Bernard Khoury (born August 19, 1968, in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
) is a Lebanese architect. His work has been extensively published by the professional press. Khoury started an independent practice in 1993. Over the past fifteen years, his office has developed an international reputation and a significant diverse portfolio of projects both locally and abroad.
Background
Bernard Khoury was born on August 19, 1968, in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
. Khalil Khoury, a Lebanese architect and designer, is his father. Khalil Khoury worked with exposed concrete and designed the Mont La Salle School Campus, the Municipal Stadium of Jounieh and the Interdesign Showroom building. Khoury's father also produced work at differing scales ranging from the design and production of furniture items to his participation in the development of the master plan for the reconstruction of the Beirut Central District in 1977.
Bernard Khoury lived in and out of Lebanon during the early years of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
where he scarcely made it through secondary school, before pursuing his architectural studies in the United States of America. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990, a
Bachelor of Architecture
The Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) is a bachelor's degree designed to satisfy the academic requirement of practising architecture around the world.
Australia
Architectural education in Australia varies depending on the university offering th ...
degree in 1991 from the
Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
(RISD), and a master's degree in Architectural Studies in 1993 from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Career
Khoury started his professional career soon after his graduate studies in post-war Beirut, which became his territory of experimentation where he produced 16 unbuilt projects spanning a period of four years (1993-1997).
During the early years of his practice, he was financially supported by his family's furniture manufacturing business that provided him with a design studio and gave him access to the workshop and manufacturing facilities of their factories.
Khoury first came to public and critical attention with the completion of the B018 music club in 1998, his first built project.
This building sparked a string of temporary projects, through which Khoury built a reputation for his ability to produce critical interventions in problematic zones.
These include his first six built projects: the Centrale project (2000),
Yabani (2001),
the BLC Bank (2004), the Bank of Beirut pavilion in Chtaura (2005),
as well as the Black Box (2005).
In the media, various publications dubbed Khoury "the bad boy" of architecture in the Middle East.
Khoury's early clients came primarily from the entertainment industry. He then produced projects for local banks.
His first international commission, the Pfefferberg Project, was in Berlin, Germany (1999-2001) and consisted of the conversion of an industrial block into a cultural quarter. Aborted commissions followed in Europe, including the Santa Cesarea project in Italy (2007), as well as residential projects in England, Spain and Serbia.
He then worked on commissions such as the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies (2011), the Tumo Park (2011) and the Epygi Park Master Plan (2013) in
Yerevan, Armenia
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
, as well as the AGBU NKR Campus (2014) in Nagorno-Karabakh.
He has also worked in the Arab world.
These comprise schemes in the
Arabian Gulf region, such as the Fintas Market (2003)
and the Andalus Development (2006)
in Kuwait; the Alargan Business Bay Development (2006)
and the Ajman Resort (2012-2013)
in the United Arab Emirates; Al Qurm Mixed Use Development (2012)
in Oman; Surramanraa (2005)
in Riyadh; and the Suspended Gardens of Manama (2011)
in Bahrain.
Khoury's first permanent building, IB3, was completed in 2006.
IB3 was followed by Plot # 732 (2008),
Plot # 183 (2009)
and Plot # 893 (2010),
all of which engage their surrounding urban fabric. These were followed by the developments on Plots # 1314 and 2251 (2013) in Beirut, in which Khoury designed his own residence.
Plot # 4371 (2009), a more recent residential project, allows its inhabitants to move their vehicles vertically within the buildings to park them in the center of their living room.
Plot # 1282 (2010, also known as Factory Lofts) is characterized by its thin slabs and openness on all orientations, stretching over 166 meters in length with a perimeter of 430 linear meters.
Plot # 1072 (2009, also known as the Skyline),
Plot # 1342 (2010, also known as the Paramount)
and Plot # 450 (2014, also known as the Grand Hotel de Beirut)
are high rise residential developments.
On a smaller scale, a number of Khoury's projects were produced mainly in the mountainous regions of Lebanon, including Plot # 7950 (2010), which houses 52 engines that operate its retractable roof, and Plot # 4328 (2010) with an accessible inclined façade culminating in a linear lap pool.
Academic
Khoury has taught at the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
(1994, 1995, 2003, 2010),
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
(2008) and
l’Ecole Speciale d’Architecture in Paris (2011-2012). He is co-founder of the Arab Center for Architecture.
Experimental
* 2013 - C’était un Rendez-vous
ommissioned for group show at Centro Cultural Del Mexico ContemporaneoMexico City, Mexico
* 2012 - I Wish I Could Make Them All Look Like You
ommissioned for the House of Today "Confessions" 2012 BiennaleBeirut, Lebanon
* 2010 - Derailing Beirut
ommissioned for "Spazzio" opening show of the MAXXI MuseumRome, Italy
* 2009 - Catherine Wants to Know
ommissioned for solo show at the Beirut Art CenterBeirut, Lebanon
* 2008 - P.O.W 08
ommissioned for "YOU Prison" group show at Sandretto FoundationTorino, Italy
* 2006 - SS / DW
ommissioned for "Moving Homes" group show at Sfeir-Semler GalleryBeirut, Lebanon
* 1991 - Evolving Scars
arvard UniversityCambridge, U.S.A.
*
Awards
* 2008 - CNBC Award
References
External links
Bernard Khoury Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khoury, Bernard
Lebanese architects
1969 births
Living people
Rhode Island School of Design alumni
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni