Antoine Fischfisch

Antoine Fischfisch is an architect, urban planner and specialist in the restoration of built heritage. He holds a PhD in spatial planning, urbanism and the dynamics of space from Université Paris IV – Sorbonne (2007), prepared under the supervision of Professor Michael F. Davie, with a thesis entitled “Formes urbaines et architecturales à Beyrouth entre 1850 et 1940 : typologie, évolution et logique de production” (Urban and architectural forms in Beirut between 1850 and 1940: typology, evolution and logic of production). He also holds a DESS in the restoration and conservation of monuments and historic sites (Lebanese University, Tripoli, in collaboration with the École de Chaillot, Paris, 1999), a DESS in urban planning (Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, in collaboration with the Institut français d’urbanisme, Paris, 1998) and a Master in Architecture from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (1995).

In 1996 he founded his own office for architecture, urban planning and restoration. In 1998 he completed an internship with the French Ministry of Culture, under the supervision of Bernard Fonquernie, on sites such as Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, Strasbourg Cathedral and the Châteaux of Chamarande, Breteuil and Rosny.

His restoration projects cover monuments, churches and 18th- and 19th-century residences across Lebanon, among them the old souks of Douma (from the first studies in 2002 to the final execution works in 2023-2024), Souk Haraj in Tripoli, the Citadel of Msaylha (Batroun), the keep of the medieval castle of Byblos, the Church of Mar Zakhia in Ajaltoun, Beiteddine Palace and the study of the medieval castle of Saida. After the Beirut port explosion, he took part in 2020-2021 in many restoration projects for traditional buildings with BACH (Beirut Assist Cultural Heritage) and the Beirut Heritage Initiative. He has also led urban planning and landscape projects – the town plan of Douma, the study for the UNESCO classification of the city of Tripoli, an analytical study of the laws protecting urban heritage in Lebanon for CERMOC, and the pedestrian paths of Kesrouan – as well as many architectural projects.

A professor at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) since 2002, he headed its Architecture department (2013-2019) and was then in charge of its doctoral file (2019-2022). Since 2023 he has been Director of the Higher School of Architecture (ESAR) of Saint Joseph University (USJ). He has also taught at the Lebanese University and Notre Dame University (1998-2014), and at the American University of Beirut (2007-2014). From 2010 to 2023 he was a member of the Lebanese Ministry of Culture’s committee of advisors on the destruction of traditional buildings.

His research focuses on the urban and architectural history of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, the three-arched house, policies for safeguarding built heritage and the evolution of building laws in Lebanon. He has organised or co-organised several international conferences, including “Politique de sauvegarde des bâtiments traditionnels de Beyrouth” (Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, USEK, 2014) and “Patrimoine architectural moderne” (with UNESCO Lebanon, 2017), and has given many lectures in Lebanon and abroad, notably at Ifpo, the Université François-Rabelais de Tours and the University of Khartoum.

With the BACH team, he received in 2022 the grand prize of the ICCROM-Sharjah Awards 2021-2022 for the Arab world and The Best in Heritage “Project of Influence” award for the restoration of traditional buildings in Beirut after the port explosion. He also won the first prize of the Lebanese Architects Awards (2017) for the restoration of Souk Haraj in Tripoli, with Michel Daoud, and the first prize of the Souk el-Bazerkan competition in Tripoli (2002), with Jean Yasmine and Rola Saadi. He has been a member of the international jury of the Inspireli Awards since 2019.

Publications

• Formes urbaines et architecturales de Beyrouth (depuis le XIX^e siècle jusqu’à nos jours), Beirut, ALBA, 2011, 333 p.
• Davie May, Daoud Michel, Fischfisch Antoine, Kallab Ousama, Maacaron Yasmine (ed.) and Rifai Khaled, Manuel de réhabilitation (CORPUS – Lebanon), Lebanese Ministry of Culture, European Commission (MEDA – Euromed Heritage), École d’Avignon and School of Architecture of Barcelona, 2004.
• “Al-tatawor al-’iqary fi Bayrut mounzou mountassaf al-qarn al-tasse’ ‘achar wa hatta ayyamina hazeh” (in Arabic), Beirut Urban Declaration, Order of Engineers and Architects of Beirut, 2021.
• “Église de Mar Zakhia, Ajaltoun : entre revitalisation et restauration”, in Maraya al-tourath, Lebanese American University, 2017.
• “Tatawor al-achkal al-omraniyya fi Beyrouth depuis la fin du XIX^e siècle”, in Maraya al-tourath, Lebanese American University, 2015.
• “Notre-Dame el-Kharayeb de Kfar Helda dans le pays de Batroun. Histoire d’une restauration”, in May Davie (ed.), Le patrimoine architectural de l’Église orthodoxe d’Antioche, University of Balamand, 2015.
• “Urbanisation anarchique” (chapter 7), in report for the Ministry of Environment (SOER), Ecodit, 2011.
• “Le souq de Haraj (Tripoli) : théorie de restauration et application”, BAAL 10, Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities, 2008.
• “Espaces publics au Mont-Liban entre modernité et tradition : étude de cas du village de Douma”, in May Davie (ed.), Fonctions pratiques et figures des espaces publics au Liban : perspectives comparatives dans l’aire méditerranéenne, Tours, CEHVI, 2008.
• “L’association de sauvegarde de Douma : un exemple à suivre”, Batrouniyyat, Cultural Centre of the Caza of Batroun, 2007.
• “La maison beyrouthine aux trois arcs entre l’oubli et la pérennité”, in La construction durable, conference proceedings, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik – Holcim, 2007.
• “Le tissu urbain traditionnel de Douma”, in Bayn al-madina wal-rif, Notre Dame University, 2003.
• “Les maisons à trois arcades à Douma entre société et municipalité”, in Michael Davie (ed.), Maison beyrouthine à trois arcs, Tours, URBAMA, 2002.
• Fischfisch Antoine, Huibrecht Eric and Pelleine Isabelle, “Études analytiques des lois pour la protection du patrimoine urbain au Liban”, CERMOC, 2001.