BEYOND INTERSECTION

UCSI University

Project idea

Following the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut which saw the loss of life and many vital services impacted, rebuild efforts have picked up the pace, and solutions to secure the power infrastructure. Public parks in Beirut are also very minimal. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum of 9 square meters of green space per capita, Beirut has only 0.8 square meters not all of which are public or accessible by the public.

Therefore a dynamic framework for flexibility structuring is needed. To further connect the city center to the port of Beirut.

With the future vision of the Port of Beirut, the green lanes/pathway is paramount to connecting the port to the city. It acts as a spine for the whole port connecting the public participated areas and the port operations. This enables the city to bleed into the port.

Project description

Connectivity
A de-fortification of the walls surrounding the port is proposed to allow the Bleeding in of the public participated program to intertwine along with the Port operations.

Sustainability
Apart from expanding vertically in terms of food production, an innovative solution is also being implemented where food production is increased.

Integration
The stacked port allows the port operation to maintain or be increased in efficiency and allows the integration of other programs to fit in while maintaining its
Full capacity.

The design objective is to have a hyper multi-multimodal transit hub for the port of Beirut. Acting as a central node of intersection and interfacing various forms of connection, circulation, and transportation including,
buses, hail riding, elevated bicycle path, elevated railway, elevated pedestrian walkways and also transporting containers from the port to the vertical stacking system that is integrated into the building.

The design concept is based on the existing site context in which the elevated pedestrian walkways intersect one another. The building form and articulation are also based on the location of the site which is situated in the port of Beirut. Therefore the articulation includes humanizing industrial architecture which is the sensitivity of the culture and materials of Beirut.

1. Connection to the Green Spine
The form was intended to connect the green spine which comprises the intermodal network within the port. It also serves as a means to transport the containers within the port via the green spine from the port terminal to proxy warehouses and to their destination.

2. Interfacing as a central node
Due to its location, the building strategy will also act as the interfacing of different multi-modal forms of transport and as a central hub where people will gather and transit to their destination.

3. High-tech Architecture
In order to construct the building and to be sensitive to the port architecture and also the history of Beirut, high-tech architecture is implemented in the design as it is flexible enough to provide strength and the aesthetic value that will complement the context.

Technical information

The construction of the building is mainly made of steel, concrete, and glass. The overall skeleton is made of steel using the Gerberttes Structural System.

The tilting facade (face of the building) allows self-shading for the lower floors, protection from direct sun rays into the building, and a smaller building footprint, resulting in a larger area for the ground activities.

The atrium was a key feature in the reduction of the loads coming from the artificial lighting. The atrium increases the amount of natural lighting reaching down into the sunken amphitheater. Furthermore, every location in the building is located within 7 meters of a natural source

The green facades can be used as passive energy savings systems, as the shadow produced by the vegetation, the insulation provided by vegetation
and substrate, evaporative cooling by evapotranspiration, and the barrier effect to the wind.