RepositoryCOMSATS UniversityLahore Campus
Communities in DSpace
Select a community to browse its collections.
Recent Submissions
JUSTICE AS SPECTACLE: Spatializing Power in the Post-Parliament Era
(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2026-06-30) EISHA KHALID; FA21-BAR-045; LHR TP 10184; MOEEZ HASAN
This thesis explores justice as a public performance rather than merely a legal function. It
investigates how power is expressed through visibility, circulation, surveillance, and spatial
hierarchy within judicial architecture. Instead of proposing a conventional courthouse, the project
imagines a future judicial complex that intentionally exposes how justice is staged, controlled,
interpreted, and concealed.
Inspired by the novel Namal, the thesis uses metaphors of light and darkness to translate themes
of truth, deception, morality, and hidden authority into architectural space. The design is organized
into Light, Grey, and Dark zones, where programs are divided according to how justice is publicly
performed, administratively processed, and privately enforced. Situated within Islamabad’s
political and symbolic landscape, the project critiques institutional power while exploring
architecture as a medium for revealing the visible and invisible structures behind justice.
CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2026-06-30) Syed Arif; FA21-BAR-042; LHR TP 10183; Moeez Hassan
This thesis has explored the link between music and architecture through a Conservatory
of Music designed on Pine Avenue Road, Lahore. The main purpose is to create modern
cultural institutions, where the sound is the main generator of spatial organization,
material choice, and user experience, in opposition to the classic functional zoning
conventions in the architectural practice.
The main idea is the development of sound intensity that characterises the project in three
overlapping zones: Education (low to medium), Production (high controlled), and
Performance (dynamic high). The gradient provides an architectural progression from
quiet, focused learning spaces, to precise, technical recording studios, to enveloping,
reverberant concert halls. Each zone is architecturally tuned to its own acoustic needs,
while keeping functionality and spatial continuity.
This thesis is built upon the famous quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “Architecture
is frozen music.” It explores how fundamental structures of music, such as rhythm,
melody, harmony and form, can be expressed in physical compositions of space. The
rhythm is repeating modular classrooms and structural bays. Melody is the sensation of
moving through the building one way. Harmony is the equilibrium between the solid and
the void, between the light and the shadow. The overall master plan is organized in the
logic of musical form.
The spatial and conceptual strategies are developed from case studies of precedent
projects such as Breathing Brick, Karachi, School of Music, Bucharest, House of Music,
Aalborg and Stretto House, Texas. These precursors are examples of successful
combinations of acoustic logic, material expression, and music-inspired design thinking.
The transition spaces work as acoustic pauses, and the master plan develops a spatial
crescendo from silence to sonic climax. The thesis concludes that architecture can be
“frozen music” indeed, translating rhythm, silence, and intensity into a meaningful
sequence of physical and experiential sequence, creating a new cultural landmark for
Lahore.
DESIGNING A CLIMATE PROSTHETIC
(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2026-06-30) Haseeb Ahmed; FA21-BAR-041; LHR TP 10182; Zeeshan Zaheer
Lahore, ranked consistently among the world's most polluted cities, faces an accelerating
environmental crisis driven by hazardous air quality, rising urban heat, declining green cover,
and the near-total absence of ecologically active public infrastructure. PM2.5 concentrations
regularly exceed WHO safe limits by twelve to twenty-five times, while the urban heat island
effect raises local temperatures three to five degrees Celsius above surrounding areas.
Despite the scale of this crisis, architecture in Lahore continues to function as a passive built
object, consuming environmental resources rather than contributing to ecological repair.
This thesis proposes an Environmental Regeneration Hub at Bab-e-Pakistan, Lahore — a site
of immense historical significance that currently remains ecologically inactive and
environmentally underperforming. Through an adaptive reuse strategy, the proposal
transforms the existing octagonal structure into an integrated ecological infrastructure
combining an EPA research laboratory, a seed bank, an experiential greenhouse, Miyawaki
urban forestry, and a central Voronoi titanium dioxide tower.
Embodied Earth: A Ceramics-Based Retreat Exploring Sensory Experience, Craft, and Human Growth
(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2026-06-30) TEHREEM NASRULLAH; FA21-BAR-038; LHR TP 10181
Contemporary urban environments are portrayed by high stress levels, sensory overload,
social disconnection, and decreasing levels of mental health. As urban life becomes increasingly
fast and technology driven, the individual is increasingly being removed from the tactile, lilting,
and creative experiences associated with living. This condition calls for an intervention that
addresses this situation and offers a form of healing. In this context, this thesis proposes a
Ceramic Retreat in Bani Gala, Islamabad, as an architectural environment that will facilitate a
therapeutic retreat through the use of ceramics, crafts, nature, and sensory immersion.
This thesis attempts to understand the connection between ceramics and human health
through the analysis of clay, which will be considered not just as an art and craft material but
also as a substance that could contribute to emotional grounding, mindfulness practices, physical
activity, and psychological recovery. The kneading, shaping, carving, drying, and firing process
facilitates focus, relaxation, and sensory modulation. At the same time, the qualities associated
with clay and earth allow for healthier physical spaces, due to their thermodynamic properties
and acoustic softness.
The location is set in the ecologically abundant setting of Bani Gala near Rawal Lake,
providing access to expansive views of the lake, diffused light, and serenity. Spatially, this
project employs courtyards, covered walkways, reflective gardens, partially enclosed workshops,
meditative spaces, and integration of living spaces within the landscape in order to foster the
gradual process of creation, contemplation, learning, and relaxation that underpin the retreat
experience. Architecturally, this is informed by the physical properties and behaviors of clay
itself, including layering, erosion, plasticity, texture, porosity, transformation.
This study is based on phenomenological theory, therapeutic architecture, environmental
psychology, material engagement, and vernacular sustainability, authors like Hassan Fathy,
Juhani Pallasmaa, Peter Zumthor, and Anupama kundoo contribute to this thesis through their
focus on sensory architecture, people first design, local materials and climatically responsive
building techniques. This study will result in the proposal of an architectural typology that
integrates aspects of craftsmanship, mental health, ecology, and cultural preservation, ultimately
elevating clay from its material function into a healing medium in contemporary architecture.
The Sports-Hospitality Anchor Resolving Urban Logistics and Security in Lahore’s International Cricket Circuit
(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2026-06-30) Hamza Ali; FA21-BAR-037; LHR TP 10180; Maira Khan
This is an architectural thesis that aims to conceive an integrated 5-star hotel complex within the historic
precinct of the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. Structural polarization is a problem in developing
countries with large and important sporting facilities that become crowded, energized and highly secure
during major sporting events and remain underused, silent and off-limits to the public on non-event days.
In addition, the presence of foreign sports teams in Lahore is often accompanied by catastrophic traffic
jams on the 7 km stretch of a Lahore transit road that connects the farthest hotels to the sports complex
because of tight security blockades.
This project aims to solve these spatial and urban conflicts by introducing a high-density luxury hotel
complex which is in direct linkage with Nishtar park sports complex. This proposal takes advantage of the
recent strategic acquisition by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of a multi-storied building along with
an adjoining plot in the area of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for Rs 4.68 billion (acquired
initially for Rs 4 billion) and follows up on the public-private partnership (P-P) plan to transform the
adjacent LCCA ground into a high-rise hotel node.
The research methodology is mixed methods, which includes site analysis of Nishtar Park, dynamic
transport modelling of the congested corridors of Lahore and precedent study of stadium integrated
hotels worldwide, including Hilton Garden Inn at Emirates Old Trafford, and Radisson RED at
Twickenham Allianz Stadium. The final design incorporates a luxury hotel with 250 rooms, in compliance
with the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Building and Zoning Regulations. It includes special highsecurity athletic floors, a high-performance training center modeled after the Marcus Mariota Sports
Performance Center, and multiple use public spaces that will be used to keep the street alive on days
when it's not hosting events, in keeping with the Chief Minister's goal of fostering healthy youth activities.
The project introduces a new paradigm in sports attached to the urban environment and successfully
shows the integration of biophilic elements with public space using high-security architecture.