On Monday March 10, 2014, the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts of the Holy Spirit (USEK) organized a conference entitled “City and Metamorphosis”. Teachers and renowned Lebanese and foreign specialists within the domain of architecture participated in this event in the presence of the Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Paul Zgheib.

Dr. Joseph Nasr took the floor and expressed his hope that this conference would meet the objectives of the research committee including training through researches, resulting in creating a link between researches and their implementation. He also mentioned the research committee within the Faculty which is contributing, thanks to its teachers, researchers and students, to build knowledge by exploring philosophical issues capable of decoding modernism, and of anticipating developments.

The Head of the Department of Architecture, Dr. Antoine Fichfich place emphasis on the demographic growth and the urbanization in many Mediterranean cities, and declared: “This growth is due to scientific, technical and economic developments which started before this period in Europe.” He pointed out that these changes lead to the overpopulation of buildings and to the rise of the prices of lands.

Then, speakers tackled the topic of cities and their fluctuations. Furthermore, they insisted on the necessity of updating researches and discussions concerning the recent evolutions in the cities.