AI reconstructs pharaonic architecture modules into abstract expressionist compositions

hassan ragab fragments pharaonic architecture modules 

With his new AI-generated art series Post Pharaonic Architecture, interdisciplinary designer Hassan Ragab explores abstract expressionism interpretations of monumental ancient Egyptian architecture. The designer looks to the primordial stone-carved forms of Pharaonic architecture and renders the historic structures through a juxtaposing, abstracted lens of the expressionist movement of the 20th-century. Utilizing text-to-image AI tool Midjourney, Hassan Ragab recomposes the fundamental architectural modules of the primitive architecture into dynamic and abstract compositions. The resulting imposing stone structures reveal ornamented facades engraved with fading hieroglyphs, intricate openings and sweeping, fragmented layers.

all images by Hassan Ragab

an abstract expression interpretation of ancient forms

Egyptian interdisciplinary designer Hassan Ragab extends his practice beyond the physical dimensions of architecture, and furniture, product and textile design, to explore computational experimentation and digital fabrication. With his imaginings of surreal Greco Roman temples infused with coral reef, and art nouveau facades with sculptural glass elements, the artist has begun to investigate the potentials of AI to produce generative art. With Post Pharaonic Architecture, Ragab utilizes text-to-image tool Midjourney to envision how ancient Egyptian architecture from the past would look through the abstracted expressionism perspective of the 20th-century.

The generative images depict monumental, isolated structures carved intricately of stone, uniting the characteristic of monumental scale and ambition shared by both the abstract expressionist movement and Pharaonic architecture. In an intriguing distortion. The designs of Hassan Ragab juxtapose the distorted, emotive forms and sculptural masses of expressionism, with the primitive language, character, and materiality of Pharaonic architecture. The traditionally simple yet robust and imposing nature of ancient pyramids are here fragmented into dynamic modules, and reconstructed in abstracted compositions. Stacked, overlapping tiers, sweeping horizontal curves intersecting imposing columns, and intimate recesses and niches compose the elevation. Meanwhile, the unadorned textured facades of ancient pyramids, are here embellished with gestural strokes of giant, fading hieroglyphs.

Hassan Ragab presents his new AI-generated series Post Pharaonic Architecture

juxtaposing the distorted, sculptural masses of expressionism, with the primitive language of Pharaonic architecture

Ragab recomposes fundamental architectural modules into dynamic, abstract compositions

the simple geometric forms of ancient egyptian architecture are here fragmented and recomposed