In the Lower Level Lobbies 1 and 2, visitors are welcomed by four hand-carved plaster walls designed by Mohmmad Adra, carved by Azriouli Zin Abidin in Dubai and brought to the United States.
The designs of these panels draw inspiration from the rich traditions of ornament in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid era, where carved plasterwork flourished as an architectural practice. Plaster carving has deep and ancient roots across the Islamic lands. From Samarkand, Bukhara, and Herat, to al-Andalus, artisans transformed simple plaster into ornate surfaces that adorned mosques, madrasas, palaces, caravanserais and domestic settings. The designs used are rooted in time and place, but also linked through itinerant artisans who brought the technique from the central Islamic lands to the frontiers of the Iberian Peninsula and China. The plastic nature of plaster stucco allows for it to be heavy or delicate, simple or intricately complex, cut into vegetal and geometric ornaments in shallow and deep relief, as well as inscriptions. It was used to express both figurative and abstract design ideas, and convey spiritual messages and documentary information, becoming a unifying modality in architecture throughout the Islamic lands.