Carl Gerges Architects was founded by Lebanese architect Carl Gerges. He was born in Beirut on December 5, 1987. He liked painting and music since he was a child. While studying architecture at the American University of Beirut, he co-founded the Mashrou' Leila band. He is active in the Middle East as a musician and architect. He officially established his architecture studio Carl Gerges Architects in March 2020. His work has also appeared on the cover of "Middle East Architecture Digest".

Yinji： What inspired your passion for architecture? What was the opportunity to establish Carl Gerges Architects?
Carl Gerges：My passion for architecture came quite progressively and naturally. I started drawing when I was about 6 or 7, and spending my summers in Paris had a huge cultural influence on me. I was fascinated by the industrial era of the mid-late nineteenth century, the scale of the edifices that were built, the precision of the technical drawings, the attention to detail.

During the founding years of my band, Mashrou Leila, I received my BArch from American University of Beirut. The band was born in 2008 and was only meant to last for one night. This is where the name Mashrou  Leila  later came from (Mashrou  Leila in Arabic  means one  night’s  project) We were all architects and designers which is why we all got along. We had the same language and the same approach to music. We undertook songwriting like we would have done with a design project.                Because of the success of my career in music, architecture was never my main center of attention. Thirteen years later, after the band got its well deserved consideration, I felt it was the right time to devote more energy towards embracing this important second part of who I was. In 2020 I officially launched my architecture studio, Carl Gerges Architects, a platform that I hope would allow me to express and reinvent myself.

Yinji：As a musician and an architect, How do you get your inspiration?
Carl Gerges：I get inspired by everything that surrounds me really. Things I see, sounds I hear, people I meet, books I read and movies I watch. But if I would have to narrow it down, a big source of inspiration would be circumstances and constraints. A big part of being an architect is working with constraints; constantly meeting  budgets and deadlines, managing client expectations, suddenly finding out that building codes don't allow our designs. Confronting these obstacles became an integral part of my design process, to the extent that I wouldn't be able to be creative without having a problem to solve. It's quite a masochistic approach but I think that all architects tend to enjoy this torture. If someone tells me I have an unlimited budget and no site restrictions, I would not be able to come up with any great ideas.

Yinji：How would you describe the design philosophy of your studio?
Carl Gerges：I’m a contextualist and a fan of nature and history – these are the elements that form the language of my architecture.

Yinji：How do you express and reshape yourself through architectural design?
Carl Gerges：The freedom of being able to express myself and to reinvent myself through my work is a blessing. The world is moving fast and I’m also evolving as I grow wiser and older. Adapting to new conditions and learning how to use the latest tools and technologies, keep things exciting in my attempt to constantly do better.

Yinji：How do you integrate architecture with the local natural and cultural environment?
Carl Gerges：I always prioritize working with locally available resources and artisans that have traditional and local know-how. Not only does it naturally anchor the project in its context, but it also makes financial sense today. In addition to that, natural materials age graciously and become more and more poetic with time. Something that I also actively work towards, is being culturally and geographically relevant to the site. An empty plot of land always has a geographical location, a nationality, an orientation to the sun, native elements that you cannot dismiss and that you need to consciously integrate in your design.

Yinji：How to use the environment, materials and light to give the building emotion and soul?
Carl Gerges：I often find that nature has already done most of the work for us. I remember the first time I visited the site of Villa Chams. It was untouched for hundreds of years, nature was displaying its most beautiful spectacle. Everything was so harmonious that I felt like my intervention should not alter anything or at least  have the smallest  physical impact.  I consequently worked a  lot with the natural resources available on site. I used earth that came from excavation works to cast the entire structure of the house. Native pebbles and aggregates were also used in the mixture of the terrazzo that paved all the outdoor terraces and the pool. I even used existing rocks as walls, like in the bathrooms for example. The house also follows the natural slope of the site. Each room has a different floor level and therefore a different relationship to the outdoors. My intention here was to enhance the sensorial experiences of the user and to highlight the different qualities of the minerals found on site.

Yinji：What is your favorite architect or artist? What influence did they bring to your design?
Carl Gerges：It is usually the experience of being inside and around a building that inspires me rather than the designers themselves. The Thermal Baths in Vals by Peter Zumthor, the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona by Carlo Scarpa, or the Neues Museum in Berlin by David Chipperfield.