Beirut Culture and Arts House

Situated at a range of Beirut Down-Town district, this project was the occasion to create a link to the rest of the city. Playful boardwalks infiltrate the project which is based on two main volumes, one being a city-scale void for contemporary artist to invest that the whole city of Beirut would see.
The contemporary arts and culture scene throughout the world is in unprecedented expansion into new territories and new spaces. In particular, it seems the current trend is towards reappropriation of industrial buildings that seemingly provide generic yet ultra-flexible spaces for housing art exhibition and production. It contrasts with projects that are still hoping to emulate the so-called Bilboa effect through the creation of extraordinary architectures that come with huge starchitect fees, high construction costs, and often lack flexibility. From Lisbon to Paris, from California at Shanghai, the examples are numerous. In Beirut, the unusual decision to create a new-build cultural center on high value real-estate should be taken as a once in a lifetime opportunity to provide a project that can combine the best of worlds: an iconic building, built like an industrial structure, tailor-made for culture and public visits. Ultimately, it would be built with enough robustness to allow continuous updating and upgrading of its equipment, and even its spaces.
For the Beirut House of Arts competition, we proposed a building based on three volumes: a large base including halls, topped by an urban balcony with a volume on four large legs containing workshops and artist residences and its twin, a city scale void. A boardwalk playfully connects each level to the city and turns the project into and entrance to the Downtown.