With 20 meters of frontage but only 4 meters of depth, the existing ground floor space provided a unique opportunity for a commercial street front fit for a lighting showroom. The client, Unilux Group – the largest supplier of high end light fixtures in Lebanon, requested a unique space in which to exhibit the products sold by the company. Due to the shallow depth of the existing main space, a conscious decision was made to envision the space as larger than its confines of the walls in order to visually appear larger as well as draw pedestrians into the store.
The project design takes advantage of it’s unique site location. The design takes inspiration from its surrounding rock formation and Mediterranean Sea edge. The sculpted strands represent the unique living space and are formed with extreme precision to allow for maximum views and open terrace spaces for the living areas.
Located at the ninth and last level of the Plot # 2251 project which we conceived in 2008 and for which construction ended in 2013, this three-storey apartment is articulated through an independent structure cappingthe building. Structurally, the apartment only shares the building’s vertical circulation core, as well as the perimeter along which its two peripheral walls lie. Beyond the ninth level, the structure of this residence becomes autonomous, rendering it morphologically detached from the edifice. The result is what resembles an independent house placed atop a building, rather than what is commonly known as a penthouse or roof level apartment.
This house is situated on the coastal beachtown of Jiyeh, south from Beirut. It can be described as an arrangement of four volumes, which are layered in a way to create a rhythmic composition. The alternating elements further invite the landscape to filter into the house, creating private courtyards for the residents. Each one of the four volumes functions separately, while their overall composition creates transitions between the public and private spaces of the project.
STEREOKITCHEN uses a simple design strategy to create complex spatial possibilities and perceptual effects.
The restaurant bar is a simple glass pavilion on the last floor of an office building on Pasteur Street in Beirut. It enjoys views on the city from one city and the Mediterranean sea with Beirut’s Port from the other.
The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) building by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) continues the on-going implementation of the 2002 AUB Campus Master Planby Sasaki Associates(in collaboration with Machado and Silvetti, MGT of America, and Dar Al-Handasa, Shair and Partners)to advance the university’s academic mission in the 21st Century with facilities of the highest international standards.
Tags: Beirut, Lebanon Comments Off on Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairsat at American University in Beirut, Lebanon by Zaha Hadid Architects
A living spine of revealed processes and experiences, in strict to the wine making process, debuts from within the existing, resorted, 140 year old house, to flow within the layered functional spaces of the wine factory as a exhibited living wine making body. Integrated within the green thick skin of the Basbina outskirts, in a site that overlooks the northern costal lines from its north-western edges, and the cedar lines from its south eastern stretch, the winery synthesises an old exciting resorted feudal house with the factory’s modern built structure. The initial approach focussed on the complete symbiosis of the built with the natural.
As a way to organize this cultural venue in a coherent way regarding program, light, and public space, the project re-uses the symbolic morphology of the archetypal pitch-roof house. The upper part of the building is composed of three main volumes that respectively contain artistic, cultural, and house-related spaces, and which are linked by a large triangular void. Structurally, two continuous circulation cores support the edifice and connect all the various disciplines from bottom to top.
Located in the iconic night life district of Beirut, the MYU bar/restaurant inhabits an old small liquor factory. The design concept is based on creating 2 separate spaces of bar and restaurant defined by 2 vaults different in scale. These vaults which form a room within a room are made of stretch black fabric that is translucent. The original space is kept as found with graffiti and traces on walls and ceiling. The indirect cold cathodes lighting is dimmable thus allowing the space within the vaults to become darker and more defined once the light is dimmed. The restaurant and the bar communicate by a large \”window\” allowing people to connect visually.
Created as a nexus for academic study, research and policy making, our design finds harmony between natural and imposed landscapes – producing a building that emerges fluidly from its surrounds. A building that flows upwards, which is both open and spacious despite the constricted space it occupies.
The Issam Fares Institute (IFI) for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut serves students and academics while also providing a powerful nexus for local, regional and international researchers, thinkers and policy makers.