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Tala Hagras

Selected architectural works, 2024 — 2026

Tala Hagras

Architecture, experienced in motion.

A warehouse in Brentford wrapped in folds drawn from a jacket, a music institution opening onto a canal in Reading, and research into how Cairo’s streets keep their identity.

Selected workResearch

Maison Peplum — Jupps Warehouse, Brentford, London

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Still of the interpretive 3D study of Maison Peplum: curved timber-coloured fins wrapping a pitched-roof warehouse shell, seen from the canal side.

0% assembled → 100% separated. Moves the fin groups and the roof apart; an interpretive study of the envelope layers, not a construction sequence.

Interpretive 3D study based on the portfolio drawings

This model was built from the plans, section, façade assembly list and model photographs on portfolio pages 8–12. No CAD file or dimensions were supplied, so proportions are read from the drawings and the fin profiles are generated procedurally to match the wave rhythm seen in the 1:200 façade model. It shows massing and the fin system, not a construction-accurate assembly.

  • Overall proportions (length, width, eaves and ridge heights) are scaled from the 1:50 section and the ground plan; no dimensions appear in the source.
  • The fin count and spacing are chosen to reproduce the rhythm visible in the façade model and renders, not counted from a drawing.
  • The fins are read as curved timber-coloured sheets; the source names a hanger rib, fin support rib and unistrut connector but does not detail their sizes.
  • The existing warehouse is modelled as a simple two-storey pitched-roof shell with glazed long façades and a recessed glazed ground floor under cantilevered steel beams, as drawn in the section.
  • The assembly control separates fins, structure and roof for legibility; it is an interpretive study, not a construction sequence.

Based on: portfolio p.8 (exterior render); portfolio p.9 (façade model); portfolio p.10 (plans and exploded axonometric); portfolio p.11 (section 1:50 and assembly list); portfolio p.12 (night render and section model)

Selected work

All work

01 · Adaptive reuse

Maison Peplum

Jupps Warehouse, Brentford, London

A textile-led architectural response to Jupps Warehouse. The movement and folds of the peplum jacket inform a sculptural façade of repeated curved fins over the existing warehouse, while the building supports making, exhibition and community use.

MaterialMovement

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Daytime render of Maison Peplum, Brentford: curved orange timber fins wrap an existing pitched-roof warehouse, with trees and a reflecting pool in front.

Daytime external render of Maison Peplum: repeated curved timber fins wrap the former Jupps Warehouse.

Render by Tala HagrasPortfolio, p.2CropSource supplied at low resolution

02 · Architecture as Music

Music Institution

Reading, UK

A music institution conceived as an architecture of rhythm, resonance and movement. A circular performance space anchors the project while landscaped routes connect the city to the canal.

MovementPlace

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Dusk render of a circular two-storey music hall with a wide ring roof, glazed façades and figures on stepped terraces beside a reflecting pool.

External perspective of the Music Institution at dusk: the circular performance hall above a stepped landscape descending towards the water.

Render by Tala HagrasPortfolio, p.3Crop

03 · Sensory pavilion

Sound Aroma Loom

Whitechapel Market, London

An experimental pavilion exploring the relationship between sound, aroma, textile and urban experience at Whitechapel Market. Its flower-like chimneys, linen curtains and rainwater strategy form a sensory architectural language.

MaterialPlace

Read entry
Interpretive sensory diagram of the Sound Aroma LoomA schematic diagram: three flower-like chimneys rise above a light pavilion frame; dashed lines show air and scent drawn up through the chimneys, wavy lines show sound passing through linen curtains, and arrows show rainwater collected from the chimney heads into a tank.market soundlinen curtainsflower chimneysair and scentrainwaterInterpretive diagram from the written description (portfolio pp.13–16). Not an original drawing.
Interpretive sensory diagram drawn from the written description. Original DS5 artwork not yet supplied.

Research · Beyond the Generic City

Homogenisation of Cairo’s Urban Horizons

Cultural Identity, Lived Experience, and Contemporary Urban Practice

A dissertation on how homogenisation shapes Cairo, read through four conditions — the New Administrative Capital, Zamalek, West el Balad and the Ashwa’iyat — in Tala’s own analytical drawings, red pencil over black line.

Open the atlas
Freehand sketch of a corner building in West el Balad, Cairo: rounded turret with dome, tiered balconies and ground-floor shopfronts, red pencil over black line.

Figure 4 — façade of a typical building in West el Balad.

Drawing by Tala HagrasDissertation, p.14, fig. 4Crop

About

Architecture student working between Cairo and London. Her interests run through material and assembly, movement and atmosphere, and the identity of place.

More about Tala