International Works
In 1991, the crisis of the Gulf War forced the closure of El-Wakil’s offices in the UK. Being aware of the situation, Andrés Duany invited El-Wakil to come to Miami as visiting Professor at the University of Miami. El-Wakil also joined a charette organised by Duany for the development of South Beach. The developer Thomas Kramer, impressed by El-Wakil, asked him to design his new residence on Star Island. Duany presented El-Wakil with several consultancy opportunities of which The Kemer County Development offered him the opportunity to experiment with Traditional Turkish Architecture in the Design of the Country Club. El-Wakil kept a base in Miami until the tragic events of 911.
El-Wakil has been championed by The Prince of Wales who shares his approach to architecture. The Prince selected him among his advisors for the Prince of Wales School of Architecture, and as Patron to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies; the Prince commended him for the design of the centre’s building. El-Wakil cherishes this recognition as he personally believes Prince Charles to be the true patron of Tradition.
The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OXCIS) went through a long and sometimes painful process but has recently neared completion. The building blended the tradition of Oxford architecture with the spirit of Traditional Islamic Architecture. The medieval character of both architectures made it a happy marriage. The building reintroduced load bearing brick structures, eliminating steel and concrete.
The almost-completed centre appeared on the front cover of the UK Financial Times Magazine March 10/11 2007.
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“The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as a sculptor works on his block of stone. In a sense the statue stood there from eternity. But there were a thousand different ones beside it, and the sculptor alone is to thank for having extricated this one from the rest.”
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