Master degree, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris Belleville, Paris, France, DPEA in urban design, Architecture du Territoire et Projets Urbains.: Cities reconstruction, theory and practice, project overseen by M. Milliex.

Architecture degree, Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, Beirut, Lebanon

Hicham Bou Akl is an architect and urban designer. He co-founded Les Architectes Workshop in Paris in 2013. He works on architecture and urban design projects in France, Switzerland and Lebanon. Since 2020, Hicham Bou Akl teaches architecture at LAU. Between the years 2013 and 2020, he has taught design studios at several universities including ALBA, Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts and AUB, American University of Beirut. In 2019, he published the article Beirut a city beyond form in the Swiss architectural magazine Tracé in Lausanne.

Research Interests

2022- Rihla-Looking at the Arab world, research project with Mounir Ayoub curator of the Swiss pavilion at the Venice biennale 2020, a traveling exhibition and publications in Arabic magazines and in Switzerland

Select Publications

2022- Republication of the article Beyrouth, une ville par-delà la forme in Tracé, architecture magazine, Lauzanne

2020- Publication of the Project A House in Mtein in the Arab Urbanism magazine, Cambridge University, at Cambridge

2019- Publication of the article Beyrouth, une ville par-delà la forme in Tracé, architecture magazine, Lauzanne

2017- Co-author of the article Aleppo, Objective immersion and retreat in W.A.V.E Workshop, Syria The making of the future from urbicide to the architecture of the city, Universita IUAV, Venice, Italy

2016- Publication of the project Observatoire cinematographique du territoire Ouvert, Réinventer Paris urban innovative project in the Réinventer Paris book

Professional Work & Exhibitions

2022- Zoukak Theater, creation of a performance and cultural complexe of 920 m², executed, Beirut, Lebanon

2021- Residential building in le Rolliet neighborhood, 50 housing units. 1560 m2, competition, Geneva, Switzerland

House in Wadi EL Karm, restructuring and expansion of a house, 200 m², ongoing, Wadi El Karm, Lebanon

2020- Elementary School for Refugees, rehabilitation and extension of the school’s playground, 1950 m², executed, Joub Janin, Lebanon

Renovation and interior design of an apartment, 110 m², ongoing, Beirut, Lebanon

2019- House in Mtein, restructuring and expansion of a house, 400 m², executed, Mtein, Lebanon

2018- Execution of a 130 unit residential building, 8430 m², executed, Pontoise, France

2017- Zoukak Studio, 1000 m² theatre venue, executed, Beirut, Lebanon

Le Bastion Saint-Antoine, enhancement and development of the archeological site, 4300 m², 2nd stage of the competition, Geneva, Switzerland

2016- The Kitchen of Mme. Know, creation of an experimental garden-kitchen in a residential building, 10 m², in collaboration with Sempervirens landscape architects, executed, Paris, France

2015- Réinventer Paris, Observatoire Cinématographique du Territoire Ouvert,  restructuring of the Voltaire sub-station, 2121 m², 2nd phase of the competition, Paris, France

Three subway stations and urban study of their surroundings as part of the subway project of the city of Taif, study, Taif, Saudi Arabia

2014- Rehabilitation and expansion of a 352 m² house, executed, Plantis, France

Wooden elementary school, 1500 m², competition, Vaulruz, Switzerland

Landscaping development of a 2300 m² garden, in collaboration with Sempervirens landscape architects, executed, Mtein, Lebanon

2013- Europan 12, the Adaptable City, urban proposal of a peripheral city, Competition, Paris, France

2012- Residential building in Grottes neighborhood, 1200 m², competition, Geneva, Switzerland

Lectures

2022- Infrastructural, Les Architectes Workshop, lecture, LAU, Departement of Architecture and Interior Design, Beirut

2021- Vernacular Landscape and Establishment, lecture, as part of the Round table, The Assembly, the Myth of Survival of the Fittest, organized by Zoukak Company, Beirut, Lebanon

2015- Imaginaire Périphérique, 7 Documents, lecture, Atelier Bastille, Paris, France

2014- Un Quartier Périphérique Aérien, as part of a series of lectures on the city and its territory at Atelier Bastille, Paris, France

Awards, Fellowships & Grants

2016- In the context of the Réinventer Paris urban innovative project call for proposals, the Observatoire Cinématographique du Territoire Ouvert was awarded second place and exhibited at Le Pavillon de l’Arsenal

2014- Futurs Possibles competition, Award of urbanism for the project Un Quartier Périphérique Aérien, by the Les Maires de France and Le Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris, France