26 June 2013
QORNET SHEHWAN, Lebanon: The beige bricks of the villa on the hill look like they have been around for hundreds of years. They have but as parts of other houses throughout Lebanon. When Amine Jules Iskandar wanted to buy an old traditional Lebanese house he discovered he had two bad options: one that was far out of his price range or one that was in the path of major development work. As an architect, he was able to come up with another option: use stones, bricks and arches from old destroyed houses.
Sadly, such material isnt hard to come by in Lebanon, where historic houses are demolished on a regular basis to make way for new development. Treasures of old building materials are bought and collected at the countrys plethora of construction sites and then sold throughout Lebanon.
This was the only way for me to have an old house, says Iskandar, as he gives a tour of his villa, beginning with the beige stones he bought from shops selling pieces from old buildings. He says the entire project cost $200,000 much less than what he would have spent on an original historic house.
When building an old house, its better to use old elements. That way you keep the spirit, he says. You can feel it when its not old. Its different.
He typically buys the building materials at small specialityshops throughout the country licensed to sell the pieces. There, he finds the treasures he needs to build the old-style houses: marble fountains, old doors, doorknobs and, of course, stones. The best material, he says, comes from Syria. In fact, he says that some of their craftsmanshipis so precise that its difficult even for him to distinguish between the original old pieces and the new ones.
At his villa, he explains how the outdoor arches of his villa are imperfect something unapparent to the untrained eye because the stones were not originally cut for the house.
Entering the building, one is struck by the air that is kept cool and fresh by the high, stone ceilings. On the floor are large flat black stones, which he found tossed on the ground when someone was renovating a palace and wanted to them with marble.
The house also has new elements like the iron bars on the windows and balconies, the red roof shingles and the windows, materials he says tend to have a certain lifespan. There are also pieces being used in a creative albeit inauthentic way. A large old mortar used for mixing grains is being used as the bowl of the sink in the upstairs bathroom, and an old door has been made into a fireplace mantle.
For Iskandar, the interior is just as important to the exterior. He scoffs at the practice in recent years of development companies gutting the interior and only keeping the faade of old buildings.
Not long after he finished his own house, he got requests from other people to do similar projects, which he gladly did something that would eventually make him one of the few go-to architects in Lebanon for traditionally designed villas construction with old materials.
He says that what often happens is someone will spend over a year looking for a traditional old Lebanese villa, only to find the price and location unsuitable. They then come back to Iskandar, who designs their old-stone home to their liking.
Right next door to him is a nearly completed house he has designed for his brother, this time in a more modern style but still using old stones. There, he explains how he has built the structure to accommodate the old trees, which he insisted on keeping in place despite the common practice of cutting them down to make way for new development.
For some projects with abundant trees, he artfully nestles the structure among the trees, making them appear to be part of the plan.
But for this lover of history and nature, the idea of going against Lebanons development norms to make old-style houses in harmony with nature is a painful reminder of the countrys lack of attention to its own nature and history.
A lot of people tell me: Its great what youre doing. But I dont think its great, he says. Normally what were supposed to do is to not tear down old buildings.
Copyright The Daily Star 2013.
