Jean-Marc Bonfils (1963 – 4 August 2020) was a Lebanese

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

of French ethnicity, based in Beirut, known for his work in the city during the rebuilding after the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

. He was killed by an explosion that occurred near his home.

Early life and education

Bonfils was born in Beirut into a family that settled there from France in the 19th century; his father, Maurice Bonfils, was also a prominent architect in the city. He earned degrees in architecture from the Paris-Villemin School of Architecture, a precursor of the , in 1987, and in history of art from the . He continued his training in London at the Architectural Association School of Architecture.

Career

Bonfils began his career in Paris in 1987, working with

Christian de Portzamparc Christian de Portzamparc (; born 5 May 1944) is a French architect and urbanist. He graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1970 and has since been noted for his bold designs and artistic touch; his projects reflect a ...

, Alain Sarfati and

Jean-Marie Charpentier Jean-Marie Charpentier (27 April 1939 – 24 December 2010) was a French architect and urban planner. He founded ''Arte Charpentier' in Paris in 1969. Biography Jean-Marie Charpentier was born in Paris, France. Jean-Marie Charpentier gradua ...

. In 1995 he and his father won an international competition for the reconstruction of central Beirut; he returned there and was based there for the remainder of his life, initially working in town planning, for example on pedestrianisation in Beirut and master planning for other cities including

Byblos Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 8 ...

and

Baalbeck Baalbek (; ar, بَعْلَبَكّ, Baʿlabakk, Syriac-Aramaic: ܒܥܠܒܟ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In Greek and Roman ...

. After his father's retirement in 2005, he started his own architecture firm, . Among his projects was work on re-establishing the

Lebanese National Library The Lebanese National Library (Arabic: المكتبة الوطنية, French: ''Bibliothèque nationale du Liban''), located in Beirut, is the national library of Lebanon. It closed to the public in 1979 due to the Lebanese Civil War, and its su ...

(currently housed at the Faculty of Law of the Lebanese University). He taught at the American University of Beirut and later at the

Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts The Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA; french: Académie libanaise des Beaux-Arts; ar, الأكاديمية اللبنانية للفنون الجميلة) was originally a stand-alone Lebanese institute, now one of the faculties at the Unive ...

. His East Village building, in central Beirut's

Mar Mikhaël Mar Mikhaël (Arabic: مار ميخائيل, Lebanese pronunciation: مار مخايل) is a residential and commercial neighborhood (sector 75) in the district of Beirut, Lebanon. It is a fashionable area with cafes, restaurants, art galleries, ...

district, consisting of a slim apartment tower above an art gallery and clad partly in dark stone and wood as a reinterpretation of traditional Lebanese architecture, won the 2015 Asia Architecture Award in the housing division. The building also had a vertical garden, which Bonfils created with the intention of replacing a no-longer accessible public garden at the adjacent headquarters of . Bonfils himself lived there.

Death

On 4 August 2020, Bonfils was fatally injured in his apartment in the East Village building he designed, by a massive ammonium nitrate explosion at the Port of Beirut. He had been

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his view of the aftermath of a preceding, smaller explosion at the port on

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. He was evacuated to the American University of Beirut Medical Center, where he died a few hours later. He was 57.

References

External links

J.M. Bonfils Architects
1963 births 2020 deaths French architects French people of Lebanese descent 2020 Beirut explosion Accidental deaths in Lebanon Deaths by explosive device Academic staff of the American University of Beirut École du Louvre alumni Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture {{France-architect-stub