AUB student Haig Papazian Receives $10,000 architecture award
Fifth-year architecture student Haig Papazian, who is studying at AUB, won the 2008 Fawzi Azar Architectural Award for outstanding academic achievement in design, after participating in a competition to design an architectural museum for Beirut.
“It feels great to receive an award after all the hard work I did over the past four years,” said Papazian. “It’s as though I am being told, ‘Bravo, keep going,’”
Papazian is interested in the story each space has to tell. “It’s like a cinematic experience,” he said, adding that this will be the focus of his thesis, and possibly his graduate studies, for which he will use the $10,000 award.
The Fawzi W. Azar Architectural Award was established in 1996 by the Azar family and Builders Design Consultants. It is an annual award of $10,000 paid towards the tuition fees of a fourth year architecture student who has one of the five highest averages for all design courses of the first, second, and third years; and who should have one of the three highest grades on a project during the fall semester of the 4th year. A special jury supervises the selection of the project.
The award is based on a two-stage juried competition among fourth-year architecture students who qualify as candidates for the award. The five-member jury, composed of Nabil Azar, two guests, Lena and Georges Stephan, and faculty members Karim Nader and George Arbid, met and selected on June 17, 2008 five projects for further development on the theme of Architecture Museum. As a result, architecture students Anoud Al Zaben, Andre Chedid, Sara Farhat, Omaya Malaeb, and Haig Papazian had the chance to develop their projects during the summer.
Nabil F. Azar (BAr '70), General Manager of Builders Design Consultants, announced the winner during a dinner reception he held at the Biel to celebrate 35 years of his company’s “Passion and Commitment to Architecture.”
A jury composed of Assem Salam, Nabil Azar, Robert Heynen, Karim Najjar, and Grepoire Serof evaluated the developed projects presented by the students.
Fawzi Azar, who also studied at AUB, was an active philanthropist and supporter of education, and had previously donated to several educational programs at the University. Born in 1910, Fawzi Azar worked in several industries as a businessman, engineer, and contractor. He was the Chief Executive Officer of several companies, including CEC (Contracting and Engineering Company) and Andalusia Properties (Real Estate). He was also a member of the Lions club, and an international director for Lions Asia and the Middle East (1966-1968).
In honor of his achievements, his family established the Fawzi Azar Award, 10 years after he passed away in 1986. The first awards were granted in 1997.
During the celebration at BIEL, Azar granted all the winners of the Fawzi Azar Award since 1997 a memorial trophy in recognition for their accomplishments. Below is a list of all the winners:
Haig Papazian 2008
Rola Idriss (50%) 2007
Rana Zeidan (25%) 2007
Nicolas Fayyad (25%) 2007
Stephanie Akkaoui (70%) 2006
Candice Naim (30%) 2006
Roula El-Khury 2005
Sandra Rishani 2004
Rabih Ghanem 2003
Ramzi Mezher 2003
Lina Ghotmeh 2002
Tarek Barhoum 2002
Bassam Zeino 2001
Tarek Sinno 2001
Nader Kehdi 2000
Karim Nader 1998
Michele Maria 1998
Michael Habib 1997
Mustapha Madi 1997
