Three prominent Lebanese architects are making international headlines through significant achievements in their field. Carlos Moubarak's ambitious Beirut Memorial Park project has won two prestigious awards from Build Magazine Architecture in 2025, while GM Architects' Myconian Deos Hotel has been recognized among the world's best hotels by Architectural Digest Middle East, and veteran architect Said Bitar received special recognition for his exceptional contributions to the University of Saint Joseph.
Carlos Moubarak's Beirut Memorial Park project has secured a double victory at the 2025 Build Magazine Architecture awards, winning both the Best Middle East Civil Design Project award and the Best Cultural Architecture and Design Practice award. Build Magazine Architecture is a renowned international publication based in the United Kingdom dedicated to promoting excellence in the building industry and its environment. The two awards recognize an approach that includes societal, urban, and architectural considerations.
Following the devastating double explosion that struck Beirut's port on August 4, 2020, which killed more than 200 people, injured thousands, left many homeless, and destroyed entire neighborhoods rich in architectural and urban heritage, Moubarak developed plans for a memorial facility. The project offers the dead, their families, and the entire Lebanese people a place of memory and contemplation that does justice to the scale and significance of the event.
Designed as a public park where architecture, landscape, and infrastructure merge, the memorial emerges from the ruins of the site on a vast 11-hectare plot. A black concrete monument with a 120-meter diameter forms the centerpiece. It stands at the level of the explosion's epicenter, above the crater generated by the blast. This is the "ring of remembrance" based on the figure of a circle, the absolute symbol of unity. It represents the architectural crystallization of the explosion.
Meanwhile, experts at Architectural Digest Middle East, the regional edition of the prestigious international magazine, have compiled their list of the "world's best hotels 2025." Among the 31 hotel establishments from 18 countries, ranging from Majorca to Marrakech, the magazine cites the Myconian Deos designed by GM Architects, the international multidisciplinary design agency founded and led by Galal Mahmoud and his partners Randa Chahine, Anwar Hajj, and Elie Waked.
Perched on a hill in Mykonos with breathtaking views of the old port and the Cyclades, the Myconian Deos Hotel combines traditional Greek architectural elements with modern luxury. Its white walls, private pools, and green spaces or areas shaded by pergolas spread across a 12,000 square meter estate, like an extension of a Cycladic village. "The hotel was designed to reproduce a Cycladic village as seen in Mykonos' old port and the surrounding islands, but with a more contemporary minimalist style," Galal Mahmoud explained to Architectural Digest. "It's a very vernacular style, but at the same time, it's not a copy-paste. The building materials we use today are totally different from those used before, which gives it this unique character. So we decided to extract the language and characteristics that would create the same atmosphere and lived experience, and contextualize and adapt them to current sensibilities."
Carefully crafted local finishes and custom furniture contribute to a strong sense of belonging, the magazine wrote. History blends discreetly into the hotel's contemporary fabric, creating an authentic yet modern experience for guests.
In a separate recognition ceremony, the Higher School of Engineering of Beirut (ESIB-USJ) celebrated the 50th graduating class of young graduates in architecture and engineering. During this event organized on September 1st, faculty dean Wassim Raphael read a message from the University of Saint Joseph rector, Father Salim Daccache, who praised "the excellence of Professor Said Bitar, a great architect and engineer... We recognize the chance the university had to write its history thanks to the exceptional contribution of Mr. Bitar, whose essential role as teacher and director gave particular meaning to USJ's 150 years, making them more memorable and precious."
It should be noted that in 2016, in recognition of forty years of teaching at ESIB, Bitar received the university's centenary commemorative medal. After his studies at the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels, Belgium, he founded the Said Bitar architecture, engineering, and urban planning agency in 1967, known since 2011 as 4b Architects.
Bitar's career, spanning five decades, encompasses four million square meters built in Lebanon and one million abroad. Among his emblematic projects in Lebanon are the Rizk Tower, the rehabilitation of the Foch-Allenby district, Beirut's Sports City (with Michel Chakar and Laceco), the renovation of the Notre-Dame de Harissa basilica, and the new bell tower of Saint George's Cathedral in downtown Beirut. In 2005, he was appointed to the rank of officer of the Order of Leopold, the most important order of the Kingdom of Belgium, cementing his international recognition in the field of architecture and engineering.
