Organised as a chronological journey, the exhibition was a showcase of the city’s most prominent design and architecture achievements, illustrating all the important milestones of the city’s design history. The visitor's journey (which was staged as a series of long boulevard-like corridors) began in the flourishing 1950s, when the Hotel Carlton (1957) and the Pan-American Building (1953) rose to dominate Beirut’s skyline and the Cinema al-Hamra was constructed on Hamra Street (1958); also the same time when Lebanon’s first group of architects such as George Rais, Assem Salam, Khalil Khoury and Karol Schayer emerged. Moving forward to the maturing era of the 1960s, which came hand-in-hand with an economic boom and the formation of new companies, the first “starchitects” such as the Finnish Alvar Aalto and Polish Karol Schayer arrived in the city.

The year 1967 marking the Arab-Israeli war which shook the entire Arab world led to many designers in Lebanon and across the region shifting towards a more pronounced articulation of a distinct Arab modernity in response to the Arabs’ defeat in the war. Assem Salam and Pierre Khoury for example attempted to form a Lebanese-Arab modern architectural language through their construction of religious buildings: Salam’s mosque and Khoury’s cathedral both served as models of a regional modern architectural style. In 1975, with the eruption of the devastating Lebanese civil war followed by fifteen long years of conflict; however, design activity continued. As Zeina Maasri notes: “during the 15 years of civil war, political posters filled the streets and charged the walls of cities all over Lebanon. As the ongoing war formed an intrinsic aspect of everyday life in Lebanon, the graphic signs and political rhetoric of posters became a prevalent sight that shaped the cityscape.”

In the 1990s, the country’s rebuilding process recommenced; an era during which Lebanese architect Bernard Khoury designed the famous nightclub B018, considered as one of Beirut’s most important contributions to international architecture in the post-war era: the venue is built underground and has an articulated roof structure made of heavy metal slabs which retracts hydraulically to expose the club’s interior that “bring it to life” in the late hours of the night. In 2000, although the project for the reconstruction of downtown Beirut initiated by Solidere was met with controversy, nevertheless Lebanon was gradually returning to its pre-war state. Today, and despite new and overwhelming political and social problems, the city's evolution continues with remarkable examples of architecture and interior design, such as: the famous Lebanese restaurant LIZA, owned by Liza Soghayar, the Aïshti Foundation building designed by British architect David Adjaye, and the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. More recently, the architecture practice of Wilmotte & Associés in collaboration with local architect Jacques Aboukhaled has produced a remarkable revival of the Sursock Museum, which reopened last month.

Curator Rana Salam’s love for her birthplace is evident on the panels of the exhibition’s corridors, since even me -someone who has not visited this city yet! - had the impression of walking through its streets, all the while exploring its design evolution and tracing its development from the nation’s independence in the 1950s to the present day. Brilliant indeed! Although the exhibition is now sadly over, we hope that its well-curated chronological journey will be published as a coffee-table book in the near future.

Assem Salam, the renowned Lebanese modernist architect and father of Brilliant Beirut’s curator Rana Salam, bought her a scooter as a gift when she was 15 years old, thus giving her the opportunity to explore her city in a way that was to prove to be powerful enough to shape her personality and aesthetics - in turn, forming the Middle-Eastern pop-culture signature style that she has today. With no facility for formal design education in Lebanon, she left Beirut in 1986 to pursue her BA at Central St. Martins, followed by an MA from the Royal College of Art. Soon afterwards, in 2002, she opened her first studio in London before relocating to Beirut eight years later in 2011 and establishing the Rana Salam Design store, featuring her own line of products, including a home collection and accessories, as well as fine art, prints and one-of-a-kind objects (all also available through her online store). Throughout her career, Rana Salam has produced distinctive designs for clients as diverse as Harvey Nichols, Villa Moda, Liberty of London, Boutique 1, the Victoria & Albert Museum and Paul Smith.