About Us

Jemma Chidiac was born in Beirut in 1985. She studied architecture at the Lebanese American University (B. Arch with distinction) in Lebanon and, after being granted a MENA scholarship, she received a Masters in Architecture, Planning and Landscape from Newcastle University (M.A. with distinction) in the United Kingdom. In 2008, She was awarded first prize for her final thesis project and third prize Jaderji Award at the Order of Engineers of Beirut. In 2017, she was also awarded Highest Marked Design Thesis from Newcastle University, UK.

Chidiac is a practicing architect and researcher based in Beirut and the UK. She joined LAU in 2017 as a faculty member to teach architecture and interior architecture studios. She collaborated with the Japanese design office Shigeru Ban Architects in 2009 and with Blankpage Architects as project manager since 2010. She established Jemma Chidiac Architects in 2016 with the aim of bridging academics and the professional practice. In 2019, she was appointed as a technical reviewer for Abdullatif Al Fozan Award. She has been involved in a variety of projects in Lebanon and abroad, ranging from small scale residential units to large mixed use complexes. Her research interests include representation and design through the power of analysis and doubt, the impact of construction on urban and social sustainability, and the fusion of theory, context and design within architecture, planning and landscape.