LI BAYROUTH

Project idea

Beirut , the Lebanese capital, suffered from an explosion on 4 August that destroyed the city and caused enormous destruction.
The impact of this explosion remains etched in the memories of Beirut.
Our intention is to propose a project of reconstruction of the port that suggests a new way of living the city port . Our ambi- tion is to replace the sounds of the explosion with the birdsongs, the blackened image of destruction with greenery, and the smells of smoke with the smell of jasmine, lavender and thyme from the aromatic gardens.
The challenge of this port reconstruction project is not to consider the new port only as an architectural element or an urban master plan, but to raise the issue of the exploitation of very expensive land in order to stimulate the economy and trade and to restore the indispensable storage area and essential port functions: the mission is to restore the port’s competitiveness in its context in order to be more involved in world trade markets.
Our proposal thus is a complete ecosys- tem that is part of a logic of production , consumption and training proposing a rich and complementary program that adds to the industrial function of the port, a playful dimension, social, commercial, residential and commemorative.
The proposed project is more than an architectural project, it’s in fact an invitation to rethink the city of Beirut and the life of Beirut in its complexity.
Beirut is born from its ashes, it rises from what it possesses, it has always had this power of regeneration, of resistance.

Project description

The design opened the port on the city through the residential area to reinforce the sense of belonging of citizens to the port, the green space is both a tool and a land- scape, it comes as a liquid spread over the entire area of the port to link on the one hand, karantina and the port, and to limit on the other hand, the residences of the noise nuisances of the port.
The project is a design project of an interstice, far from being ideal, it is a realistic project that proposes a way of living the duality between the port and the city so that this destruction can be transformed into production and life at the lowest cost, taking into account the social context of Lebanese society.
The operation takes into account the realization of three essential poles , a pole of Fish souk which is the part of the production ,and it is a purely industrial and technical project, a part of the waterfront which proves the eastern part of Beirut on the sea and the river of beirut and which thus offers a rather rich program of leisure, between swimming pools, aromatic gardens and spaces of commemoration. And finally, a large urban complexe , the LIBAYROUTH project.

Technical information

The LIBAYROUTH project is a rath- er rich and complex project that re- flects the Lebanese mentality and culture , everything is possible on this project , and it presents itself as an evolutionary and immediate project that can develop over time. It is a project that presents itself as economic and cultural on the ground floor, then , a platform is designed to host a programmat- ic mixture, between parking lots, coworkings ,spa and hammams , and finally a village of containers on the top of the platform that serve as housing for families of Beirut.
The idea of the container village follows a framework of green and built juxtaposition, and follows a logic of prioritisation of ways, and this is inspired by the functioning of the old Arab medinas where one finds a main way, a secondary and a tertiary.

Documentation

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