(WAM) – The Middle East’s sustainability pioneer Bee’ah is hosting a new weekly series of virtual talks on recycled architecture, to shed new light on how urban design must integrate and reconcile with sustainability principles.

Moderated by Dr. Georges Kachaamy, Director of the Centre of Research, Innovation and Design at the American University in Dubai, the virtual talks feature influential figures from the global architecture and design sector.

Consisting of six sessions, Bee’ah’s Recycled Architecture Series will welcome Vladimir Yavachev, Director of Operations for late artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who are celebrated for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations including Wrapped Trees (Switzerland, 1998) and The Floating Piers (Italy 2016). The second featured speaker is Nizar Haddad, Founder of Beirut-based NH-Architectes and strong advocate for green architecture, whose projects aim to minimize carbon footprint and achieve self-sufficiency.

For the third session, we will speak to Wael Al Awar, Founder and Principal Architect at the waiwai, an award-winning multi-disciplinary architecture, landscape, graphic and urban design studio. Also, a curator for the UAE National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2020, Al Awar’s works align with natural phenomena, creating an architecture that is more than man-made fabrication, but instead remains open to adaptation and appropriation.

Later installments will include Ammar Kalo, Director of CAAD Labs, Assistant Professor at the American University of Sharjah who has a passion for experimental furniture design, and Asif Khan (MBE), Founder of the eponymous research and development-led architecture studio that explores how material and social innovations can fundamentally alter the way people experience and shape their environment. Finally, the sixth featured speaker is Kaz Yoneda, Founding Principal and CEO of Bureau 0–1, an integrated full-service design practice deeply rooted in architecture. Yoneda also serves as a Studio Critic at Waseda University in Tokyo and a Lecturer at Keio University.

Bee’ah’s interest in sustainable architecture is complemented by its work on a new headquarters, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, which will be completed by the end of 2020. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the building’s green design approach has resulted in ultra-low carbon footprint, minimal water and energy usage, and the efficient recycling of construction materials. As well as setting the global benchmark for smart, sustainable buildings, the new headquarters is expected to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum certification.