Azm University’s School of Architecture and Design Assistant Professor Maxim Julian wins the first prize for the design and construction of the Centre of Peace and Reconciliation Lebanon

SArD Assistant Professor Maxim Julian and his team of architects, ARCHIDES students shared the winning prize for their entry at a competition conducted by the Foundation for Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Lebanon

The team’s reconstruction project focused on creating a close relationship between religion and the environment.
The team imagines the FFRL Center as a campus with dedicated and diverse spaces for a mutual encounter between diverse communities in Lebanon. The project is to be entirely built from natural, recyclable, and locally sourced materials collected from the surrounding area to develop a particular passive climate strategy achieving an energy-efficient project with a modest budget.

Their proposal called for the creation of ‘a growing campus’ inspired by local vernacular architecture; the project naturally responds to the site, program, and climate, addressing the needs of the community to provide a space for sharing and learning.

"I have completed my first part of the last international internship, required by the university program, in France in summer 2019, and I had this great opportunity to finish my second part of it online from France as well under the supervision of my dear instructor, Mr. Maxim Julian, CEO of Synopsys Architecture. I am grateful for such an experience being an intern participating in a real competition working as a graduate architect. It was a challenge for me, and I enjoyed it!

What was interesting in the proposal of “The Center of Peace and Reconciliation”, conducted by the FFRL, is that it was a place that dwells peacefully and humbly in nature translating the title of the project in real life, always taking into consideration how to involve the community in such a project. To a life full of great challenges and such opportunities.” – Hanadi Chaarani, Azm University graduate and project intern.