How to Look at Architecture?

Online

This presentation is an overview of the architectural practice in Beirut over the last two decades. Describing the different practices and changes can provide a valuable insight about the context and more specifically the politics of the neo-liberal city. As the city joins the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the presentation will also address the continuous swinging between opposite attitudes towards seclusion and living together that were initially bounded to the climatic and geographic conditions, then freed by modern technology and now victim of a failed infrastructure.
 
Roula el-Khoury is an Assistant Professor and the Associate Chair of the Architecture and Interior Design Department at the Lebanese American University. She received her Master’s in Urban Planning from the GSD and a BA in Architecture with a minor in Political Sciences from AUB. Her research interests include topics in ‘Material Manifestation of Global Influences in the Middle East’, ‘Representation of Capital in the City’, ‘Affordable housing’, and ‘Alternative Public Spaces’. Besides her research El-Khoury is the recipient of several international design competition prizes.