When NYUAD moved to its new campus on Saadiyat Island, the Engineering Department was eager to create an open space with boundless technical resources for students to hack, build, and create solutions that serve their academic, research, and extracurricular work. 

I was very excited to hear about the department's plan and jumped right on-board to support. As the student lead working with the Engineering Department, I supported in the conceptualisation of the space's identity and purpose; after lengthily research and ideation, we established that we want it's essential for the space to be accessible and hackable, given the range of events and activities it will have to accommodate. In light of that, we had to curate furniture, equipment, and machinery that are hackable and durable.

After extensive research, we contacted both local and global suppliers to source materials, coming up to more than $100,000. 

The space is now used by students from various departments, and serves as the university's innovation hub. 

To accommodate for all events and activities the space could host in the short and long term, we chose to use trusses and stage platforms. 

The trusses were placed throughout the space to enable users to hang anything needed, anywhere, and with great ease. The trusses transformed the regular space into a highly flexible one.

Furthermore, the stage platforms were curated to be used as tables, runways, stages, and platforms as their height was greatly adjustable.