Among the items for sale is a lithography by David Adjaye rendered in 24 karat gold leaf, a one-off sketch by Renzo Piano and a limited edition sculpture designed by the late Zaha Hadid.
Called Architects for Beirut, the auction is being hosted virtually by the Design Miami fair and will be live until the end of November, with all proceeds going to the Beirut Urban Lab.
In particular, Beirut Urban Lab is planning to help reconstruct crucial infrastructure like hospitals and emergency accommodation, as well as gardens, libraries and other public spaces that hold a significance for the local community.
The Zaha Hadid-designed Serenity Centrepiece features a smoked acrylic top
"Even before the explosion, the country was going through an economic and financial crisis that paralysed the banking system and the government's capabilities to deal with the aftermath of the blast," said Makram el Kadi of New York architecture firm LEFT, which organised the auction in collaboration with the dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture Amale Andraos.
"This was made even worse with the outbreak of Covid 19," he added.
Italian architect Stefano Boeri drew the Mediterranean Mosaic map, in which Beirut's relationship to major European cities is expressed through bright yellow lines, while fellow countryman Renzo Piano created a mixed media piece envisioning a new history museum for the city.
"Renzo Piano's sketch showcases a certain hope that permeates the current grief – a scenario in which planning for a better tomorrow is still something one can and must dream about," El Kadi told Dezeen.
By David Adjaye
Norman Foster shared one of a limited run of 100 lithographies, showing a modular school his firm completed in Sierra Leone in 2009.Fellow architecture stalwart Sir David Chipperfield put up a print, depicting the concrete bridge he designed as an extension of the Royal Academy of Arts, while David Adjaye contributed a gold-gilded lithography of his multifaith temple The Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi.
Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao works mainly with collages, one of which is up for auction as part of Architects for Beirut, while Zaha Hadid's design studio contributed one of the few three-dimensional artworks to the fundraiser.
Steven Holl contributed an untitled watercolour painting to the auction.
By David Chipperfield
"In addition to the architectural imagination that the drawings inspire in us, they collectively express a wonderful sense of generosity and global solidarity," LEFT co-founder Ziad Jamaleddine told Dezeen, "which is a quality that is hard to mobilise in an increasingly fragmented world."