FOURTH INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP

Reconsidering the Urban Condition of Karm El-Zeitoun

The School of Architecture and Design of the Lebanese American University (LAU), in Beirut, in collaboration with the School of Architecture La Salle, Barcelona, Spain, organize the fourth OIKONET international workshop that will take place at LAU, Beirut campus, from June 29th thru July 6th 2019.


The workshop will be dedicated to rethink the urban condition of the Karm El-Zeitoun neighbourhood in Beirut, by proposing specific interventions contemplated in a master plan which is currently under development. These interventions aim at revitalizing the urban and social fabric, by creating new public spaces and activities which will reintegrate the area into the overall city.

The city of Beirut is composed of manifold autonomous urban areas which are a reflection of its economic and social diversity. In order to keep a balance between them, it is necessary to intervene in the most disadvantaged areas to promote their economic development. The challenge is to couple urban planning and building projects with economic growth and social cohesion. To do that, it is necessary to provide answers to the questions such as: Which are the social and economic needs within a particular community with regard to the rest of the city? Which buildings are more appropriate to foster the economic and social development within a specific urban area? How could new buildings activate the public spaces in which they are integrated? How to avoid the division between building and public space? How to foster the sense of place and identity in the community – with the refurbishment of existing structures, with the creation of new architectural landmarks? Which kind of public spaces would foster social interaction among the diverse communities?

Providing answers to these questions is a joint effort for architects and planners, social scientists and economists, politicians and citizens. The workshop's aim is to integrate all of the various layers (urban and architectural, social and economic)  to develop architectural strategies which help to overcoming the current social and spatial fragmentation.

Worskhop coordination:

Prof. Maroun Daccache, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon
Prof. Leandro Madrazo, School of Architecture La Salle, Barcelona, Spain

26 students from 5 schools of architecture from Lebanon, Belgium, Ireland and USA have taken part in the OIKONET Beirut Workshop at the Lebanese American University. 7 teams made by students from various schools have carried out their work under the guidance of 7 tutors from Lebanon, Spain, Ireland, and Turkey.

One of the outputs of the workshop has been a sociophysical study of the Karm El-Zeitoun area, consisting of non-participatory observations and interviews with residents. The findings have been gathered at PROHABIT: MAPPER.

Final Presentation "Rhythmic Chaos" Group 6

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Karm Al Zaytoun is an area characterized by its Irregular and chaotic heights that are located in a well-defined grid that lacks greenery. Our approach to dealing with this neighborhood is creating public spaces and inserting social functions by making the main street of Karm Al Zeitoun purely pedestrian, making a “street food” and organic food market and extending it into several alleyways hence reactivating the main street through its blind facades. The strategy adopted in the market mainly deals with several heights housing several functions.

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Final Presentation "Community Interaction In Karm El Zeitoun" Group 2

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We focused on the problem of social separation in Karm El Zeitoun. the main idea was to reactivate this area through the creation of a collective social hub that will reactivate this areas social life and interaction. we proposed transforming an old warehouse which has evolved over time, into a pavilion that will be the focal point of you intervention.

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Final Presentation "Revitalizing urban networks" Group 5

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The public spaces of Karm el Zeitoun are of poor quality due to the major problem of having too many cars and no place to park, hence blocking alleyways, pathways and streets. Our main focus is removing these cars and creating better communal spaces.
We proposed several parking spaces in order for the residents to park in. And designed two bus stops to improve connectivity.

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Final Presentation "Activating Karm El Zeytoun Through its surrounding" Group 7

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Isolation, Circulation and Verticality were the main points we tackled in our research.
Our research included bringing the youth to revive the area. Since a university is opening soon, we wanted to make use of the centralized commercial activity on the main-street and use that to connect between the university and the previously dead space and the misused green field. Our idea was to turn the dead space into a community and a student center.
Additionally, we wanted to activate the dead ends and secondary streets at Karm el Zeytoun, therefore we wanted to make use of the voids between residences and create public inter-generational and interactive spaces. Additionally, we wanted to make use of the abandoned houses as residential spaces for these students.
In conclusion, by further activating the economic street and the secondary streets, we are creating varying possible routes for the students and thus enhancing their university experience and interactions.

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Final Presentation "Cluster of Events: Activating Karm el Zeitoun Socially & Physically" Group 1

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Our Project addresses rehabilitation on a both social and physical aspect. Karm El Zeitoun has an abundance of staircases due to its topography. Stairs are usually used as a necessary activity, their main function is to let the dweller go to one place to another. In addition, in Karm El Zeitoun stairs are being semi-privatized by the residents, transforming them into semi-private spaces. Our strategy is to activate these stairs in order to let them have a social aspect in addition to their necessary usage. Plug-in will be added to the staircases, creating passages from one event to another. Each event defines the space and leads to the other. The events taking place in each part of Karm El Zeitoun will rehabilitate the residents socially, mentally or physically. These events also activate the areas on the edge of Karm El Zeitoun, inviting neighboring blocks and blurring the edges around the neighborhood

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