User:AdmirableP/sandbox

Ayssar Arida (1971 (age 53)). Is a Lebanese architect, writer, educator and entrepreneur he is best known as the author of book Quantum City published in 2002. As well as being the founder of the design agency Q-Dar, he is co-founder of Makerbrane (formally Urbacraft) with wife Sabine de Maussion and more recently he launched Urbatecture the first urban design thinking agency.

Early life and Education
Ayssar was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1971 to a Christian father and a Muslim father. During the Lebanese Civil War they moved often to avoid localized skirmishes returning to Beirut as it began reconstructing. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Beirut graduating in 1994, before moving to the UK to complete a MA in Urban Design with Distinction at Oxford Brookes University.

Career
His first book Quantum City, was published in 2002 and aimed to explore the relationships between quantum theory and urban design. Brian Goodey from the Joint Centre for Urban Design described it as, "a refreshing provocation which may generate the concepts and schemes to bridge the chasm between traditional urban design practice and graphic futures."

In this same year he founded Q-Dar a cross-disciplinary consultancy agency focusing on design and architecture. Q-Dar collaborated on multiple design projects including Hazmieh Town Park which was designed in collaboration with Nabil Gholam and Naas Springs Wellness Resort with Ateliers-U.

After 12 years of running Q-Dar in London and Paris he moved back to Beirut,in 2013 he launched Urbatecture with his wife Sabine de Maussion. From the "Mansion", a nonprofit experimental collective created by Ghassan Maasri, they collaborated on a high-end construction toy called Urbacraft. The couple started the project when they moved to Beirut and realized there were no toys for their two daughters to play with related to their specific location. The toy relies modular interlocking pieces to create places and cities. This company was listed as part of Executive’s Top 20 for 2015

Published works
If any, list the works organized by date of publication. See Charles Darwin for example.

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions
(If any)