Biography
Abir Saksouk is an architect and urbanist who has conducted research on the history of informal suburbs, the social production of shared spaces in the city and housing rights in Beirut. She has also worked on projects that develop alternative strategies to urban planning and policy making in Lebanon. Saksouk has been the co-founder and co-director of the design and research studio Public Works, Beirut (2012–present); co-founder and researcher, Dictaphone Group, Beirut (2009–present); architect for Badawer Architects, Beirut (2010–2013) and an urban researcher, American University of Beirut (2008–2010).
Selected publications include ‘Playing Beirut’ (co-authored with Nadine Bekdache and Monica Basbous), Harvard Design Magazine #44: Seventeen (Fall/Winter 2017); ‘On the Repercussions of Rent Policies on the City and Everyday Life’ (co-authored with Nadine Bekdache and Monica Basbous), in ‘The Peace Building in Lebanon’ (issue no. 16), The Daily Star (August 2017) and ‘Making Space for the Public: The Story of Beirut’s Dalieh’, Arab Studies Journal (Fall 2015).
Among her recent presentations are findings on the Damour and Dbayyeh coastal cases, part of the Public Works project ‘Urbanism and Law’ for the Lebanese Coast and the National Master Plan, at the Order of Engineers and Architects, Beirut (2017); ‘Rent-controlled housing stock: An opportunity for diverse housing programs’ (co-presented with Nadine Bekdache) at Orient Institut, Beirut (2017) and ‘Where Is Law?’ (co-presented with Monica Basbous), Salon Discussions, Sursock Museum, Beirut (2017).
Saksouk was awarded the New Paradigms Factory Fellowship, Arab Council for Social Sciences (2012) and Best Paper by the Huszar Brammah and Associates Prize (2008). She was also awarded a full scholarship for a master’s degree by the Karim Reda Said Foundation through the British Council Scholarship Award (2007).
Saksouk received a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Beirut (2004) and a Master of Science in Urban Development Planning from University College London (2008).
She was born in 1981 in Beirut, where she currently lives and works.
