Jad Masarweh Studio

JAD MASARWEH

PROFILE
jmasarweh@icloud.com
Instagram
LinkedIn

LANGUAGES
English
Portuguese
Arabic

Jad Masarweh is a Jordanian-Portuguese architectural designer currently studying at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. His work explores the tension between industrial processes and organic conditions, with a particular interest in how material and methods of making can mediate between the designed and the found.

Through experimentation with metal casting, glass and welding, his work investigates moments where precision meets irregularity, and where controlled processes encounter the textures, formations and material qualities of the landscape. Making becomes a way of translating these conditions into architecture, furniture and objects.

His interests span architecture and design, with an emphasis on material expression, craft and the relationship between objects, space and their surroundings.

CONTACT

Education

Bartlett School of Architecture UCL (London)
MSci Architecture (Integrated Masters)
2024-2029

Five-year integrated degree in architecture, accredited by ARB/RIBA for Part 1 & 2, with a final year in Placement.

International Baccalaureate Diploma (Lisbon)
St. Dominics International School of Portugal
2022-2024

IB DP Score: 42/45

Higher Level: Mathematics AA, Design Technology, Visual Arts
Standard Level: Business Management, Portuguese B, English A LL.

Employment

Architecture Intern
Lina Ghotmeh Architecture

Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture is a Paris-based international architecture practice known for its research-driven and materially sensitive approach, working across cultural, residential, hospitality, and public projects. The studio’s work is rooted in a philosophy of “Archaeology of the Future”, combining contextual research, environmental awareness, craft, and contemporary architectural expression.

During my internship, I worked primarily on the MARKK Museum renovation and modernisation project in Hamburg, contributing to the design development of interior spaces within the museum. My role involved producing drawings, visualisations, material studies, spatial layouts, and design iterations to support the development of the Permanent Lab and related public areas. This included exploring flexible furniture systems, archive and display strategies, lighting atmospheres, and the integration of cultural objects within a contemporary museum environment.

My experience at Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture allowed me to engage with a highly detailed and conceptually rigorous design process, working within an international team and contributing to discussions around atmosphere, materiality, adaptive reuse, exhibition design, and the relationship between architecture, memory, and public cultural space.

2026 (4 months)

Architecture Intern
Kayn.Studio
Founding Architect: Dina Haddadin

Kayn is a transdisciplinary diaglogue-driven practice including Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Architecture, Design Installations and Art - meaning "being and existence" in Arabic.

My primary role as an intern included working on the competition team and a high status private residence in Amman. Kayn was chosen amongst 4 of the leading Architecture practices in Jordan by the Khalid Shoman Foundation, to design their new Headquarters, a new cultural and educational hub in the heart of Amman. My exposure to such a multidisciplinary team at Kayn was invaluable, where I participated in design dialogue between clients, the lead architect, and members of the design team; including architects, structural engineers, and BIM designers.

2025 (2 months)

Architeture Intern
A.RT, architects and engineers
Founding Architect: Ruba Tarazi

Working directly alongside the Primary Architect, Ruba Tarazi, over two summers, where I was involved in a variety of projects and scales, from designing and retrofitting residential villas and restaurants, to large scale public sector projects for the government. Through working both in the office and visiting project construction sites at different scales, I recieved both technical and hands on experience in the context of Amman and its urban landscape. Working directly with stone masoners, I gained hands on knowledge on the quarrying and manufacturing process of the Limestone in Jordan, the material image of Jordan’s architecture and urban typology.

2024 (2 months), 2025 (2 months)

Bartlett UCL Transition Mentor
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

The Transition Mentor Programme supports all first-year undergraduate students in their transition to university in Term One at UCL. As a Transition Mentor, over 8 weeks, I provided weekly group meetings and support to first year students in Architecture at the Bartlett. This ranged from university advice, to help with 3D modelling on Rhino, and using the Adobe Suite to produce high quality visuals and drawings.

2025 (3 months)

Bartlett UCL Ambassador
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

As a Bartlett Student Ambassador I am responsible for Event Support (participating in both in-per-
son and virtual events) , Digital Content Creation (Leading social media channels , showcasing aspects of my studies at the Bartlett ), and consulting with students on Unibuddy (a university chat that allows prospective students to chat with student ambassadors).

2024-Present

Humanitarian Volunteer
Sao Tome e Principe

I collaborated with a humanitarian Project called Casa Fiz do Mundo. This is a missionary group from the north of Portugal that is settled at Neves in São Tomé e Principe, an ex Portuguese colony Island near the Gulf of Guinea, providing humanitarian support to this community through education, support and growth. This included working in the Community Kitchen, preparing and transporting 120 meals a day, working and cleaning at the Local Nursery, designing toys for the children of the school, while also visiting the local Cacao plantations and Sustainable hotel Mucumli. This hotel was built inside the landscape of the island with the goal of being carbon neutral and preserving the natural environment through sustainable practices.

2023

Skills

CAD & Rendering:
Rhino
AutoCAD
V-Ray
Blender
SketchUp

Adobe Suite:
Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign
Premiere Pro

Craft and Machining Skills:
Tig and Mig Welding
Soldering
Glass Slumping
Aluminium Casting
Laser cutting
Lathing
Wood working
Sewing

Last Updated 24.10.31

SELECTED PROJECTS

1. ‘Casting an Island’

Final Year 2 Building Project (2025)
Bartlett MSci Architecture- Studio 2B Year 2

Two Tree Island — Leigh On-Sea, United Kingdom

This project proposes an artist residency and gallery on Two Tree Island, Leigh-on-Sea, developed through a process-led investigation into casting, excavation, material transformation, and environmental recording. Positioned within the tidal marsh landscape, the project explores how architecture can emerge directly from the physical conditions of the site rather than being imposed upon it. The proposal is centred around an excavated roofscape that embeds the building within the terrain, alongside a series of cast concrete, aluminium, and glass elements that capture the textures, pressures, and geological conditions of the marsh environment. Through these material processes, temporary environmental formations are translated into permanent architectural components.

Central to the proposal is the idea of architecture as a record of environmental interaction. An instrument developed on site captures the movement of wind, water, and marsh conditions through physical casts, which are then translated into architectural elements across multiple scales. These range from aluminium door handles and glazing systems to large cast concrete retaining walls and excavated roofscapes. The project draws heavily from the work of Anne Holtrop and Junya Ishigami, particularly their approaches to material irregularity, casting, and the relationship between architecture and landscape.

The building is organised around a workshop as the first constructed space, allowing material testing and fabrication to occur directly on site. Construction methods combine cast-in-ground concrete spaces, precast structural wall elements, and cast aluminium and glass components. Together, these systems establish a materially rich architectural language where rough geological textures coexist alongside reflective cast aluminium and translucent cast glass.

Rather than treating materials as finishes, the project positions them as environmental recordings capable of producing tactile, atmospheric, and spatial conditions. The resulting architecture becomes both a continuation of the marsh landscape and an archive of the site’s changing environmental forces.

2. Internship Work at Kayn.Studio

Private Residential Villa in Amman (2024-Ongoing)
Internship at Kayn.Studio
West Amman, Jordan

The design focuses on a balance between extroverted interiors and introverted exteriors, creating a sense of openness while maintaining privacy. With its clean, modern lines, expansive glass openings, and the lightness of its architectural form, the structure will blend effortlessly into the landscape, enhancing its connection to nature and embodying a sense of graceful presence within its surroundings.

/ Harmonious Integration: The new structure blends aesthetically and functionally with the original villa, maintaining consistency in materials, scale, and design language while introducing new, and modern interpretation, through minimalism, abstraction and innovation.

/ Landscape Connection: The extension should enhance the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces, allowing the lush garden to feel like a natural extension of the home. This could be achieved through large glass openings, outdoor patios, and greenery integrated into the design.

/ Sustainability and Nature: Given the context, inclusive architecture would incorporate sustainable practices, using natural materials and energy‐efficient designs that respect and preserve the surrounding landscape.

/ Accessibility and Usability: The design caters to the needs of all occupants and visitors, ensuring that the space is functional, accessible, and adaptable for different uses and events.

3. ‘A Record of the Wind’

Weather Device Installation (2025)
Bartlett MSci Architecture- Studio 2B Year 2
1st Class Honours

Two Tree Island — Leigh On-Sea, United Kingdom

As a means to further understand the specific microclimatic qualities of our site, this instrument was designed to transform the intangible qualities of the wind into a cast record of time. The instrument harnesses the strong winds on site, as the site is situated at the mouth of the Thames Estuary in Leigh-on-Sea, serving as a catalyst to drive the instrument. The concept began with our research into magnetism as a tool for navigation during the migration of the dark-bellied Brent Geese from Siberia to our site, where there are strong links between birds’ abilities to visualise the earth’s magnetic field lines and it aiding in navigation across seas. Drawing links to this phenomenon and our site’s extreme environmental conditions, especially the strong gusts of wind as you move further out into the Salt Marsh, the instrument is driven by the wind and records it’s magnitude with a volume of sand which swings at the base of the pendulum. The design of the instrument draws parallels to Leigh-on-Sea’s strong Maritime history, using sails to harness the power of the wind. While the instrument is driven by the wind, industrial-grade magnets located at the north and south nodes create a bias in the sail’s motion, mirroring the logic of the navigation of birds through their migratory paths. The result is a sand cast, which is solidified using a highly saturated sodium thiosulfate solution that crystallises onto the sand’s undulations, drawing links to Frei Otto’s sand experiments as a form-finding tool in architecture.

4. ‘Opera House’ Rejuvenation of Emma Con Gardens

Final Year 1 Design Project(2025)
Bartlett MSci Architecture - Year 1
1st Class Honours

Emma Con Gardens — Southwark, United Kingdom

The Opera House is founded on the principle of ‘bridging thresholds’ - between public and private, and life and the lifeless. My proposal responds to the site’s lack of vitality and communal interaction. The site’s concentration of educational and cultural institutions, such as King’s College London and the Old Vic, suggests immense undeveloped opportunity to foster community cohesion and social integration. As a way to preserve the passage and movement through site, my design employs a split level strategy, with a subterranean volume housing the opera hall, bar, rehearsal rooms and essential spaces, while the sloped roof provides an accessible landscape that fosters communal gathering and pedestrian movement. In doing so, the private spaces do not compromise the community’s ability for interaction and new patterns of movement. My design process is heavily based on materiality and form finding methodologies through a variety of mediums, while responding to the constraints of the site.

5. ‘Cantilever Chair’

Site Interface
Bartlett MSci Architecture - Year 1
1st Class Honours

Tubular Steel and Leather Chair. Steel Tensile Fabric Enclosure.

In response to very initial site analysis, my interface responds to the lack of enclosure on site. A space that merges the lifeless and lively on site, where one can feel a sense of security and tranquility on the vast and unbounded square. The interface served as an initial starting point to my design and conceptual development of the building project, aiming to merge the contrasting parallels of lively and lifeless patterns of movement.

6. 3D Modelling and Rendering

Visualizations of ‘The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown’
Architect: Charles Correia
Bartlett MSci Architecture - Year 1
1st Class Honours

3D Modelling & Rendering Workflow using Rhino & V-Ray, and the Adobe Suite for Post Production and Formatting.

7. Skeleton Series

Travertine & Stainless Steel Side Table

The Skeleton Series explores the relationship between industrial structure and natural material through a minimal side table composed of stainless steel and raw travertine. The piece is conceived as a light structural frame that supports a thick stone slab while deliberately exposing the logic of its construction.

A welded stainless steel skeleton forms the primary structure, reducing the frame to its essential lines. The thin steel members elevate the stone surface while maintaining a visual lightness, creating a contrast between the precision of the metal and the porous irregularity of the travertine.

The travertine slab is left largely untreated, allowing its natural cavities, fractures, and mineral textures to remain visible. Rather than concealing imperfections, the design emphasises them, treating the stone as a geological surface shaped over time. The steel frame holds the slab with minimal intervention, producing an apparent tension between weight and suspension.

Through this contrast of materials and structural clarity, the piece investigates how natural mass can coexist with an almost immaterial supporting structure. The result is an object that reads simultaneously as furniture and as a study of material balance, where industrial fabrication meets the unpredictability of natural stone.

Fabricated through welding, metal finishing, and stone preparation, the project reflects a hands-on approach to making, where construction methods directly inform the final aesthetic and spatial presence of the object.