ECO-SCAPES

Ecological, Social & Economic Alternatives

Thesis Shortlisted in the 2022 Areen Awards Competition

American University of Beirut

AUB-Fall 2021/Spring 2022

Synopsis

Dreams have long been a subject of artistic inquiry, defined as a succession of ideas, emotions, images, and sensations that occur in the mind. Recent research has shown that dreaming serves a vital function in our overall well-being, often associated to therapy. Dreams convey a spectrum of emotions, past experiences, recent events, defensive operations, perceptions of self and others, conflicts, problems, and attempts at their resolution. In essence, dreams represent an adventure in a world where our internalized thoughts, feelings, and unfulfilled needs and desires come to life, as many theories suggest and support (Jung, 1974).

This project explores the concept of dreams as a starting point for designing explorative, therapeutic, and experiential spaces and landscapes. The latter serve as ecological, social, and economic alternatives to an environment defined by destruction, deterioration, and deprivation such as the city of Beirut. In other words, they represent the possibilities of designing spaces that address the deep-seated social and economic issues faced by the city of Beirut, while fostering healing and well-being.

Mixed-Income Housing + Urban Vertical Farming Beirut, Lebanon

Architectural and Urban Design

Cad, Rhino, Grasshopper, Lumion, Adobe Suite

DREAMSCAPES: AN INITIAL EXPLORATION

The house stretches from earth to sky. It possesses the verticality of the tower rising from the most earthely, watery depths, to the abode of a soul that believes in heaven. Such a house illustrates the verticality of the human being. It dramatizes the two poles of house dreams (Bachelard, P45-46, 1957)

Gaston Bachelard's "The Poetics of Space" offers a fascinating insight into the experience of dream space. He describes a dreamscape composed of three levels: the dark cellar, the bridging corridors, and the lightfilled attic. Through his detailed descriptions, Bachelard illustrates how this dreamscape represents a sensory experience that includes vertically overlapping levels where humans and nature meet on a blurred boundary.

Drawing inspiration from Bachelard's work, have defined the dreamscape as a unique sensory experience that can serve as a temporary escape for its users or as a permanent, community-centric dwelling in a dystopian context. This dreamscape represents a space where the boundaries between human and nature are blurred, and the vertical overlapping levels provide a sense of continuity and connection between the two. This concept is particularly relevant to the urban setting of Beirut, where social, economic, and political challenges have created a traumatic environment.

Emergence in Rectilinear Volumes

Nature: Intruder in the Dreamscape

From the Cellar to the Attic: A Community-Centric Exploration/Ascension

LANDSCAPES' MULTI-FUNCTIONAL LAYERS

Dreamscapes as Eco-Scapes

A walk through a forest is invigorating and healing due to the constant interaction of all sense modalities; Bachelard speaks of ‘the polyphony of the senses’. The eye collaborates with the body and the other senses. One’s sense of reality is strengthened and articulated by this constant interaction (Pallasmaa, P.41, 1996)

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CONCEPTUAL COLLAGE & STRUCTURE

The Green Space

Miyawaki Forests

Programmatic Set Model I Structural Composition of the Eco-Scapes

The Living Space

STRATEGIES & OVERALL PLANNING

From a Dreamscape to an EcoScape, the project in part B does not steer away from the dystopian context of Beirut but tries to work on its issues in an attempt to address them. The dream becomes part of its architecture and not the core foundation. The selected site for intervention is a vacant land located in Ain El Mreisseh, situated along the coast of the city.

Miyawaki Forests

PLANS

The number of levels in the building was made with the purpose of preventing the structure from casting a shadow on the public space of the corniche. The housing units were designed to have more levels than the farming units, catering to the requirements of apartment residents, while also providing shade for the neighboring building which face the strong southern sun. The residential tower is comprised of shifting units that allow for open spaces to be incorporated, while also catering to the varying needs and preferences of its residents. The buildings' design integrates the existing landscape and socially activates the previously abandoned ground level, creating a cohesive and harmonious environment.

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

+14.7m

+15.1m

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

+18.8m

Technical Room

+7.5m

+7.5m

UNITS' CONFIGURATIONS

The

The

Moments within the Eco-Scapes