Fadi Shayya, founder & coordinator
fadi.shayya@yahoo.com
Fadi (born 1980, Lebanon) is an urban planner, writer, and social advocate living and working in Beirut, Lebanon. Trained in urban studies and architecture, he is founder and coordinator of the research platform DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS (DF), an initiative grounded in acknowledging the need for practice-driven research and critical discourses on spatial cultures in the contemporary city. He is the editor of DF’s flagship publication At the Edge of the City: Reinhabiting Public Space toward the Recovery of Beirut’s Horsh Al-Sanawbar, a volume on Beirut’s park and public space.
Fadi has worked with the United Nations on development, MDGs, and urban governance in Lebanon, Kuwait, and Jordan, and has consulted for the American University of Beirut and NGOs on spatial studies and infographics. He occasionally participates in lectures and seminars, and continues to practice urban planning and architecture in Lebanon and the Gulf Region.
Fadi is the laureate of the 2008 Basil Fuleihan Innovative Good Governance Award for his work on Beirut’s Park, Horsh Al-Sanawbar. He holds a Master of Urban Design from the American University of Beirut (2007) and a Bachelor in Architectural Engineering from the Beirut Arab University (2002).
Nancy Hamad
Nancy is a Lebanese Architect and social activist, who graduated in architectural engineering from Beirut Arab University (2006). She is interested in urban planning and urban design, and she practices at the Beirut-based office URBI-Architects & Urban Planners besides her involvement with DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS.
Hamad is a volunteer architect in different post-war reconstruction projects in South and North Lebanon. She is also a member of the Solidarity Maps Group (a.k.a. Kharita Media Team)—established during the 2006 war on Lebanon—who produced cartography infographics to narrate the aggression on South Lebanon, Gaza Strip, and Naher el Bared Camp.
Danny Khoury
Danny is an experimental graphic designer specialized in print: branding, packaging, and product design; involved in web design, animation, installation, photomontage, and illustration; and, interested in architecture, music, & cinematography… He believes that design is not a commercial end in itself, but it is an experimental process to establish and communicate to people visually compelling brand identities and forms, which in turn attract the mind of the viewer in a consumer world.
Born and studied in Beirut, Khoury started his career working—for 6 years—at Med K&K, advertising & marketing, on corporate identities and various types of printed artwork, in addition to advertising campaigns whether billboards, magazines, and TV ads. Besides his involvement with DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS, he is currently a consultant at TagBrands, branding & design, and a typography instructor at the Hariri Canadian University.
Collaborators
Alicia Denris, Bachar Al-Amine, Bassam Chaya, Bilal Khbeiz, Danny Khoury, Darine Choueiri, Fadi Shayya, Fouad Asfour, François Eid, George Arbid, Ghassan Maasri, GIS/Transport Ltd., Gregoire Serof, Guilia Fiocca, Guylaine Raphael, Hala Al-Amine, Hanin Ghaddar, Hussein Yaakoub, Imad Gemayel, Jana Nakhal, Jean-Francois Pirson, Lama Sfeir, Lana Salman, Lasse Lau, Lina Abou Reslan, Marwan Rechmaoui, Nada Bakri, Nada Habis-Assi, Nancy Hamad, New Opinion Workshop (NOW), Rana Andraos, Rola Idris, Salman Abbas, Samar Kanafani, Sara Aboughazal, Serge Serof, Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), Sumayyah Samaha, Tara Mahfoud, The Daily Star Newspaper