Archinect
Michael Najjar

Michael Najjar

Beirut, LB

 

About 

As an architect, I simply have the desire to experiment with the new paradigms of a better living, of a happier living, of living together if we wish it, all the while mindful of leaving to the future generations their share of happiness. I'm all for an architecture that seeks to heal the ill-being of a century that's on a perpetual quest for additions and subtractions. The world is moving at such a speed that we sometimes forget the essence of things. Isn't architecture a way of allowing us to inhabit?


Personally, I'm enthusiastic about the idea that science aims to make the world a better place. However, history has often proven the opposite, which is why I am cautious about it. Creativity lies in the shadow of technology.

The modern Man is losing part of his humanity at the expense of technology dependency. This reflects on a somewhat gadget-ized architecture, rendered hollow. The conceptual process and the social impact of a work are, to me, more essential than the finality of an aesthetic object. Because beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder.

I extol an architecture that places Man at the center of the world, all the while assuming technology is a tool and not a necessity. I extol an architecture that is symbolic and poetic, that surpasses the mere requirement of the program, an architecture that respects nature and is inspired by it, thus allowing the cohabitation of extremes, an architecture that embodies the context, celebrating culture and deriving from a certain lightness, erasing all weighty and useless artifice.
A thinking where traditional and modern, natural and artificial are permanently engaged in a temporality that compresses past, present and future.

I’m currently enjoying life as an Architect. I constantly explore every panel and point of view in the Design world in order to continually improve my knowledge. I'm fully aware that my most promising work and journey lie ahead of me.

Employment 

1000 Years Old Architecture Workshop, Beirut, LB, Architect

Jul 2014 - current
 

Atelier des Architectes Associés, Beirut, LB, Architect

Oct 2013 - Jun 2014
 

Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA), Beirut, LB, Assistant Professor

Sep 2013 - Jun 2014
 

Fady Salame Architecture & Design, Beirut, LB, Intern

Jul 2011 - Aug 2011
 

Jean-Marc Bonfils & Associates, Beirut, LB, Intern

Dec 2010 - Feb 2011
 

Jacques Ferrier Architecture, Paris, FR, Intern

Jul 2010 - Sep 2010
 

DW5. Bernard Khoury architects, Beirut, LB, Intern

Aug 2008 - Sep 2008
 

Yazigi Atelier d’Architecture, Beirut, LB, Intern

Jul 2007 - Aug 2007
 

Education 

Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) with honors, Beirut, LB, BArch, Architecture and Urbanism

Sep 2006 - Jun 2013
 

Grand Lycée Franco-Libanais, Beirut, LB, High School, Scientific Baccalaureate

Sep 1994 - Jun 2006
 

Awards 

Urbanistes Sans Frontières, 1st Place

An international competition for “Ecological Restructuring of a Slum and Adaptation to Climate Change”

2014
 

Mitri Nammar Award for excellence in Architectural Design, 2nd Place

2013
 

Bahaa el Dine Bsat Award For Architecture students, 2nd Place

2013
 

Areas of Specialization 

Skills