FROM ARCHITECTURAL SCALE TO PRODUCT SCALE / for We Design Beirut 2025
Projet : Rising with purpose
Site : Union Building, Sanayeh, Beirut, Liban
Année : 2025
Houdou’ Nisbi (Relative Calm) is a modular outdoor social coffee table designed for contemporary mountain homes, a sculptural gathering piece where stillness, warmth, and heritage intersect. At its core lies a concave metal basin, inspired by the traditional Lebanese sodor: a hammered serving tray once central to communal rituals. This central form serves a dual function: in summer, it can be filled with water, evoking the reflective basins of ancient Lebanese fountains: the birkeh, adorned with gardenias and jasmine; in winter, it transforms into a small hearth, offering warmth and a place to gather.
Surrounding this core, modular wooden segments attach to complete the table’s circular silhouette. These elements can be detached and used as individual stools, allowing the object to shift fluidly between table, fire circle, and shared seating space. Through its form and materiality, Houdou’ Nisbi invites collective moments of calm, adaptability, and seasonal transformation, a contemporary ritual rooted in cultural memory.
by Yasmina Alexandra AYUCH & Mohamad BZIH
In collaboration with Lebanese artisans from Stones by Rania Malli, Doueihi Pour Le Bois, Fadi Atweh, Zweitini, and Radwan Hassoun.
In collaboration with Lebanese artisans from Stones by Rania Malli, Doueihi Pour Le Bois, Fadi Atweh, Zweitini, and Radwan Hassoun.
In homage to Ziad Rahbani.
Foreword
The title Houdou’ Nisbi (Relative Calm) echoes that of the legendary album by Ziad Rahbani, an emblematic figure of Lebanon’s artistic and intellectual scene, who passed away on July 26, 2025.
In the 1980s, this expression “ هدوء نسبي” was used by news anchors to describe brief moments of respite during the Lebanese civil war. By reclaiming these words, we pay tribute to Ziad, to his lucidity, his tragic humor, and his singular ability to translate the tensions of an era into an artistic language of striking truth. A truth that still resonates today, in the relative calm we continue to experience, as the country once again endures war and uncertainty.
This year, as we commemorate fifty years since the beginning of that war, this project becomes a way to express our attachment to a collective memory, to that enduring capacity to create despite everything, to build spaces of beauty and stillness in the heart of turmoil.
Presented within the Emerging Designers section, our approach extends the lineage of Lebanon’s artisanal heritage. Through the hands of craftsmen, bearers of ancestral know-how passed down through generations, this project revives traditional gestures through a contemporary design language. Their essential and quiet contribution reveals the ongoing dialogue between material, memory, and identity.
Both sculptural and social, the object becomes a place of gathering, a shared space, a balance between inheritance and invention. It is a celebration of time, of slowness, of human warmth, and of the beauty of the hand.
A project conceived as a tribute, a dialogue between memory and creation, an invitation to inner peace, to a relative calm.
Yasmina Alexandra Ayuch
Project Description
Houdou’ Nisbi is a collaborative project between Yasmina Alexandra Ayuch and Mohamad Bzih, born from a shared sensitivity to traditional Lebanese architecture; from the 15th to the 19th centuries, a vernacular architecture shaped by historical, geographical, sociological, and psychological values, rooted in the humanist principles of Lebanon’s pluralistic identity.
With this project, we aim to reintroduce cultural values that have been lived and shared in Lebanon for centuries, as a response to contemporary architecture in which many of these traditional elements are gradually disappearing.
Diagrammes du concepte a l’echelle du territoir
Customization and limited edition
This project is produced in a limited edition, as each piece is fully customizable to harmonize with the unique space it will inhabit. Every material used has been carefully selected for its historical resonance and natural origin, connecting the design to the long-standing traditions of architecture
Materials
Marble
Marble has been cherished in architecture for millennia for its timeless elegance and durability. In this project, it serves as a solid, tactile foundation, grounding the table in a sense of permanence and heritage. Its subtle veins and natural variations create a visual rhythm that evokes the artisanal craftsmanship of the stonework, connecting contemporary design with centuries-old practices.
Copper
Copper brings warmth and a subtle luster to the design, echoing its historic use in Lebanese domestic and communal objects. Its ability to patinate over time gives each piece a living quality, reflecting the passage of seasons and the stories of the people who gather around it. The hammered surface of the basin, reminiscent of traditional sodor trays, celebrates both functionality and ornamentation, merging ritual with everyday life.
Wood
Wood introduces organic warmth and tactility, forming the modular segments that complete the table’s circular silhouette. Chosen for its strength and natural beauty, it allows the table to transform and adapt, whether as seating, as part of the table, or in its individual elements. The wood’s grain and texture reference Lebanon’s vernacular architecture, bringing an intimate, human touch to the sculptural form.
Together, these materials: marble, copper, and wood, embody a dialogue between tradition and modernity, permanence and adaptability, inviting users to experience a tactile connection to Lebanese heritage in each moment of shared gathering.
Photography by Ralph Bassim.
Photography by Ralph Bassim.
Request Your Custom Piece
Thank you for reaching out!Your interest in Houdou’ Nisbi means a lot to us. Each piece is produced upon order and can be customized in wood and stone finishes.We’ll contact you within 2–3 business days with the pricing details and production timeline.Studio Yalex.