firm of architects founded in 2004 with a portfolio and expertise in refurbishment and sustainability . in 2009 soma opened another office all the way in beirut lebanon where the principal and founder michel abboud originates from . soma s work mainly in new york city dubai qatar erbil and lebanon covers projects across several industries as well . soma is known for extending the boundaries of architectural design by introducing the newest digital technologies and in doing so invariable succeeds . 1 soma architects are renowned for designing the highly controversial park51 islamic cultural center in manhattan new york infamously dubbed the ground zero mosque which they unveiled the long awaited designs to in october 2010 . 1 the firm was also awarded first place in the best restaurant and bar design in the americas category in the international 2013 restaurant & bar design awards in 2013 . workshop kitchen bar is located in palm springs california . 2 the firm s portfolio contains several residential projects such as the 50 lispenard luxury residential lofts in the tribeca neighborhood and 93 crosby lofts in the soho neighborhood 3 both located in new york . the practice is currently exploring expansion of its activities into the middle east having several projects underway abroad 4 such as the upcoming shaza kempinski in doha qatar . a mega project in erbil kurdistan named aura consists of a city centre and rises high amidst the dry dessert that surrounds it . 5 contents 1 founding director 2 selected projects 3 references 4 external links founding director edit michel abboud the founding director and principal of soma provides overall design direction for all of the firm s projects . he plays a major role in many aspects of the design and construction industry including research projects and professional committees . 6 selected projects edit 2013 560 7th hotel 2013 amnitch bay resort 2012 aura erbil 2012 workshop restaurant palm springs 2012 50lispenard lofts new york city 2011 castor residential beirut 2011 boutique hotel beirut 2011 pollux beirut 2011 sin el fil 877 2011 k.h headquarters dora 2011 the gate beirut 2010 bobo residential beirut 2010 park51 islamic community center and prayer space 2009 aquadome monument 2009 helix monument 2009 holcom beirut 2009 tartinery new york 2009 the salines anfeh 2007 naya restaurants new york city references edit a b soma architecture design services archileb.com workshop kitchen bar by soma best designed restaurant in the americas news archinect bustler workshop kitchen bar by soma best designed restaurant in the americas 93 crosby street unit 5 manhattan ny douglas elliman q & a michel abboud designer of park51 enr engineering news record mcgraw hill construction newsmaker michel abboud news architectural record external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title soma architects & oldid 741672834 categories architecture firms based in new york city navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 29 september 2016 at 00 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view