MARIAGROUP is a design studio led by the brother and sister duo Georges and Michèle Maria. Michele graduated from the American University of Beirut with a Bachelor in Architecture in 1999, winning the Azar Award and Areen Award for Excellence in Architecture. When Georges completed his Master of Architecture from the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts in 2003, the two joined their interior designer mother & father to establish MARIAGROUP. Based in Beirut, the practice undertakes works of all scales, spanning from small interior projects to large urban plans, throughout Lebanon, the Middle East and Europe and is closely involved in the design and follow-up of each project from conception to delivery. MARIAGROUP begins all projects from a standpoint that is decidedly architectural, interested in responding to each brief through thinking about space. The design of Space, crafted through light, material, texture, and form, informs our projects from the smallest to the largest scale, and delineates a common language through which we address the questions that we feel are intrinsically linked to the practice. Deeply committed to the understanding that architecture is shaped by a collaborative confluence of design ideals, tectonic (or material) knowledge, and (construction) craftsmanship, we seek to create for each project a unique world of real physical experiences. Our work stems from this desire: to translate need into built form and create a sense of excitement; to craft a story of everyday life into a poetic and unexpected gesture.