Firas is a spatial design practitioner whose work spans architecture, urbanism, design, art, and neurotechnology. He coined “Electrical Ecologies” and aims at designing the first ‘architecture brain implant’. Firas is the Author of Spatialization Takes Command, a commentary on the future of urbanism, the internet, and life as we live it.
He is the founder and executive strategist at Spatial Forces, a next-generation spatial design practice operating from the microcontroller to territory scales, redefining spatial design in light of the current technosphere.
In addition, Firas is a Founding Partner and Creative Strategist at Urbanitarian [ the world’s go-to online urban design resource platform ], Author at UrbanNext [ an online platform that disseminates content, with the ethos of expanding architecture to rethink cities and territories ], and Chapter lead at NeurotechBCN, the Barcelona chapter of NeurotechX, an international community that fuels up the development of neurotechnology.
Firas has participated through realized projects in Ars Electronica [ ETV ], Vienna Museum of Natural History [ ETV ], Expo Dubai 2020 [SAIE], Leap Riyadh [SAIE], VividLights Festival in Sydney [ Nacre ], LlumBCN in Barcelona [ Brillen en la Foscor ], Tallinn Architecture Biennale in Tallinn [ LiveCycles ], Fab Fest in Chile and Shenzhen [ Brain Space Apparatus, Skin2 ], Global AI summit in Riyadh [ Emergent Topographies] amongst others.
Throughout his professional journey, he has participated in numerous jury panels and studio critique sessions, taught at Architecture and Design Master programs, and lectured in prestigious thought hubs, including the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican and NASA's Kennedy Space Center. He currently leads the Interactive Architecture Masters Thesis Cluster at IaaC.
His work in spatial design has been awarded 18 times internationally through projects of architecture, urbanism, and design. In addition, he has been awarded several times for his artistic work. In 2014, he represented Lebanon in Capetown at the RedBull Doodle Art global competition as a National winner and was selected as a winner of the 2020 and 2021 AI Artathon, the first international art and artificial intelligence hackathon for creating ai-art at its scale.
Firas holds a bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Balamand through the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts - Alba, a post-professional master's degree from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya through the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia - IaaC, and certifications from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -MIT, on Smart Mobility and Emerging Design and Technologies beyond Smart Cities.
Founder and Executive Strategist at Spatial Forces
Founding Partner & Creative Strategist at Urbanitarian
Chapter Lead at NeuroTechBCN, Barcelona Chapter of NeuroTechX
Responsive Architecture Thesis Cluster lead at IaaC
Author at UrbanNext