AEDS | Ammar Eloueini Digit-all Studio
Text by Greg Lynn - 2006

It has been more than a decade since the advent of digital technology as a modeling tool on architect’s and designer’s desktops. More importantly, it has been more than twice as long since the advent of digital technology in workshops, fabrication shops and factories. When faced with the new and exotic tools for design, it was assumed that the fresh new digital imagination of designers exceeded the available technology. In fact it was and still is the reverse. The potential of CNC (computer numerically controlled) construction is for the most part untapped by architects and designers. It is only recently that designers have developed the facility with their new digital medium to exploit the possibilities of construction.

Ammar Eloueini was among the first to begin his creative exploration with a grounded education in CNC manufacturing processes. Beginning with simple principles of two-dimensional templates and building to more complex three-dimensional compound joinery; he has developed a personal signature, a technical expertise and new formal and material sensibilities that is coherent and rigorous.

Happily, Ammar is not experimenting and relying on happy accidents as many designers were a decade ago. He is among a new generation of architects who are building a repertoire of linked design and fabrication techniques that are leading towards a very provocative, personal and innovative architectural and spatial vocabulary.

Biography
Ammar Eloueini

Ammar Eloueini (French-American born in Lebanon) is a registered architect who established AEDS (Ammar Eloueini Digit-all Studio) in Paris in 1997. Since 1999 the office has operated with locations in Europe and the United States. 

AEDS has completed projects at different scales in a range of geographic locations. From object design such as urban furniture for the city of New Orleans, to six retail spaces in Europe for Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, the office has developed an expertise in solving a wide range of design problems, while serving a wide range of clients including the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum, the Contemporary Art Museum in Chicago and choreographer John Jasperse in New York. This diversity of clients and project locations has provided the opportunity to expand the office's commitment to innovation and design excellence. AEDS's work has been recognized with a series of awards such as the New York Architectural League’s Emerging Voices (2007), nine AIA Design Excellence awards and the French Ministry of Culture Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes (2002). The work of Ammar Eloueini is part of five permanent collections: The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB) and The Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans.

Between 1999 and 2005, Ammar Eloueini chaired the Digital Media Program, as well as taught design studio, theory and digital fabrication courses at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Currently Eloueini is a Professor at Tulane University and regularly serves as thesis advisor at the ENSCI in Paris.

Ammar Eloueini received, with honors, the degree of Diplômé par le Gouvernement from Paris-Villemin in 1994, and graduated with a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University in 1996. Eloueini has participated in several symposia and exhibitions, including “Mixing It Up With Mies” at the Canadian Centre for Architecture and the Venice Biennale. In addition to several solo and group shows, the work of Ammar Eloueini has been documented by two bilingual monographs, published by Damdi in Korea and AADCU in China.

Monographs
Next AEDS: Ammar Eloueini [buy this book]
Design Document Series 26: Digital Recall, AEDS - Ammar Eloueini Digit-all Studio [buy this book]

Permanent Collections
The work of Ammar Eloueini is part of five permanent collections.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), CoReFab#116_25 chair (full scale), New York, USA
Centre Pompidou, 3 CoReFab#71 chairs (full scale), Paris, France
Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), 4 CoReFab#71 chairs (scale models), Montreal, Canada
Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB), 21 CoReFab#116 chairs (scale models), Barcelona, Spain
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, 100 prints of CoReFab#71 chairs, New Orleans, USA

Awards and Honors
2005-pres    11 AIA Design Excellence Awards
2012           MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program (YAP) Finalist
2007           Emerging Voices, Architectural League of NY 
2006           Aides a la Creation unrestricted grant, VIA, CoReFab#71
2001-02      Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes (highest recognition for architects under 35), French Ministry of Culture
2001           Publication Grant, Graham Foundation