practice

platau | platform for architecture and urbanism is a collaborative practice that uses architecture as a medium to engage cultural, social and environmental concerns.

Co-founded by Boulos Doueihy, Sandra Frem, and Romeo Chahine, platau is based between France and Lebanon and acts as a platform for design, research and activism. Our work spans various scales, typologies, and contexts that aim to integrate architecture, landscape and territory and draw deep connections to local cultures, climates and histories.

Each project is an experimentation towards new spatial potentials and a negotiation of multiple systems to provide an architecture that contributes to the discussion on material culture, responsible design methods, and novel expressions/ inhabitations.

The practice has originated multiple consultancies and self-initiated projects with NGOs and municipalities in Lebanon as a way to channel architecture’s agency into projects that re-invent how we live, work and experience the world together.

platau’s consistently high-quality work is enabled by its founders’ transdisciplinary experiences. The practice has garnered recognition through numerous awards nominations like Archmarathon Awards, Arab Architects Awards, and Archdaily Building of the year.
platau’s work has been exhibited widely including the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Beirut Design Week, and the Abroyan Factory in Beirut.

 

awards & mentions

2022

Arab Architects Award Nomination - Fatre House

2021

17th Architecture Venice Biennale- Beirut Shifting Grounds

2019

2nd Seoul Biennale in Architecture and Urbanism- Creative Collectives

2018
Archdaily Building of the Year Nomination - Wadi Penthouse
2018
Archdaily Building of the Year Nomination - Sursock Apartment
2017

Winner, invited international competition -TUMO Studios Yerevan

2015
Archmarathon Nomination- Zgharta House

People

Boulos Douaihy is a founding partner at platau. He holds a Masters’ degree in Geography from the Universite St Joseph in Beirut and a DES in Architecture from the Fine Arts Institute at the Lebanese University in Beirut. Before founding platau, Douaihy practiced as a lead architect at Hashim Sarkis Studios on award winning projects such as Courtowers ( Winner of the Arab Architects’Awards 2019) and Byblos Town Hall ( Winner of the Lebanese Architects’Awards 2017). Before Hashim Sarkis, he practiced as a senior architect at DW5/ Bernard Khoury Architects, contributing to a wide range of projects between 2003 and 2010. In parallel to platau, Douaihy is engaged in political activism working on numerous political and development initiatives in North Lebanon.
Sandra Frem is a founding partner at platau. She holds a SMArchS in Architecture and Urbanism from the Massachussetts Intitute of Technology in Cambridge and a DES in Architecture from the Fine Arts Institute at the Lebanese University in Beirut. Before founding platau, Frem practiced with Hashim Sarkis Studios as a lead architect and urban designer on Byblos Town Hall (winner of the Lebanese Architects’Awards 2017) and key urban projects with the city (Byblos Urban Strategies, Byblos Waterfront Boardwalk, Byblos Townhall Park). In addition, she served on the team of the Resilient Byblos, commissioned by the Rockfeller Foundation 100 Resilient Cities program, where her work on the Byblos Heritage Trail won an AFD grant for the project in 2018. In parallel with platau, Frem is a committed educator and is currently Assistant Professor of Practice at the School of Architecture and Design at the American University in Beirut. She was a recipient for the Graham Foundation Grant and the Buell Prize in Climate, Architecture and Society in 2023. She previously taught in the Architecture Program at the Lebanese American University and the Landscape Design program at the American University of Beirut.
Romeo Chahine is a founding partner at platau. He holds a DES in Architecture from the Fine Arts Institute at the Lebanese University in Beirut. In parallel with platau, Chahine was a collaborating architect at DW5/ Bernard Khoury Architects between 2008 and 2023, where he was the driving force behind some of the firm’s key projects such as J2 Business Center and Retail Development in Kuwait, TUMO Center for Creative Technologies in Armenia and Lebanon, Plot 450 ( Quasar Tower) and Plot 1282 ( Factory Lofts) in Beirut, Saray –Mixed Use Development in Casablanca; among many.
Collaborators

Kareem Tarhini 
Samir Bitar (2016-2019)
Interns
Ahmad Bachacha ( 2024)
Ranim Kachmar ( 2024)
Christian Ghassibe ( 2023)
Anthony Rouhana ( 2023)
Annabelle Chebat (2021)
Dina Chehab (2021)
Gina Ghaoui (2021)
Helena Homsi (2021)
Joanna Howayek (2021)
Nathalie Mounzer (2021)
Rayanne Njeim (2021)
Lynn Khater (2021)
Yasmine Saad (2021)
Lama Salameh (2021)
Hala Stouhi (2021)
Maya Ziade (2021)
Marianna Boughaba (2019)
Sabine Dina (2019)
Vicky Samia (2019)
Lynn Tannir (2019)
Joe Lteif (2018)
Ralph Khoury (2018)
Victor Bou Diwan (2018)
Georges Souaid (2018)
Thierry Ramia (2018)
Joelle Chidiac (2018)
Yara Frangieh (2018)
Rudy Malouhy (2018)
Caline El Khoury (2017)
Gaelle Fenianos ( 2017)
Jorge Nader (2017)
Elie Saad (2017)
Edmond-Mickel Rahme (2017)
Samar Samad (2016-2017)
Desiree Abboud (2016- 2017)
Chimene Ayoub (2016-2017)
Joe Hatem (2016)
Hala Masri (2016)
David Andos (2015)
Rackelle Tabcharany (2015)
Katia Chehayeb (2015)

Press

01.07.2023
Walnut House
31.03.2023
Wadi Penthouse
05.03.2023
Walnut House
01.10.2022
Creative collectives
30.09.2022
Creative Collectives
01.09.2022
Eresta House
01.06.2022
Eresta House
07.05.2022
Eresta House
01.05.2022
platau
06.04.2022
Fatre House
01.03.2022
Fatre House
22.02.2022
Fatre House
24.11.2021
platau
19.07.2021
Beirut shifting grounds
24.05.2021
La Biennale di Venezia
24.05.2021
Beirut shifting grounds
24.05.2021
Beirut shifting grounds
16.05.2021
Beirut Shifting Grounds
16.05.2020
Beirut shifting grounds
10.09.2019
Wadi Penthouse
27.06.2019
Platau
01.03.2018
Sursock apartment
01.10.2017
Sursock Apartment
01.10.2017
Wadi Penthouse
03.09.2017
Sursock Apartment
05.07.2017
Sursock Apartment
01.07.2017
Wadi Penthouse
01.06.2017
Wadi Penthouse
01.04.2017
Wadi Penthouse
21.02.2017
Wadi Penthouse
15.02.2017
Wadi Penthouse
01.02.2017
Wadi Penthouse
26.01.2017
Wadi Penthouse
24.01.2017
Wadi Penthouse
18.01.2017
Wadi Penthouse
15.07.2016
Rethinking Zgharta
20.04.2015
Zgharta House