Architecture,landscape,material, light
ĀM Studio is a contemporary architecture practice founded in Beirut in 2012. We work between building and landscape, at a deliberately small scale, on a small number of projects at a time.
Philosophy
01A building should be the quietest thing on its site.
We are suspicious of architecture that announces itself. The buildings we return to are the ones that seem to have always been where they are — that sit correctly on their ground, take their proportions from the landscape around them, and use few enough materials that you stop noticing them.
That restraint is not modesty. It is much harder to make something calm than something loud, and it takes considerably longer.
Approach
02
We draw every junction ourselves.
Design Process
03Site and brief
A long conversation, then a longer walk. We record where the light falls across a full day, where water goes, which way the wind comes. Most briefs change after this.
Model
We work in physical models at 1:200 and 1:50 before we draw. Models do not flatter proportion the way renders do.
Drawing
One coordinated set, detailed by us. Every junction is resolved on paper rather than delegated to the contractor to invent on site.
Construction
Weekly on site, minimum. We expect to change things during the build, and we budget time for it.
After
We revisit each building at one year and at five. It is the only way to learn whether the detailing actually worked.
Team
04Fourteen people
The practice is led by its two founding partners, supported by a team of architects, a landscape designer and a model maker.
- A. MansourFounding Partner
- M. AounFounding Partner
- L. KhouryAssociate Architect
- N. HaddadAssociate Architect
- S. TannousLandscape
- R. BitarModel Workshop
Studio
05
Gemmayzeh, Beirut
The studio occupies the upper floor of a 1930s building in Gemmayzeh, with north light on one side and a workshop for models on the other. Most of the important arguments happen around one long table.
- Founded
- 2012
- Location
- Beirut, Lebanon
- Team
- 14
- Built projects
- 40+
Work withus
We take on a small number of projects each year. Tell us about yours.
Get in touch