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Fall 2007 Vol. VI, No. 1
Alumni Profile
Deconstructing Construction
L.E.FT DOES IT RIGHT
BArch graduates Ziad Jamaleddine ’95, Naji Moujaes
’96, and Makram el Kadi ’97 joke that their first collaborative
project was a New York City rite of passage: building a wall in their
dining room to make a third bedroom. Six years later, their international
architectural portfolio is more about deconstructing boundaries and societies
than putting up fiber board.
From the range and scope of projects that the architectural firm L.E.FT
has produced in only six years, one would expect the firm’s three
partners to be driven, experienced, and serious. And so they are, but
serious only when it comes to the integrity of their work. They are also
young, funny, and personable, easy to talk to, and fashionable. And yet,
their architecture has nothing to do with comformity or style.
Ziad, Naji, and Makram all graduated within a few years of each other
from AUB’s architecture program. Despite their modesty, all three
were accepted to impressive American graduate programs in architecture.
Ziad studied at Harvard University, Naji at the Southern California Institute
of Architecture, and Makram in New York at Parsons, The New School for
Design. They all graduated in 1999 with master’s degrees in architecture.
In 2002 their firm was the recipient of the Young Architects Award from
the Architectural League of New York.
It seems peculiar that Ziad, Naji, and Makram all chose to study abroad
when, in the late 1990s after their graduations, building and design opportunities
abounded in Lebanon due to the vast, post-war rebuilding efforts. In actuality,
it seems that this decision was an early indication that the three shared
a philosophy that would spark their future collaboration.
Much of the rebuilding done at that time in Beirut was just that—a
literal rebuilding of what had existed before the violence. Ziad, Naji,
and Makram each felt that a more appropriate approach would have been
to rebuild according to what Beirut had become rather than what it had
been.
In some architectural styles, it is easy to recognize the hand of the
architect. This is not the case with L.E.FT productions. “We do not
subscribe to style,” the group coyly explains. The philosophy that
binds this trio and drives L.E.FT is that architecture should be a product
of the political, social, and cultural context of the location or client
in question. “A library in the lower East Side of Manhattan would
need to offer very different things than a library in Beirut,” says
Makram. In other words L.E.FT does not produce architecture defined by
the personal aesthetics of its architects. It produces architecture that
questions the relationship between architecture and society.
Somehow, L.E.FT seems to manage to make their buildings aesthetically
pleasing too.
One of L.E.FT’s most recent ventures isn’t a building project
at all, but a design studio entitled “Dis-orientalism.” It was
the winning entry in the Mosaic Foundation’s competition in Washington
DC. Last year, Ziad, Naji, and Makram taught the courses that included
this studio at Cornell University. Currently, Ziad and Naji are continuing
the project at the University of Pennsylvania while Makram is teaching
at Yale University. The final project in the design studio is for students
to design an Arab cultural center in Washington, DC using L.E.FT’s
non-conformist principles of pursuing the representation of culture through
architecture. To avoid the serious complications of flawed translations
and political correctness that blur perspectives of the Arab world, Ziad,
Naji, and Makram help their students redefine the filters through which
the students view society. A student will do his or her semester’s
study, for example, on
just a novel, say the Yacoubian Building and explore the
modern society of Egypt through that lens. Another approach is to pick
a specific feature common to all cultures, music for instance, map the
different genres and redraw the Arab map through musical influences instead
of national borders. Once this type of contextual thinking is learned,
it is applied to architecture. L.E.FT’s architects manage to fit
all this into a semester-long course.
It sounds good for a design studio, but can such a deconstructionist approach
toward architecture work in practice? L.E.FT has proven time and again
that it’s possible no matter what the project is, whether it is commercial,
residential, or public. The “culture” surrounding the project
in question can be the social context of an entire nation or the dynamics
of one couple hoping to build their first house together. Whatever the
project, Ziad, Naji, and Makram immerse themselves in the politics and
daily workings of each context to find out what architectural space best
fits that particular dynamic. Needless to say, this involves a great deal
of research, and each project comes with its own set of challenges.
L.E.FT has several projects in the works in Dubai, for example, a city
that is known for its completely modern and international composition.
This calls for a very different approach from building in rich, historic
Turkey, where the firm is also active. Even building in Lebanon, where
the architects grew up, poses obstacles. Society and culture are in constant
flux, making research and reinterpretation necessary even in their home
country.
These numerous challenges do not daunt our three architects. On the contrary,
the harder the job, the more invigorated they seem to become. Several
of the projects Ziad, Naji, and Makram are doing in Lebanon are particularly
ambitious and have the potential to enhance significantly cultural resources
in their native country.
The Lebanese NGO ASSABIL recently approached L.E.FT to work on a new library
in Beirut, one in a series of municipal libraries. The location chosen
is in the Mat’haf area, right on the Green Line that divided Beirut
along geographic and religious lines during the Civil War. A library provides
the public with a common cultural space, something that L.E.FT feels Lebanon
desperately needs. This venture is appealing to our three friends for
what it will give back to Lebanon and especially for what a public space
will mean in a location that recalls a history of segregation. Working
for the government on this project will add certain restrictions on what
is possible, but L.E.FT does not shy away from tough clients.
Another current L.E.FT venture in Lebanon is a proposed make-over for
the marina area in downtown Beirut. This is a large scale, coastal project
that, similar in some respects to the library, will expand the amount
of public space in Beirut. “Martyr’s Square used to be the central
communal space for Beirutis, for shopping and socializing. Now that those
suqs are closed, there is really only the Corniche,” explains Naji.
The marina project proposes to add public areas, restaurants, and shopping
to Beirut’s downtown coastline, expanding the Corniche both physically
and conceptually.
What project would an ambitious firm take on after building a library
and expanding a coastline? L.E.FT’s answer to that question is a
village, and it’s in the planning stages. The proposal is for about
70 houses for mid- and lower-income families in the Freikeh area of Lebanon.
It seems that L.E.FT is quite serious about its numerous Lebanese ventures
as they are planning to open a small office in Lebanon in order to better
manage these complex undertakings.
One of the most fascinating elements of L.E.FT’s philosophy is that
though cultural and social aspects are vital to the conception of architecture,
the resulting buildings do not necessarily complement the traditional
and are not necessarily comfortable. Indeed, sometimes the research ends
up critiquing certain features of a society. It is clear that Ziad, Naji,
and Makram practice this deconstructionist technique even in their conversations
with each other. (Just try getting them to tell you what L.E.FT means.)
They readily admit that friction occurs in their collaboration and that
it’s one of the necessary forces that moves them along. L.E.FT’s
website quotes Edward W. Said, saying, “The traveler crosses over,
traverses territory, and abandons fixed positions all the time.”
The architects of L.E.FT exemplify this exactly, constantly dissolving
firm definitions to create architecture that stands for itself.
Visit L.E.FT’s website to find out more about
the partners and their projects worldwide: www.leftish.net