The project is a conversion of the Old National Hospital at the University of Damascus into a Convention Centre. The program includes function facilities such as auditorium, multipurpose hall, seminar rooms and ancillary spaces, as well as the President’s offices. The design intent capitalizes on the idea of preservation and heritage. The historical building remains clearly identified while the new structure, housing the multipurpose hall, is treated in a contemporary and light expression that allows it to integrate harmoniously within the existing context.

Within the interiors of the building, the relationship between old and new is natural and symbiotic and the combination of materials, whilst fresh and honest, recalls the old Damascene traditions of stone and wood works. As a final gesture, the external landscape wraps around the building as a unifying element and the large surface of water becomes a reflection of our own existence, one constantly intertwined between past, present and future.