Assem Salam

1924 - 2012

Notes

Salam graduated in architecture from Cambridge University in 1950. He trained at the architectural firm of Lionel Brett in England. Influenced by Rifat Chadirji's call for the insertion of traditional elements in modern architecture, Salam was liberated from Modernist architecture's abhorrence of retrospection and its products. After a period of unconditional modernism (such as his work at the firm of George Rais on the Pan Am Building and the Villa Mekkaoui and his own designs for the house of Lebanese President Chamoun and the Lebanese Institute for the Blind), he found himself poised between two poles: on the one hand a modern plan, i.e. open space, asymmetrical composition, inside-outside interplay, and on the other hand, the expression of regional identity through the use of local materials such as sandstone and elements such as pre-cast concrete arches, a recurrent feature of his designs, especially in the mid-1960s. Besides his teaching position at AUB, Assem Salam was part, in the early 1960s, of the editorial committee of the Middle East Forum published by the University. He soon became responsible director, infusing the magazine with architecture articles.
Salam was very active at the Order of Engineers and Architects and was elected President.
Salam died at age 88 on 4 November 2012.

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