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Where the earth screams in horror
0 - Issue 40
Maher Al-Rez
Age 30, Maher Al-Rez, a young Syrian architect and one of the distinguished emerging talents locally, managed to draw attention through his designs and competition entries regionally. The portfolio of this 2002 University of Damascus graduate promises a great deal of potential and prospects relative to his age and the limitations of local discourse.
What helped launch your career at such a rapid pace?
What helped me were the competitions I participated in since graduating; I’ve been in around 16 competitions, some local and some regional. I won 1st prize 8 times and 3rd prize 4 times in various competitions.
The first one was for the design of the Aleppo Engineers Union building, and others included the Aleppo Fair Grounds, People’s Council in Damascus, the Retired Engineers Union, Planetarium of Damascus, the OIC headquarter, Al Dammam Landmark, as wll as many others.
I would like to add that Mohamad Smyle, Khaled Helmi, Ayham Darweesh, Mazen Totanji, Ruba Maa Al-Bared were with me on some of these projects and I couldnt have made it without their contributions.
Which one of those would you call your biggest success?
I've learned from each single project something new that contributed to it.
What are your current projects?
I still work in conventional architectural designs, interior design, and renovation. And I lately joined efforts with Mr Fayez Al-Adhami; merging my firm Echoes with his Extreme Design; we are currently cooperating on many projects. I’ve also been an Assistant Teacher in the IUST Architectural department for two years now, and preparing to complete my studies abroad.
How do you view the modern Syrian architectural scene?
Architecture here has just started to launch. Usually graduates of the faculty would turn to interior design, but that is not real architecture nor is the purpose of their studies. Practicing the field of their studies could only be through large architectural projects.
What compelled you to study architecture?
The creation of an artificial environment in harmony with nature is the biggest roll of humans, it’s a unique role. It is the point where science meets arts. Art has small technical aspects to it and relies mainly on creativity, yet architecture has two aspects, creative and technical. This combination makes it intriguing and demanding.
As my professor once said “architecture covers so many fields; you have to know a lot about everything.” You can’t be an architect without being an artist, nor could you be an architect without being a thinker. You need to design different kinds of buildings for different uses. An architect is a planner, an artist, problem-solver, and engineer; he has to encompass all aspects. You need knowledge about civil engineering, electrical, and other fields depending on how specialized the building you are designing, such as sound engineering and acoustics if you were to design an opera house or a studio, adding to that the knowledge about the different kinds of materials to be used.
So that would set the main role of an architect to?
All construction goes towards more harmony with nature, such as topological geometry and design of spaces in a transitional way. Architecture is an intellectual process, there’s always a purpose for the building so you have to find means to express it through your designs, using creativity, knowledge and research. Once you get the concept you shouldn’t have a preset final design in your mind, it should all flow with all the new variables entered into the project as you progress.
What are the fundamental requirements of a pursuer of a career in architecture?
Architect’s roles aren’t defined well here nor appreciated yet; people think architecture is merely drawing preset building designs. People should know what architecture is really about and what they truly want if they were to follow it.
The social aspect is also hard for architects, where they are required to deal with all kinds of people on different social levels, from workers to investors and academics; they should know how to deal with everyone from all different backgrounds.
