Najjar-Najjar Architects

Brothers Karim and Rames Najjar set up their practice in Vienna in 1999, and since then have executed range of designs from naval architecture to commercial buildings, to villas and their beloved ‘research’ projects. It is easy to see them as brothers constantly playing wit structures and forms, and their built work exudes an energetic enthusiasm for stretching angles and refining elements. There is something, too, of the fascination with natural forms. They might as easily tae on the shape and movement of a jellyfish as an insectoidal form, and then add elegant rhythmic fenestration, a series of supports that from a distance resembles an exoskeleton, all hard shell underpinned with a more delicate arrangement. Karim and Rames also have a penchant for sharp, obtuse angles that convey a real sense of dynamism. It is no surprise then to see their sleek design of narrow, pointed profiles for yachts that seem much more about speed, a smooth arrow darting through the water, as about luxurious interiors. That fascination in movement is indulged in their research to which they dedicate a significant portion of their time and energy, and their experimentation with that they place under the rubric ‘kinematic structures‘. (Phyllis Richardson)