Production Void

Project idea

Beirut’s historic diversity has also affected on the plan of the city. Solid and void relations are changing every day mostly because of damaged areas by wars. Therefore, void relations are analyzed along the city. It is seen that some voids in the city are used for more than one purpose and serve the city in many ways. This richness creates an ambiguity of the void and having an ambiguous void helps Beirut to be resilient to any kind of disaster or war and creates adaptable areas and spaces. After the blast, the port also turned into an ambiguous void. Increasing the richness of this void by adding production areas and social spaces to the port is proposed.

Project description

Beirut’s historic diversity has also affected on the plan of the city. Solid and void relations are changing every day mostly because of damaged areas by wars. Therefore, void relations are analyzed along the city. It is seen that some voids in the city are used for more than one purpose and serve the city in many ways. This richness creates an ambiguity of the void and having an ambiguous void helps Beirut to be resilient to any kind of disaster or war and creates adaptable areas and spaces. After the blast, the port also turned into an ambiguous void. Increasing the richness of this void by adding production areas and social spaces to the port is proposed. For production, Beirut’s needs are considered and water treatment system, solar energy system, hydroponic farming system and steel recycling system is proposed. Through different kinds of systems, the Beirut port can be thought of as a production zone as well as a social area for residents. Elevated urban platforms increase the ambiguity of the void. While it increases the ambiguity it also increases and controls the richness of relations between people, port and production areas. Platforms bind themselves from different levels of the city, creating several entrances for different types of users. The connections are also designed with the green buffer zone. While the green buffer zone helps to define entrances, it is also a reaction to the lack of green spaces in Beirut, therefore, helping Beirut in terms of sustainable goals. The silo building’s ruins are proposed to be structurally protected and work together with the designed passenger terminal. The port is not just seen as a port, but it is also thought of as the point of resiliency. The proposed resilient system is thought to be used in the other ambiguous voids of Beirut and help the city to gain more and more in the future while it also helps Beirut to have a port that is resilient, sustainable, and powerful.

Technical information

Beirut is a city that has been growing with different ideologies, ethnicities, and cultures. This diversity is also reflected in the plan of Beirut city. Because of this diversity, solid and void relations of Beirut and the usage purposes of voids changes dramatically from each other. The solid and void relation in Beirut is always changing, and voids are getting bigger everyday because of the damaged buildings by the war. So, it is important to understand the characteristics of these voids and react to them. Therefore, the void relations of the city are analyzed. With the help of analysis, it is seen that some voids in the city are used for more than one purpose and serve the city in many ways throughout time. The rich quality of these voids is specific to Beirut. This richness creates an ambiguity in the void and being an ambiguous void helps Beirut to be resilient to any kind of disaster or war. The old railway station is used as a state building garden and sometimes it serves as a festival space while it serves the public as a car parking area. This ambiguity creates adaptable spaces and areas to every time and condition. Adaptability is highly important for Beirut because of its mixed cultures and current state because of the war. After the blast, the port lost its current function and now is a home for ruins. Therefore, the port area is itself turned into an ambiguous void. By thinking of it as an ambiguous void, it is proposed to give more richness to this void and create a functioning production area which can have a relation with the public by creating public areas for residents and still function as the port area. Production means resilience and independency for Beirut. The port itself is the international communication point for cities, adding production areas for the port not only helps the economy and sustainable life of Beirut but it also helps to make Beirut gain its own power in international eyes. The production systems that are proposed are hydroponic system farming, so Beirut never gets face to face with a food shortage, water treatment system to prevent Beirut from threads of global warming, steel recycling areas to reuse the materials that were left after the blast and solar energy system to prevent electricity crises of Beirut. It is foreshadowed that the products that were going to be obtained from the production areas on the port area would be easy to export to other countries and help Beirut’s economy in that way. For people’s relation with the port and production areas, elevated urban platforms are designed. Elevated urban platforms hold urban areas, public spaces, port administration and some parts of production areas. Elevated urban platforms increase the ambiguity of the void. While it increases the ambiguity it also increases and controls the richness of relations between people, port and production areas. These platforms bind themselves from different levels of the city, creating different kinds of entrances such as one for public transport, one for bicycles and all for pedestrians. The connections are also designed with the green buffer zone. While the green buffer zone helps to define entrances, it is also a reaction to the lack of green spaces in Beirut, therefore, helping Beirut in terms of sustainable goals. The ambiguity of the silo building is also redesigned. The silo building ruins are proposed to be structurally protected and work together with the designed passenger terminal. The first and last view of international people that come to Beirut would be the protected silo and the building thought to gain a memorial meaning. The port would work at the same time with all the program elements and there would be a controlled relationship between the port and the people. The port is not just seen as a port, but it is also thought of as the point of regeneration and point of resiliency. The proposed resilient system is thought to be used in the other ambiguous voids of Beirut and help the city to gain more and more in the future while it also helps Beirut to have a port that is resilient, sustainable, and powerful.

Documentation

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