Book Launch: At the Edge of Where God Built

Please join us to celebrate the release of At the Edge of Where God Built, a new book from Actar Publishers by Ziad Jamaleddine & Makram el Kadi of L.E.FT Architects. At the Edge of Where God Built undertakes a critical examination of L.E.FT Architects’ diverse body of work from the past decade, reorganizing their designs, research, and pedagogy around five key Arabic spatial terms: tawaf (circumambulation space), jami (mosque space), riwaq (a courtyard’s colonnade), dar (domestic space), and khirba (a ruin). Rooted in the Arab-speaking, Islamic geographies of the Middle East and North Africa, these terms illuminate and conceptualize L.E.FT’s investigations into forms of contemporary religious and non-religious architecture. At the Edge of Where God Built reveals how L.E.FT’s praxis translates linguistic and historical knowledge to generate architectural strategies that advance intellectual dialogue across religious, cultural, and geographic boundaries. About L.E.FT L.E.FT was founded in New York in 2004. The office was a member of Architectural Record’s 2010 Design Vanguard for top firms in the United States, and was selected to the AD100, The Best Designers in the Middle East and North Africa (2025). L.E.FT's work includes the Beirut Exhibition Center (2011), and Shakib Arslan Mosque, Lebanon (2017), winner of the Interfaith Design (AIA) & Partners of Sacred Places Award in Religious Architecture (2018), and the Al Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture (2022). L.E.FT recently completed the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and Contemplative Practices, Vassar College (2023), winner of the Interfaith Design (AIA) & Partners of Sacred Places Award in Religious Architecture: Adaptive Re-Use (2024), and LOOP Design Awards: Religious & Spiritual (2024). The office's research and design work has been exhibited at several cultural venues, including Oslo Architecture Triennale (2016), Milan Triennale (2019), Sharjah Architecture Triennale (2019), and Jeddah Islamic Arts Biennale (2023). Notice of Access, Filming, and Photography Van Alen is committed to ensuring that all of our events are inclusive and accessible for all participants. Van Alen Institute is on the ground floor and ADA-accessible. If you require accommodations or have any questions about access needs, please email [email protected] and we will do our best to support your participation. When you attend this event, you enter an area where photography, audio, and video recording may occur. By entering the event premises, you consent to such recording media and its release, publication, exhibition, or reproduction.