In memory of the devastating explosion that occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, this year, Design Miami/ launched a charity auction to raise funds for local efforts to reconstruct buildings and public spaces in the city. The architecture fraternity joined hands to donate original architectural drawings and artworks to the drive, titled ‘Architects for Beirut’, with over 60 international architects and firms such as Zaha Hadid Design, Toyo Ito, Steven Holl, BIG, Adjaye Associates, Iwan Baan Photography, Renzo Piano, Stefano Boeri, and many others participating.

The blast at the capital of Lebanon earlier this August was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions, leaving the major parts of the city destroyed and many people homeless. Having personally witnessed the effects of the tragedy, Beirut-born architects Makram el Kadi and Ziad Jamaleddine of LEFT, and Amale Andraos, Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, commenced the auction on October 13. "We felt called to help their community recover, build and restore,” shares the team.

Contributions included a rare lithography donated by Norman Foster, an axonometric drawing of BIG’s Amager Bakke Power Station, a print of a bridge designed by Sir David Chipperfield, a collage-render by Tatiana Bilbao, and a gouache drawing by Peter Cook.

The pilots of the recovery efforts - primarily students and researchers - will be the beneficiaries of the initiative. Beirut Urban Lab, a collaborative, interdisciplinary research space within the American University of Beirut School of Architecture is a well-established organization in the city that the auction will finance.

The organisations have been developing numerous short-term and long-term rehabilitation projects such as hospitals, relief-housing, libraries, public infrastructure, gardens, and precious architectural treasures that define the Beirut community.

The virtual auction is on sale to public till November end at Design Miami/ Shop, and 100 per cent of the proceedings will be donated to organisations involved in rebuilding the city.

‘Architects for Beirut’ is the second in a continuing series of charitable initiatives in association with Anava Projects to raise funds for urgent causes and support charitable design. Design for GlobalGiving, Design Miami’s debut initiative, raised over $30,000 for GlobalGiving’s COVID-19 Relief Fund during the summer of 2020.

(Text by Ankitha Gattupalli, intern at stirworld.com)