Radical Innovation winner to attend UNLV
In 2015, Yasmin Abdelfattah Soliman of Egypt won Radical Innovation’s student competition for her forward-thinking concept titled Adaptive Balloons. This year, she will travel to the U.S. to pursue a Master’s Degree in Hospitality Design from University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), as a result of her assistantship valued over $45,000.
“In collaboration with Radical Innovation, we are connected to the next generation of great thinkers in architecture and design,” says Glenn Nowak, Architect, Associate Professor and Founder of UNLV’s hospitality design concentration, the first of its kind to specialise in this field. “We are honoured to welcome these students into our classrooms and challenge conventional thinking around hospitality design.”
Born in Cairo, Egypt, Soliman grew up in Saudi Arabia. She attended Effat University in Jeddah on full scholarship, graduating in 2014 with honours. She then worked for Adel Engineering Office, also in Jeddah before being introduced to Radical Innovation. Her submission-turned-winning concept, Adaptive Balloons, involves an adaptive tree that can inhabit both land and sea, in addition to providing self-sufficient shelter from natural disasters.
“We are both incredibly proud and fortunate that Radical Innovation has brought us a pioneer like Yasmin,” says John Hardy, CEO of The John Hardy Group and Founder of Radical Innovation. “This is what makes the competition so important. We give a platform to, and create a network for, innovative thinkers anywhere in the world.”
Soliman concludes: “I hope to one day join architects who focus on developing towns and small rural areas as focal points for hospitality projects. To me, architecture is a way of making change for people. I look forward to helping improve the way people live.”
This year’s five finalists will be on stage at the New Museum in New York City on 4 October 2017. A live vote by audience members will determine the grand prize-winner, who will walk away with a $10,000 reward.
