Rebirth from Ashes

Beirut Arab university, Faculty of Architecture, Tripoli

Project idea

The port of Beirut is considered one of the most critical points in Lebanon it went through a lot along the history but always... like a phoenix we witnessed its rebirth from ashes. Thus, it is important to rebuild it, by not only using new techniques but also learning from the previous problems that the port faced along its history and try to avoid it with suitable solutions.
The process of rebirth began with the point of death: the explosion zone, which was considered the point of life in the new design by adding a huge sustainable plaza considered the heart of B-port and allowing people to integrate more within this part of the city through the addition of different social activities and by using safe design procedures suitable for all the visitors. And from the central plaza point (the heart of the port) the inner road network was created, linking all the zones of the port.

Project description

The concept of rebirth will be reflected through the creation of social spaces inside of the existing land of the port this will remove all the barriers that blocked the people and the city from reaching the heart of Beirut all these years.
Enhancing the tourism sector will be a second goal by adding more facilities in addition to the industrial extension and the business existence inside the urban space. These urban changes are done based on the external context that will help in determining the suitable height and the suitable land use for each zone while sectioning the space based on the privacy level that should be considered in such areas.
The new design as well considered the importance of the integration within the city by studying the context building heights and designing each zone depending on the surrounding context, as well as the importance of private and public zones, thus the commercial port zone was considered the most private zone and in fact located in the industrial part of the city while having its own entrances and exists and security points. While the cruise terminal zone is considered semipublic located between the private zone and the public zone which is the plaza.

Technical information

The construction of the port is mainly focused on the three aspects of sustainability, by the use of recyclable materials and the previous ashes from the exploded port, as well as the use of unharmful materials. The commercial port as well is designed to be a smart port by the use of green transport mode and smart traffic management, use of E-nose as well as shore to ship power and clean renewable power energy. In addition, the residential part could benefit from the solar panels that would be placed on each roof.

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