Two Awards from Beirut for Architecture Students
In the Beirut Port Renewal Competition held as part of the 7th annual Inspireli Awards,
3 projects from the Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Design and Architecture were among 40 shortlisted projects, and 2 projects advanced to the Finals included 8 projects.
CIU Department of Architecture students Hanieh Hashemifar, Soudeh Saeidi, Zahed Arzouni and Mohamad Alirezaeitehrani were entitled to two “Honorable Mention” Awards.
These projects were prepared under the close supervision of Assist. Prof. Dr. Ehsan Reza in his ARCH/INAR 502 Graduate Project Class.
Speaking about the competition, Reza said INSPIRELI used the slogan “Beirut is not alone! Help Beirut to be Reborn" for the competition to reconstruct the Port of Beirut located in the capital city of Lebanon that was greatly destructed in August 4th 2020 explosion.
Stating that the Inspireli Awards are one of the important international architectural competitions that allow many new talents to tell their stories and raise awareness about their own worldview, Reza said “Inspireli brings together promising design and architecture students, new graduates or professionals and creates a common communication space for them.”
Assist. Prof. Dr. Reza said 249 projects were submitted by a total of 579 participants, adding the winning projects will help with the renewal of the destroyed port.
The two round voting system with more than 800 jurors selected first the 40 finalists out of which then the best 4 projects and 4 honorary mentions were awarded in Beirut. Reza said, “I must proudly say that three projects from Cyprus International University were nominated for the final stage. Two of these projects were deemed worthy of 2 honorable mentions by being among the 8 finalists to whom 4 best projects and 4 best honorable mention awards were given.”
Assist. Prof. Dr. Reza also said, “The Honorable Mention Awards are one of the most prestigious achievements of promoting Cyprus International University at an international level, and will also increase the quality of their education and contribute to their future careers by encouraging the sense of competition among students”.
The awards ceremony took place at the Sursock Museum in Beirut where Hanieh Hashemifar, Soudeh Saeidi, Zahed Arzouni and Mohamad Alirezaeitehrani received their Honorable Mention Awards, and Assist. Prof. Dr. Nezire Özgece attended the event to represent the University.
Providing information about the event, Özgece said, “On behalf of CIU, my heartfelt congratulations go to our students who achieved this very important success and their project advisor Assist. Prof. Ehsan Reza. It is an honor for me to attend this prestigious award ceremony on behalf of Ehsan and stand by our students. The fact that 2 of the last 8 projects were from CIU drew a lot of attention at the award ceremony and attracted great interest.”