The Architecture 50th Anniversary Celebrations at the American University of Beirut
The Department of Architecture and Design (ArD) at the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (MSFEA), American University of Beirut (AUB), is celebrating in 2018 an important milestone of 50 graduating classes with a Bachelor of Architecture which started in 1968. A total of 980 Architecture alumni have graduated so far from the department of Architecture and Design: the first graduating class in 1968 included 10 alumni and the one in 2018 included 42. On this landmark occasion, ArD organized a series of events, starting with MUPP-MUD City Debates 2018 entitled “Architecture-as-Urbanism: Agenda for the New Millennium” in April, onto the End-of-Year Exhibition in June, to a Symposium & Exhibition on Friday 5 October 2018. Other events in this series included the Sustainable Design Week 2018 entitled “Crisis as Opportunity,” on the- 12th of October.
The exhibition is curated by Mustapha Jundi (BArch ’00) and Abir Eltayeb (BArch ’06) and designed by Ghaith Abi Ghanem and Jad Melki (BArch ’12). Mohamad Nahle (BArch ’18) provided research and design support. The exhibition also features two booklets that were produced for the occasion. The Yearbook (1968-2018), edited by Abir Eltayeb and Aram Yeretzian, narrates the history of alumni, faculty, social life, and events in the Architecture program for the past 50 years in a rich timeline format that is punctuated with 16 essays by former and current faculty members and alumni. The Exhibition Catalog, edited by Abir Eltayeb and Mustapha Jundi, documents the collected projects for the exhibition from an interdisciplinary perspective. It features more than 140 projects by 131 alumni across an array of disciplines and media.
The Exhibition Design
The exhibition celebrates 50 years of architecture graduates. Having them all gathered in one space for this event, we designed a spatial installation that is cut at eye level by exhibiting the body of work below and all the authors names as floating lights above. This allows a holistic connectivity for everyone visiting and reading about each other practices. In parallel the plan of the structure responds to the curatorial distribution of the work, which stems from architecture and stretches through different fields.
Commissioned by the Architecture Department at the Amercian University of Beirut
Curation: Mustafa Jundi, Abir Eltayeb
Scenography: Ghaith Abou Ghanem, Jad Melki
Graphic Design and Catalogue: Kite Creative, Ahmad Gharbieh
Research: Mohamad Nahle
Participating Architects: