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There's always a dormant dream in the city, waiting to be brought to life. Nadim Karam is the man bringing the old Beirut back, one forgotten building at a time.
What's your favorite place in Beirut?
We're pretty happy in the office I guess [laughs]. It's the walks I like about Beirut. Walking from my office to my house, through the small Achrafieh Staircase, gives you a great feel of the city. They really should take more care of the staircases, they're rather important. Beirut is so many things. It's a phoenix: it burns and comes back, awake and full of vigour. Beirut joins the sea and the mountain. Beirut is the crossroads of many places, so full of life and culture. But unlike other crossroads, Beirut has its specific culture. We're Lebanese with a passion and we open our minds to other cultures. Beirut is tough.
Has Beirut been tough to you?
No no, she's great. We do try hard, as I'm sure many others do. We're all trying to contribute to Beirut, a city that is suffering so much. This creates lots of life and motion and so much energy investment in the city, which counteracts all that is happening. Although I work just as much abroad, this is where I always start.
What was it like to start here?
There's a lot of room for urban art here. We started with the Sursock Museum and then we did the City Center project. It was wonderful to work on the National Museum and it was just after the war. I remember we needed to do something for the city, create a fantastic story for it. A story outside the war, a story to take the Lebanese mind off the killing and destruction. The philosophical question was: can cities dream? The goal was to create a movement, one that might bring about some positive change.
I remember the sculptures around the museum. That must have been a big deal.
A huge deal. The museum was on the firing line and inside they had all the artifacts buried in concrete boxes - which thankfully saved them. The aim of my project, ‘the Carrier', was to carry the museum for the rest of the country to see. The sculpture was a story that I'd created, a huge structure right in front of the museum.
Quite the burden.
It's, of course, metaphorical, a dream if you will. We as Lebanese were taking a break, celebrating the end of an old area and the beginning of a new. It is a burden, one we carry gladly into the future.
Kabab for the sir?
Architect Maroun el Daccache attempts to define the Lebanese style, not in the least through the incredible office building I was welcomed in. For me though, it's all about Kababji.
What is your favorite place in Beirut?
I'm more a fan of the north, the seaside. My idea of relaxation is a nice, somewhat secluded rocky beach. Beirut is a confrontation of ideas. It's a bit of a melting pot, a confrontation of cultures. Maybe a contamination of cultures.
I take it you don't like city life?
I'm grateful for it, to be sure. I'm from the very urban Jounieh, and the city has always held a fascination for me. We would always head out to Hamra because Hamra nurtured all the social movements of its time. That is, perhaps, what moved me towards the arts to begin with.
Not architecture?
I had a passion for the arts, in general. I didn't know if I wanted architecture or otherwise. When I finished school we had the war going on in '75 and I wanted to join the Lebanese University. I liked music but it's too late for that now and I liked painting. Slowly I found myself more attracted to build¬ing. I felt it was more concrete, if you'll pardon the pun.
And then you left the country...
I'd started learning some Italian in the cultural center. I know you're about to ask why Italian and not French.
I was about to, yes.
Well I heard that the masters of architecture were all Italian, so I took a year off to study their language. After that I applied to the University of Venice and got accepted. While I knew it was good, I really had no idea how big a deal it was. Turns out that all great architectural movements and debates of the time were right there and I was smack in the middle of it.
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