David Aouad
Founding Partner / Design Principal
David Aouad holds a master’s degree in Urban Planning and a bachelor’s in Architecture from the University of Montreal. He started an independent practice in 1999 and has since teamed up with partner Juliana El-Haddad to establish the firm DAJH Architects. Besides his practice, Aouad is an Assistant Professor of Practice at the Lebanese American University, where he teaches Senior Architecture and Design studios at the School of Architecture and Design. In 2020, Aouad was appointed director of the Institute for Environmental Studies and Research [IESR] at LAU.
Aouad’s research agenda revolves mainly around topics of critical importance within the public realm such as residual spaces, disconnected urban fragments, urban heat islands, rural regeneration, urban crisis management, and divisions within the city. He is working on a series of interconnected research projects in Beirut on urban mobility, habitability, and the urban project. His writings on non‐constructible parcels, urban heat islands, education, and sustainable planning have been published in Urban Planning, Climate, Sustainability, Mobility and Design, and in many edited collections on architectural societal challenges, sustainability, and climate.
Member of the Municipal Council of Hasroun, North Lebanon since 2016, Aouad is very active in permit handling, regenerative projects for village souk, dealing with international organizations, and developing high standard terms of reference and specifications for municipal projects.
Juliana El-Haddad
Founding Partner / Design Principal
Juliana El-Haddad studied Interior Architecture at Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts - Alba (MSc. in Landscape architecture, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, 2002; DESS Interior Architecture, ALBA, 2000) with high distinction. She obtained a two year grant from the Spanish Embassy and the AECI (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional).
In 2003 she co-founded with David Aouad ‘’DAJH Architects” a study office established in Beirut. Besides her practice and since 2005, El-Haddad is a part time faculty member at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) where she conveys to her students her passion for Landscape Architecture.
El-Haddad is also a passionate painter with contemporary, daring themes and style, her paintings are not merely colorful compositions; they convey a strong message that denounces the architecture of concrete and the lack of greenery within the city. El-Haddad’s research interests are focused on the benefits of green spaces in urban context as well as its numerous benefits in enhancing citizens’ daily life and their health. She has published different articles on that subject and brings that concern into her daily practice routine at DAJH Architects.