Assem Salam, an Architect for All Times
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The Godfather of Contemporary Architects opens up about history, politics, and what role each plays in architecture.
Hidden away in the tightly woven streets of the Zuqaq al-Blatt district in Beirut is the understated 1840s Ottoman house of the prominent Lebanese architect Assem Salam. Large, unplanned and dominating towers surround the house that once would have been the principal building in the district.
The irony that such chaotic new developments should dominate the residential environment of Assem Salam’s house is not lost on the architect, who has been fighting such anarchic buildings throughout his professional life. "I blame the politicians, the real estate developers I blame the architecture, the local communities, and I mostly blame ignorance. I am really depressed about this chaotic situation that extends beyond Beirut and into many urban regions in Lebanon," Salam said frustratingly. "This is too evident and I am not saying this nostalgically, but a certain quality of life is dwindling away to one that is unhealthy, ugly and disorganized. The urban sprawl of Beirut and countrywide is the cruel result of this country''s independence mismanagement."
POLIT-BUREAU OF ARCHITECTURE
Like many architects, Assem Salam is not afraid express his opinions freely. However, unlike many architects, Salam has not been timid when it comes to turning his opinions into political action. The vast majority of architects shun politics or try to conceal any sort of political connections they may have. Salam openly displays pictures of himself mixing in with Lebanese political figures. And he''s had an illustrious career serving the Lebanese government. Salam served successive terms on the Higher Council of Urban Planning and at the Centre for Development and Research (CDR). Salam''s architectural prime flourished during the Chehabist era (1958-1964) when he was assigned to do a series of governmental and institutional buildings.
"[President Chehab] was a president that was bent on reform and controlled the resources of the country. He had a theory that through development you could create social cohesion," Salam opined. Lebanon''s history would however shift courses in the years after the Chehab rule and have direct implications on the life of Salam.
The Lebanese Civil War meant that much of Salam''s building career was cut short. "My office burned down three times over the years and many of my drawings have been lost." While the war may have stunted Salam''s building career and even destroyed much of what he did build, he still managed to significantly contribute to Lebanon''s and the region''s architectural heritage.
CREATING ARCHITECTURE AT AUB AND APSAD
There were very few architects in the region and Lebanon up until the early 1960s. Instead, those who designed buildings were architectural engineers. Salam, who graduated from Cambridge University in the UK in 1950, was among the first to come back to the region as a fully trained and specialized architect. It was this generation of mainly European trained architects that would start to create a differentiation in the region between engineering and architecture. "In the early ''60s we started the school of architecture at AUB [the American University of Beirut] and local architects began to emerge," Salam said. Now the AUB Faculty of Architecture is one of the region''s foremost architectural institutions, although still in partnership with the engineering department.
As well as being a pioneer in the making of the region''s modern architects, Salam has also worked to protect Lebanon''s vernacular architecture. It was Salam and others that founded APSAD in the 1960s, an organization that works on preserving Lebanon’s traditional architecture and also the Ottoman style. Salam has a deep respect and commitment to preserving Lebanese architecture:
"I find all Lebanese architecture very beautiful, elegant, well built, and sensitive in the use of materials. To me this architecture that spread over 200 years covering most of the 19th Century until the mandate period represents a wealth that is worth preserving as a treasure," Salam prided. "But the most important part for me is to preserve a certain kind of identity as this architecture cuts across all communities. The Muslims and the Christians all built in the same style. These buildings should be a source of inspiration and an important part of our heritage, from the proportional use of materials, to the grace of the buildings and the lack of plot specifications."
Salam is an ardent believer that architecture is a reflection of the human being, where buildings tell us who we are. Therefore, the passion with which Salam strives to protect Lebanese architecture comes from a perspective that these buildings are not just bricks and mortar but Lebanon itself. "The preservation of heritage is essential," Salam says. "But unfortunately we did not succeed. The conflict was between the preservation of these buildings and the aggressive approach by the landowners in terms of land use and specifications of the property."
Assem Salam may feel that he has been defeated in preserving and contributing to a higher quality built environment for Beirut and Lebanon as a whole, yet there is a lot to celebrate, not only in the creation of the architectural school at AUB but also in promoting architecture as a career. Salam has contributed greatly in giving Lebanon the possibility, if it so chooses, to remove itself from its current architectural unpleasantness. What is needed now is an architectural and yes, a political will. No wonder Salam is interested in both.
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| Read full story in REAL's September issue |
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