Project touts big names for downtown construction
Downtown Beirut will become a showroom for world-renowned architects, according to Solidere’s urban development manager Angus Gavin.
Solidere’s recent boom in land sales has permitted the development company, which took over the reconstruction of the capital at the end of civil war, to impose lists of names of top architects acceptable for each of downtown’s “key sites.”
“These key sites will make up approximately 20 percent of the total buildings, while the remaining 80 percent will be considered normal sites; yet not less beautiful,” said Gavin. Names such as Raphael Moneo, Vallode Pistre, Kevin Dash, Norman Foster, Jean Carlo de Carlo, Dimitri Prophyisos, Steven Hall and Jean Nouvel, to name a few, will all take part in reconstruction projects in the coming years.
“The reaction we get from these people is rather interesting since they are extraordinarily impressed by downtown Beirut’s project, which they had never heard of before until they came and saw it with their own eyes,” said Gavin.
The urban development manager said that these architects have been very keen to come and work in Beirut since the project is unique.
Jean Nouvel, the famous French architect who has been asked to design Landmark’s Riad Solh complex, said in November: “I am glad to
put my signature on this project, which dazzled me with its grandeur.”
Solidere is also planning on selling parcels of land, with their pre-studied projects and named architects. According to Gavin, such a strategy will not only enhance the beauty of Beirut, but also aid the capital’s recovery of its international role.
“Bilbao (in Spain) was struggling in the past to regenerate itself from a dying industrial city center to a cultural one. The construction of its famous museum was the turning point that put it back on the map with millions of visitors arriving each year just to see the site,” added Gavin.
Asked by The Daily Star if local architects might not be hurt by giving priority to international architects, Gavin responded: “We are asking these famous architects to work with local firms. The experience one will get from such a venture is unique in itself,” he said.
“Beirut has always been known for its mixture of ideas and architecture, which locals integrated with the Ottoman and French (styles), creating a unique Lebanese architecture.”
Tarek El Zein,Daily Star staff
© The Daily Star 2003
