Meet Hani Hert
geschreven in het Engels, oktober 2006; gepubliceerd in HUIG. Academie van Bouwkunst Rotterdam (AvBR), 2007
Meet Hani Hert (b. 1980). A young architect from Beirut/Lebanon, he was a participant in this past July’s ‘Living in the Docks’ summer school at AvBR. Scheduled to stay in Rotterdam for just two weeks, Hani did not leave until the beginning of October – his own city having become embroiled in a war in the meantime. Huig’s Guus Vreeburg met Hani Hert on his very last day here.
Architecture in Beirut
“I graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Beirut Arab University in 2004, the best in my class. The Faculty offered me a place in the master’s programme, and a position as an assistant teacher of design for twelve hours a week. The faculty has a five-year curriculum, with about 40-50 students per year. It’s tough to get in. At first I was rejected and I had to wait a year to re-apply. But I just wanted architecture, nothing else! I have known that since my teens, in the 1990s, during the reconstruction of Beirut after the wars of the 1980s… At 16, I realized that I had been collecting architectural memories for years. I was fascinated by all the new buildings going up then, but also by old architecture. Both my high school and my pre-school had been located in the medieval Ras district of Beirut, and I loved looking at old 2- and 3- storey buildings in the classical style. When I started studying architecture I didn’t know architects at all: all those years I hadn’t been looking at architects, but at buildings!
“My MA thesis is ‘Skyscrapers: Conflict between Iconic Architecture and Contextual Identity’. Many corporate clients opt for monumental, iconic buildings over and over again. Most of these buildings won’t survive ten years: by then, they will have lost their ‘newer-than-new’ appeal to even flashier projects. My case study is Dubai. You know the Burj al-Arab (‘Tower of the Arabs’) Hotel? It looks like a giant sailboat and it’s a highly iconic building, in high demand for as long as it lasts. And in the mean time, it’s totally unsuited to the local climate, being all glass. This happens in Beirut as well. Clients just ‘go’ for the icon, but as an architect you have to consider environmental aspects as well.
“Apart from my MA project and the teaching, I work at an architecture firm. We do villas in the Gulf area, Jordan and Lebanon. Recently, our firm won a competition for a major telecommunications building in Ghana. Beirut is a modern metropolitan city on the Mediterranean, where Europe, the Middle East and Africa meet. Even from a Beirut perspective, Ghana is pretty far out. For this project I have been working alongside my senior architect, developing the concepts. We have taken four environmental aspects into consideration: geographical aspects like location, climate and sun exposure; contextual identity; demographical aspects; and social aspects. The project is actually going to be built.
“In 2005 I was selected for the Archiprix International in Glasgow, Scotland, the only one from Lebanon. I participated in an international workshop there – the theme being how to re-activate the River Clyde, which was once the heart of Glasgow’s great industrial and shipbuilding past.”
The summer school at AvBR
“The Rotterdam summer school? I greatly enjoyed it, even though I couldn’t fully concentrate. I arrived here with a throat infection. At Schiphol Airport my Dutch visa – which had taken so much trouble to obtain – had a mistake in the dates given for my stay... On top of that, my suitcase, with my antibiotics in it, stayed behind in Prague; it arrived in Rotterdam only two days later. That same day I heard that war had broken out in my country and that Beirut airport had been heavily bombed… Yes, my relatives were all safe, but I knew I couldn’t easily go back.
“Yet in many ways, the Rotterdam workshop was even better than Glasgow. There we had just one week; Rotterdam instead offered two. That means you have time to adjust to the city, to the working surroundings and to your new friends in the workshop. We had a studio of seven: Chris from The Netherlands, Martin from Spain, Zuzana from Slovakia, Anneleen from Belgium, Pedro from Portugal, Ekatarina from Russia, and myself; Duzan Doepel, originally from South Africa, was our tutor. Really international! Coming from Beirut, that in itself is nothing new – Beirut is a cultural mix, and so is my university: Christians, Muslims, Druses – Lebanese as well as people from France, Britain and the USA. We are used to a free life, in a situation where lifestyles mix. That, of course, is also the case in contemporary culture, in architecture especially. The Rotterdam summer school offered us time to get to know each other: personalities, architectural ideas and working methods differ, and that’s interesting! Having two weeks makes it possible to explore the subject more broadly, and in more depth.
“I was impressed by all the technical and digital facilities available. And then that building we worked in, directly in the Stadshavens area: these spaces seem custom-made for architects to work in; they have this spirit of ‘working hard’. Although it was very hot – at times I dreamed about jumping off the quay to take a swim… – we worked each day from 9 a.m. until closing time at 11:30 p.m. Despite of that, or maybe even because of it, we also had good fun! Our tutors and masters were great, and really interested in our ideas. They were actually following us, instead of the other way around.
“What I’ve learnt from it? First of all how to interact with people from different countries, and how to be cooperative. I also enjoyed the final presentations, seeing all my friends expressing their ideas – not just our studio, but all of them had developed good concepts! I took notes on all the presentations; they can help me when I’m back in Lebanon. I have also been observing the start of each studio’s thinking process. Getting started, and just how you can do that, is the main thing. Watching others do it gave me new inspiration.”
“The Rotterdam summer school? I greatly enjoyed it, even though I couldn’t fully concentrate. I arrived here with a throat infection. At Schiphol Airport my Dutch visa – which had taken so much trouble to obtain – had a mistake in the dates given for my stay... On top of that, my suitcase, with my antibiotics in it, stayed behind in Prague; it arrived in Rotterdam only two days later. That same day I heard that war had broken out in my country and that Beirut airport had been heavily bombed… Yes, my relatives were all safe, but I knew I couldn’t easily go back.
“Yet in many ways, the Rotterdam workshop was even better than Glasgow. There we had just one week; Rotterdam instead offered two. That means you have time to adjust to the city, to the working surroundings and to your new friends in the workshop. We had a studio of seven: Chris from The Netherlands, Martin from Spain, Zuzana from Slovakia, Anneleen from Belgium, Pedro from Portugal, Ekatarina from Russia, and myself; Duzan Doepel, originally from South Africa, was our tutor. Really international! Coming from Beirut, that in itself is nothing new – Beirut is a cultural mix, and so is my university: Christians, Muslims, Druses – Lebanese as well as people from France, Britain and the USA. We are used to a free life, in a situation where lifestyles mix. That, of course, is also the case in contemporary culture, in architecture especially. The Rotterdam summer school offered us time to get to know each other: personalities, architectural ideas and working methods differ, and that’s interesting! Having two weeks makes it possible to explore the subject more broadly, and in more depth.
“I was impressed by all the technical and digital facilities available. And then that building we worked in, directly in the Stadshavens area: these spaces seem custom-made for architects to work in; they have this spirit of ‘working hard’. Although it was very hot – at times I dreamed about jumping off the quay to take a swim… – we worked each day from 9 a.m. until closing time at 11:30 p.m. Despite of that, or maybe even because of it, we also had good fun! Our tutors and masters were great, and really interested in our ideas. They were actually following us, instead of the other way around.
“What I’ve learnt from it? First of all how to interact with people from different countries, and how to be cooperative. I also enjoyed the final presentations, seeing all my friends expressing their ideas – not just our studio, but all of them had developed good concepts! I took notes on all the presentations; they can help me when I’m back in Lebanon. I have also been observing the start of each studio’s thinking process. Getting started, and just how you can do that, is the main thing. Watching others do it gave me new inspiration.”
Rotterdam – “I like it!”
“I learned a lot about Rotterdam, too. Previously I didn’t know any more about the city and its architecture than the Kunsthal, the Erasmus Bridge and the Cube Dwellings, even though at our Faculty we studied international architecture, from Victor Horta to Zaha Hadid… After the summer school finished, all my friends were going home – but I couldn’t, due to the war in Lebanon. I felt bad, still being ill and very insecure about my future – when would I be able to go back? – my visa expiring, and not knowing anybody here. Fortunately I got help. The Academy’s dean himself, Mr Lucas Verweij, helped me extend my visa. Mr Ewoud Netten, the Academy’s projects coordinator, offered moral and financial support. The people at Stadshavens Rotterdam have been fantastic as well, especially Mrs Sjani Moerer. After alternating stays in the homes of ‘Nico the Storyteller’ [aka Nico Prins; gv] and John Snitker, I was given a room at the Woonhotel in the ‘Queen of the South’ building at Maashaven. As you can see, it offers great views of Rotterdam as a port city! Stadshavens also let me use the city’s water taxi system. Friends lent me a scooter, so that I could go out onto the streets, discovering the city not just from the water – as we did during the workshop – but at street level as well. By now I know all streets of Rotterdam by heart!
“Yes, in a way Rotterdam and Beirut are similar, but there are big differences too. Both cities share a history of large-scale reconstruction after wartime destruction – I didn’t know that part of Rotterdam’s past until I came here. Like Beirut, Rotterdam is a port city; Beirut is a fully coastal city, however, and its ports date back to Phoenician times. Beirut has a centuries-old tradition of people of different lifestyles living together – we know how; the recent problems came from outside the country.
“My favourite spot in Rotterdam? Lots! Buildings in Rotterdam may not all be that ‘wow’, but I can appreciate their functionality. Some are very poetic as well. I remember sitting in the top loft of one of the Cube Dwellings, in this pyramid of glass: very interesting perspectives all around. The guy who designed it really did a good job. I found it very inspiring for my own work. I also like the Pathé Square [the Schouwburgplein; gv]: it has a nice urban atmosphere; I would sit there for hours. Nearby West Kruiskade, however, is too crowded for me – I feel unsafe there. Generally speaking though, life here is pleasantly ‘normal’ and informal, not too sophisticated.
“In the end, my prolonged stay in Rotterdam, which I thought would be so hard, has proven even more special than the summer school. I could easily integrate here; I felt at home. Even though I grew up in Beirut and really love my city, I’ve always felt that I don’t belong in the Middle East. It’s too crowded, too chaotic, too tense. I could never pinpoint it, but now I know: it’s a nostalgia for the North, its winds and dull skies. You know, one of my grandfathers was from Germany originally… Now I understand why I always have difficulties integrating into the Mediterranean mentality – I feel more like the ‘straight to the point’, ‘matter of fact’ attitude of the North of Europe. I’ve discovered myself 1).
“Yes, I’m going back to Beirut now. My city. Back to my MA project, my teaching, my office. I dread seeing all the damage to the city, to the airport. I shall be all right, though. I hope to come back to Rotterdam some day. Please say hi to all the people at Stadshavens, Mrs Sjani Moerer especially, and at the academy, Mr Verweij and Ewoud.” OK – deal!
© Guus Vreeburg/Het OOG; Rotterdam, 061010
1) Since original publication of this text, Hani Hert has started investigating into concrete facts regarding his supposedly 'German origins' (GV, 090527)