An Introduction, Beirut

An Introduction, Beirut History Site Situation Port Map pg 5 pg 7 pg 8 pg 9

Beirut

Beirut is the capital city of Lebanon and is home to the countries only major port. The city has a population 361.366 people, who vary widely in term of their own cultures. With its 500 year history, Beirut should be flourishing with a wide range of historical sites and cultural relics from the past. But Beirut has suffered a marked history, filled with war and turmoil that has destroyed large chunks of the cities history and moulded what we see today. Instead the city is host to modern design and rapid urbanisation from the last 100 years, however it seems that this is no silver lining

Cultural Disconnect

Sadly Beirut over the course of its historyhas suffered many disasters, each time seeming to wipe the slate clean and remove the majority of Architecture. The settlement is Roman in heritage but an earthquake and tidal wave destroyed mush of the infrastructure and the town was abandoned. Some of this Roman Architecture can still be visited today, however in the last 100 years, several conflicts have seen the city crumble and lose almost all of its heritage. Between 1975-90, the Lebanon civil war saw the city of Beirut fall into chaos, and huge bombing raids during the “siege of beirut” saw large areas of the city flattened. Largely it was the West side of the city that suffered and although some cultural infrastructure survived, the damage was irreversible.

The disconnect between Beirut and its heritage is tragic and recent development have not been succesful in restoring or reinterpreting the cities history. This has resulted in modern urban design that be sympathetic to Arabic culture in its form, has failed to create a link with the cities prod heritage. Our development will bridge the gap between the classes in Beitur and re-connect with it’s diverse and rich history.