), which featured her speculative project Genesis: A Bacterial Taxonomy. This project examines contaminated sites in Kuwait through a lens of ecological paradox, blending science and storytelling to reimagine nature and contamination.
In Interior Design Magazine (April 2021), Abdal presented A House and 7 Doors, a modular emergency housing proposal inspired by the Beirut Port explosion and refugee crisis, underscoring her belief in art and architecture as tools for political and humanitarian intervention.
Her work has been recognized with the Social Justice & Sustainability Award – Research/Scholarship (2025) for The Architectural Printscape, honoring excellence in design research at Pratt Institute’s Fifth Annual Social Justice & Sustainability Awards. She also received the Communication Design Graduate – Excellence in Academic Achievement Award (2025) for outstanding creative leadership and scholarly performance across research, practice, and critical inquiry.
Abdal’s current research continues to investigate Kuwait’s architectural heritage as a vital case study in Gulf modernity and cultural identity.
Resume
Portfolio