Book Launch: At the Edge of Where God Built
Please join us to celebrate the release of At the Edge of Where God Built, a new book from Actar Publishers by Ziad Jamaleddine & Makram el Kadi of L.E.FT Architects. The conversation with the authors will be moderated by Nader Tehrani of NADAAA.
At the Edge of Where God Built undertakes a critical examination of L.E.FT Architects’ diverse body of work from the past decade, reorganizing their designs, research, and pedagogy around five key Arabic spatial terms: tawaf (circumambulation space), jami (mosque space), riwaq (a courtyard’s colonnade), dar (domestic space), and khirba (a ruin). Rooted in the Arab-speaking, Islamic geographies of the Middle East and North Africa, these terms illuminate and conceptualize L.E.FT’s investigations into forms of contemporary religious and non-religious architecture.
6:00pm — Doors open
6:30pm — Conversation with Nader Tehrani begins
7:15pm — Q&A
7:30pm — Reception
8:00pm — Close
About L.E.FT
L.E.FT was founded in New York in 2004. The office was a member of Architectural Record’s 2010 Design Vanguard for top firms in the United States, and was selected to the AD100, The Best Designers in the Middle East and North Africa (2025). L.E.FT's work includes the Beirut Exhibition Center (2011), and Shakib Arslan Mosque, Lebanon (2017), winner of the Interfaith Design (AIA) & Partners of Sacred Places Award in Religious Architecture (2018), and the Al Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture (2022). L.E.FT recently completed the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and Contemplative Practices, Vassar College (2023), winner of the Interfaith Design (AIA) & Partners of Sacred Places Award in Religious Architecture: Adaptive Re-Use (2024), and LOOP Design Awards: Religious & Spiritual (2024). The office's research and design work has been exhibited at several cultural venues, including Oslo Architecture Triennale (2016), Milan Triennale (2019), Sharjah Architecture Triennale (2019), and Jeddah Islamic Arts Biennale (2023).
About Nader Tehrani
Nader Tehrani is an Iranian-American designer and educator who founded NADAAA in partnership with Katherine Faulkner in 2011. Working on interdisciplinary platforms, Nader Tehrani’s research has been focused on the transformation of the building industry, innovative material applications, and the development of new means and methods of construction.
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