The world’s a stage

The world's

Architect Carl Gerges explores the intersections between architecture, fashion and music through a series of collaborations with Bottega Veneta

Centre stage designed by Carl Gerges Architects, using massive compressed-steel cubes and the ‘wall of sound’

a stage

WORDS BY LEMMA SHEHADI PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARL GERGES ARCHITECTS

Photography by Karim Ghorayeb Nightlife in Seoul

When designing an immersive space to launch Bottega Veneta’s Winter 2022 collection in Seoul, architect Carl Gerges harked back to his days as a touring musician. “I wanted people to experience what it felt like to be on stage,” he says of his collaboration with the Italian fashion house.

Gerges wears many hats. Besides his architecture career, he is also known as the drummer of Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila, a rock group that became recognised globally for its spectacular performances. “There is something unreal about how sound is experienced during a performance: it transports you, and the crowd’s presence is so powerful, even if it isn’t tangible,” he says.

Since founding his own architectural studio, Carl Gerges Architects, in Beirut and Paris in 2020, he has found himself designing spaces for fashion, music and the arts. His latest collaborations with Bottega Veneta have seen him help transform an old amphitheatre in Detroit, design a pop-up event space in Dubai, and create an immersive catwalk experience in the South Korean capital. In 2021, he also led the renovation of an exhibition hall for the Institut du monde arabe in Paris.

Earlier this year in Dubai, Gerges designed The Square, a ‘majlis’-style seating area for a three-day programme of cultural events during the holy month of Ramadan, set inside the OMA-designed Concrete building in Alserkal Avenue. Visitors were invited to sit in a square pit fitted out in Bottega Veneta fabric and branded with its iconic green colour, where they enjoyed a programme of art performances, video, music and poetry. “The idea was to integrate a green square inside the cubic venue – [which] emphasises [the idea of a] square within a square structure, creating a subtle arabesque pattern,” he explains.

The live performances played a key role in Gerges’ architectural vision. “We wanted people to belong in the interventions rather than attend passively. The live poetry readings and freestyling brought the space to life,” he says.

In Seoul, Gerges designed the event space around the ritual of raving. “Seoul has a ground-breaking art scene – which often incorporates technology, and always defies convention – and a vibrant nightlife governed by blinding neon lights,” he says. A large warehouse (‘changgo’) in Seongsu, an up-and-coming industrial area known as Seoul’s Brooklyn, was converted into a dance floor. Spotlights from the ceiling echoed the city’s high-rises, and a video of the catwalk show projected on the walls through an LED screen. The stark interiors were left as they were, the bare concrete walls giving a cold, industrial feel to the space.

The designs, he explains, were inspired by the city of Seoul itself. “Sculptural beams occupied the dance floor, where volumes cast by light were disrupted and explored by the audience as they moved through the longitudinal space,” he describes. “It was an homage to Seoul’s distinct spirit, a city where temples and pop culture intersect. It emulates a feeling of calm within cacophony, and centeredness within speed, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.”

Taking centre stage were massive cubes made of compressed steel. “The imposing material contrasted heavily with the more ethereal elements like light and smoke, which added an air of surrealism,” he says.

To many, the worlds of architecture, music and fashion couldn’t be further apart. While architecture centres around building spaces that are at least semi-permanent in nature, music and fashion have a more transient nature and are pegged to live events and performance.

By blending events with physical spaces, Gerges aims to build on these contrasts as he develops his line as an architect. “I naturally approach my projects in a theatrical way, as if they were a series of moments rather than a series of spaces,” he says.

The biggest challenge, he adds, is making a space feel right in the heat of the moment: “This spark that happens at the right place at the right time is what’s challenging to emulate.” id

Don’t Get Too Comfortable short film by Shaima Al Tamimi, showcased at the Bottega Veneta ‘The Square’ event in Dubai