Bernard Mallat Architects, Interior design, Stage Design

Bernard Mallat Architects, an architecture firm based in Beirut Lebanon and that operates in the region and overseas, producing contemporary work in architecture, urban, interior, product and stage design. The firm collaborates with a number of other designers and firms notably a partnership with WZ architects. Its philosophy is based on challenging assumptions and traditions to uncover and re-cover truths. The work produced ranges from experimental to social and always strives to be sustainable. It is of its time, varied and often conceptual.

Philosophy

Vision is obscured by the casual existence of conventions and standards as they apply to all things. Challenging assumptions about what is in general - and more particularly as it applies to design and architecture - allows us to uncover and re-discover truths. It allows us to test our work against preconceived ideas and create the new and the delightful. We enjoy editing the environment and re-interpreting the world. Our research and experiments allow us to find ways to systematize, re-organize, de-organize and poeticize human activity. We borrow from the natural world and technology in an attempt to blur the edge between the two and get nature to converge with Architecture. Rooted in Modernism, our work allows function and context (client, program, neighborhood, topography, etc.) to shape design, however, we refuse to be bound by a style. Our projects draw meaning from conditions and setting. We play with notions of identity to define new ones and utilize available tools (digital and analog) to produce unambiguously contemporary yet considerably varied designs. Our work is conceptual and unapologetic about its nature. A flexible approach allows our architecture to perform not just represent. It can engage or manipulate. It attempts to create dynamic relationships between physical things and the individual altering both perception and experience to give meaning and multiple readings. Our experience in stage design is not far removed from the one in architecture or interior design. Dabbling in multiple fields allows cross-pollination that enriches our work by bringing differing strategies and insights to the issues at hand.