Beirut, Lebanon. Greenline. Foreign invasions. Religious conflicts. Christian and Hezbollah. Yet it is an truly amazing city with such extreme vibrancy that perhaps surpasses all other Middle-eastern cities. Not only does Lebanon has a long history of culture -- be it literary, performing, or visual arts -- it has carried on its creative tradition all the way through the 21st century, amid all warfare or turmoils, big and small. And the city of Beirut is where most of these activity take place. For example, the Nahda (awakening) of the Arab literature in the mid 19th century happened right here. The first universities of the Middle East were created in Beirut and the first modern Arabic literature that shaped the Arab novel and poetry began in Beirut. In a way the existence of this competition for Beirut’s Lebanese-Omani Center (House of Arts & Culture) itself is already a testimony for this unsinkable freedom of thought. Make no mistake, the funding of the House is an unprecedented opportunity for this fearless spirit who have always and will continue to refuse to surrender.
Characteristic to most architectural competitions, the Lebanese House of Culture lists out rigid programmatic requirements. Therefore in my design while I have decided to took a formally-initiatied approach, program considerations also entered early in the schematic stage. I saw this cultural facility an opportunity not only to serve the vibrant local creative community, but also a chance to instill new life into Beirut. I began the design with a painting -- perhaps more like an abstract diagram -- that focuses on mapping the energy around the downtown site, a perfect location between the old and the new, commercial and residential, rich and less-rich, organic and planned developments. The resulting design is basically a continuous space surrounding a vast pubic area. My idea is to open the space to the public, or to be humble, keep the space to the public: the site is exactly where the Cedar Revolution in 2005 took place. The revolution was the largest rally in Lebanese history. While it was triggered by a tragic event, it ended up uniting all sectors of the country, across opposite ideologies and -- the most precious aspect -- opposite religions! The design of the Center keeps this fact in mind and attempts to distrub this space as little as possible. Thus most of is ground area is a partition-less door-less open ground with unobstructed access to its surrounding.