Last night during La fete de la Musique in Downtown Beirut, Gemmayzeh, Monot Str and Hamra, they used the bubble (Dome City Centre) as a techno party venue.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2682/concreteshell59lo.jpg

It was great, I felt like I was travelling back through time!

When I heard that the Beirut Gate project was going to destroy it, I was so disapointed... Even though people feel that this structure is really ugly, I believe that because of its uniqueness we shouldn't destroy it and replace it with some deja-vu office buildings as it represents a part of our history, our identity.

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/3382/ssquare4bs.jpg

What do you think?

No way! Get rid of it ASAP!

good God it looks like a dead whale..

They won't demolish this structure. It will be renovated!

looks like the perfect spot for a cool party :D

Wait... how did they have a techno party there last night? Please explain.

And we debated this issue extensively in the Beirut Gate thread and BCD Projects thread and I think Lebanese Cedar clarified it will be renovated as part of Beirut Gate rather than restored as a separate theater by Bernard Khoury.

I am going to repost this article here . . .


Bursting the Bubble
Story by Bethan Ryder

Original (pre-war):
http://impressions-ba.com/images/2005/apr05/p040ARCHITECTURE01-00.jpg

Proposed design:
http://impressions-ba.com/images/2005/apr05/p041ARCHITECTURE01-00.jpg



Driving into Beirut from the airport, one of the first things you see is a hulking great concrete bubble. Stranded like a beached whale on asphalt, blackened by neglect and the long civil war that raged around it, it's an arresting sight. Although broken and pockmarked by bullets, this unusual edifice remains recognisable as one of the few surviving icons from Beirut's ‘golden age' of Modernist architecture. And yet, until very recently, it was destined for the wrecking ball.

Designed in 1965 by Lebanese architect Joseph Philippe Karam, the Beirut City Centre Building, aka the ‘bubble', ‘blob', or ‘egg', was built during the prosperous post-colonial days of the Lebanon republic. It originally housed a theatre and exhibition hall with six underground levels for shopping and parking. Today, beyond hosting illegal raves in the 1990s, it stands empty – a blot on an urban landscape virtually devoid of cultural institutions.

Solidere, a private real-estate company, announced the bubble's pending demolition in 2003, citing financial reasons. As a 6,000-square-metre chunk of real estate overlooking Martyr's Square in the desirable Downtown district, the site was worth some $40 million – a veritable gold mine, considered by Solidere too valuable to waste on a brutal architectural relic of the past.

Then, suddenly last year, Solidere U-turned and commissioned local architect Bernard Khoury to resuscitate the dormant carcass. It was to be reborn as an arts centre with a seven-year lease. So what made them change their minds? International opinion and its sheer symbolic appeal, says Khoury. “Many architects who toured the city with Solidere – guys like Philippe Starck, Jean Nouvel, Steven Holl – all asked, ‘What are you doing with that?' And so I was asked to come up with a temporary solution.”

The chain cigar-smoking, 35-year-old architect has achieved international acclaim for a clutch of entertainment venues completed over the past seven years in his native city. Architecture critics, hedonistic, moneyed Beirutis and cosmopolitan visitors adore his bunker-club B018 and the restaurants Yabani and Centrale. Most are intrigued by these unfamiliar-looking venues that seem like alien spacecraft plonked in the middle of an ever mutating city. Strangely though, none of these buildings has been built to last. “My projects are about an alternative exploitation,” he explains. “They have a limited life span. They are not developed in terms of total build-up area, but one day a developer with enough money will buy these plots and my projects will be gone. I used their temporary nature to my advantage.”

It's worth mentioning that creating challenging architecture runs in the family. Khoury's father, Khalil Khoury, is an eminent local architect who favoured experimental, expressionist Brutalist architecture. Although Khoury fi ls resides with his young family in his father's residential complex – the Manar beach resort north of Beirut city – few other examples of his father's work remain. “My father created some amazing things but many of them are being destroyed,” says Khoury, “because Beirut doesn't appreciate what it has yet.”



The rest of the article is irrelevent but if you are interested it can be found here:
http://impressions-ba.com/features.php?pageNum_Recordset1=6&totalRows_Recordset1=160&id_feature=10330

WTF thats the most uglyist thing ever !

I'm with the renovation :)

Wait... how did they have a techno party there last night? Please explain.

Well it's quite simple actually, The Cultural section of the french embassy financed the whole event.
You could access the interior of the bubble through a staircase under the bubble, they installed wooden boards to flatten the floor, a diesel generator for the electricity, a few bars, a dj booth, some flat screens to display animations and stuff and laser and fumes devices.
The whole thing turned out to be like a huge underground bunker-like venue.
They also invited a few performists: firespitters etc...

uggg....everytime i pass that thing..its such an eyesore!!!

It looks interesting. I would keep it and let the time make it a tourist attraction.

I'm with Shohad.
We should keep it as a memory of the war that separated this city in two when Martyr's square was the playground of milicias.
We should keep it not to praise that part of our history but to remember it to learn from it, to teach others.

The great Samir Kassir fought against this post-war society based on an amnesia.
He critisized this constant need the lebanese had to hide everything that made them think about the events that once shook their lives.

I believe the new city-centre needs a building, a cultural centre which embodies the lebanese reality and identity.
What could be more beautiful than a modern cinema from a golden Era, destroyed by an unpersonal war and rehabilitated by a new open and peaceful society.

This building should represent what we ARE, it shouldn't be replaced by office building baring no identity.

Well it's quite simple actually, The Cultural section of the french embassy financed the whole event.
You could access the interior of the bubble through a staircase under the bubble, they installed wooden boards to flatten the floor, a diesel generator for the electricity, a few bars, a dj booth, some flat screens to display animations and stuff and laser and fumes devices.
The whole thing turned out to be like a huge underground bunker-like venue.
They also invited a few performists: firespitters etc...


Wow, sounds interesting. I would love to see some pics of this...

they should A-bomb that thing!

"good God it looks like a dead whale.."...ROTTEN dead whale lol

^^ It actually looks like a manatee lol

manatees are actually semi-cute lol

I just like it,but we don't need to keep it this way,the statue of martyr square in a war memorial,also the holiday in building,we don't need another one :)

^^ LOL I know enough is enough.

LOL!
What the hell is that!

I hope it gets redeveloped.

Imagine it was covered in silver or gold and become a club or pub.. I think it could be great!

it is unique :okay:

Imagine it was covered in silver or gold and become a club or pub.. I think it could be great!

Definately,it'll be a landmark :)

Imagine it was covered in silver or gold and become a club or pub.. I think it could be great!


This design was proposed for its renovation:


http://img318.imageshack.us/img318/4420/102bcd0518lh.jpg


But it looks like they will not go with this.

^^ lol the mother ship has landed!!!
for the love of god tear that hideous thing down!!!
AND DONT MESS WITH MANATEES!!! we worship those things down here ... them cuties!
is it safe holding parties in their? i mean i imagine it would b great acustics since it was a theater .. but ... look at it!

Source 26 you're so right.

Beirut! are you sure that Beirut Gate will keep the bubble and renovate it?

^^ lol the mother ship has landed!!!
for the love of god tear that hideous thing down!!!
AND DONT MESS WITH MANATEES!!! we worship those things down here ... them cuties!
is it safe holding parties in their? i mean i imagine it would b great acustics since it was a theater .. but ... look at it!

:lol: @ this post... you are too funny. Sorry but those Sea Cows are almost as ugly as this bubble. I agree tear the damn thing down! No matter how they renovate it, it will be so ugly and it really desnt deserve to be in such a prime location.

Yes people, listen to Lebgurl and just LOOK at it! LMAO

Beirut! are you sure that Beirut Gate will keep the bubble and renovate it?

Yes Charly, according to Lebanese Cedar, a new render has emerged in a magazine somewhere which shows that it will be incorporated into the Beirut Gate project... sadly it will be saved after all in one way or another.

Wrecking ball awaits Downtown Beirut landmark
Oddly shaped theater has benefited from several reprieves, but now its luck seems to be running out

http://www.dailystar.com.lb//admin/storage/articles/zoom/200610162245420.10-B.jpg

By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, October 17, 2006

BEIRUT: It's an icon, it's an eyesore - whatever it is, it's doomed again. The bulbous, pock-marked structure flanking Martyrs Square in Downtown Beirut - an old movie theater known variously as the dome, the egg, the bubble, the blob, saboune (meaning soap) or by its official name, the Beirut City Center Building - is inevitably going to be demolished, according to all parties currently involved in deciding the building's fate.

Over the years, that fate has been subjected to a rather epic tug of war.

Originally designed by Leb-anese architect Joseph Philippe Karam, the dome was built in 1965 as part of a larger, three-part complex of towers and shopping arcades that was expected, in an untimely burst of inauspicious optimism, to become the most important commercial center in the Middle East.

The dome owes its peculiar shape and elevation to a zoning law in effect at the time that barred construction above a cinema. It is celebrated still as a triumph of Beirut's modernist era - a more whimsical but no less innovative variation on the brutalist designs realized elsewhere in the city.

The complex surrounding the dome was never finished and when the Civil War broke out in 1975, the building was abandoned. Martyrs Square became a wasteland of warring factions and the building was repeatedly shelled. Its lower floors were also badly damaged by neglected drainage systems, and the building was taken over for a time by militiamen.

When the war ended, the dome was pegged as a site for the new Finance Ministry headquarters. In the mid-1990s, contracts were signed, construction began and the nose of the building was knocked off. Then, with a change in government, all those contracts were torn up and the project died.

Without function or future, the dome slid into its role as an off-kilter cultural site. It hosted raves, experimental theater productions and exhibitions of contemporary art. Used as such, the building has since come into its own. Because it has never been whitewashed, it maintains its ties to the past and at the same time has a downtrodden retro glam that appeals to a younger generation. Because centrally located cultural spaces are few to non-existent in Beirut, the dome has become vital to the city's art and music scenes, which otherwise exist without any real infrastructure to speak of.

In 2003, Solidere, the land bank charged with Downtown Beirut's continuing urban renewal, announced it was going to demolish the dome. The news was met with considerable consternation from the capital's architects, artists, activists and heritage preservationists.

A year later, Solidere made a surprising about-face. Instead of tearing the building down, it commissioned Bernard Khoury, arguably the country's most daring renegade architect, to design a rehabilitation scheme that would keep the building intact and revamp it as a mixed-use cultural and commercial center.

Khoury's plans involved liberating the shell of the building from the concrete slabs around it and bracing the structure with scaffolding on all sides. The design called for an audacious red floor to be spread across the surface of the site, with a series of glass boxes looking down to the first of six underground floors.

Khoury's rehabilitation plan had always been considered a temporary gesture and required a third party to come in and manage the site. Solidere agreed to freeze any sale of the plot on which the dome stands - rumored to be worth $40 million - for a period of five years. But that agreement melted away prematurely. Two years later, Solidere sold the plot - along with seven others - to Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH).

ADIH is the force behind BEIRUT GATE, a $600-million self-proclaimed mega-project that caps the southern end of Martyrs Square and butts up against the Fouad Chehab ring road. Covering over 20,000 square kilometers and calling for nearly 180,000 square meters of built-up area, Beirut Gate is to incorporate luxury apartments, office spaces, hotels, retail outlets and so on.

Though no designs have yet been finalized, ADIH has commissioned Christian de Portzamparc (the only Frenchman ever to win the Pritzker Prize, architecture's answer to the Nobel) and the firm Aquitectonica, along with Lebanese architects Nabil Gholam and the Erga Group, to design different pieces of the puzzle.

On Friday, following a news conference to announce that the Beirut Gate deal, inked earlier this spring and before the war in Lebanon this summer, would go ahead as planned, ADIH's Ineke Zodang said the dome's demolition was imminent. That declaration may have jumped the gun, but few would argue that the dome is now anything but doomed.

Though not immediately responsible for the site on which the dome stands, Gholam says that the building's survival is unlikely.

"I have pressed for its retention, as has Christian de Port-zamparc," adds Angus Gavin, who heads up Solidere's urban planning division. "But the developer has always claimed he will have to demolish the dome because it is non-viable." To insist on its retention, Gavin adds, "is a huge constraint" for ADIH.

From a financial point of view, the dome makes no sense because it doesn't exploit the site. It doesn't come close to filling out the maximum built-up area allowed on the plot of land, which, when compared to the size of the dome itself, is huge.

So what of Bernard Khoury's phantom rehabilitation plan?

"Bernard Khoury is the world's leading architect for post-war temporary structures. He's interested in cultural entertainment. But no one stepped forward to manage [the project]," says Gavin. "Eventually, the chairman [Nasser Chamma] came to us and said: 'This project isn't really working, is it?'"

Beyond wiping yet another modernist icon off Beirut's map, the sale of the site sets a curious precedent. It is defined in Solidere's master plan for Downtown Beirut as a plot that must be developed for cultural use. Yet the design brief ADIH presented on Friday tags Plot 987, on which the dome stands, as "residential/retail/commercial."

"It is an unusual deal that the developer did," says Gavin. "It gives them lots of flexibility in terms of land use. Usually, the development brief is part of the sale. Land use is defined. We imposed a brief that requires cultural activity on that site but they've got clever lawyers." The deal allowed ADIH 10 months to define the land use for Beirut Gate and ultimately proved Solidere's own land-use designations to be legally non-binding, all of which means the dome will likely give way to a hotel and conference center complex.

"We are sill insisting on a major cultural component," says Gavin. But on Friday ADIH's Zodang said simply that the dome would come down, that something cultural would be substituted somewhere else, and that it would be underground.

The dome's likely demolition raises numerous questions, some old, some new. If Solidere's land-use designations are so easily batted away, what does the future hold for the current blankness of Martyrs Square, the Bourj, Beirut's pre-eminent public space? From an observer's point of view, it seems well within the realm of possibility that Solidere would sell the Martyrs Statue itself if the right bidder came calling. It is difficult to argue against a project like Beirut Gate because it foretells a resurgence of investor confidence so vital to an economy blindsided by war. But it is still worth considering, what kind of city will that line of thinking ultimately create, where any sale is a good sale?

When asked if he has any last words for the lost project he spent so many months working on, Bernard Khoury gives a weary laugh. "The dome?" he says. "The dome is dead."

I have emailed Solidere asking them about the Buble and its fate. They have responded saying that the buble will not be demolished but incorporated into the Beirut Gate project.

During the summer, the underground part was used as a parking space. I actually got to park down there during a Saturday night when there was no vacant parking spot anywhere else. It's very creepy walking into that structure in the middle of the night when there was no one down there. lets just say me and my cousin ran very fast to the car lol.

I have emailed Solidere asking them about the Buble and its fate. They have responded saying that the buble will not be demolished but incorporated into the Beirut Gate project.

Now,i'm really confused.

I have emailed Solidere asking them about the Buble and its fate. They have responded saying that the buble will not be demolished but incorporated into the Beirut Gate project.

Bilal, when did you email Solidere? It seems the decision to demolish it has been made just recently.

Bilal, when did you email Solidere? It seems the decision to demolish it has been made just recently.

Certainly not recently because I've emailed solidere 2 weeks ago concerning the Bubble and the Marina Towers and I have yet to get an answer!! Waiting for their response

This is exactly their response

"The Building will be integrated in the Beirut Gate project and will not be destroyed." Nabil Rached is the person who responded to me. I actually sent them the email on October 18 and he responded on October 25. So I would say pretty recent.

^^ Thanks for sharing... but this really sucks.

^^ cheer up beirut .. maybe it'll be something that ppl stop and stare at and never quite understand! I CANT WAIT FOR THE JOKES!!!
the southern in me sees that thing's design and thinks "COW TIPPING"!!!

what the heck is that ^^?

OMG are u a yank!!! I'm losing respect for ya city boy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tipping

What the hell????????????????? what planet do you people think you are on?? who does such a thing? that's animal cruelty and just plain old ******* - wow there must really be nothing to do over there...

now that I think of it I've never even seen a real cow before.

omg cow tipping lol hilarious...well it's ok Beirut! they're all gonna be eaten anyway lol

now that I think of it I've never even seen a real cow before.

Come here to CO and I'll show you tons of cows. :horse:

I KNOW I KNOW its horrible .. but its ok im a vegetarian now ... and I used to only watch I never actually did it, the older kids did. lol
Beirut u've seriously never seen a cow?? WOW!!! its funny to think what a zoo in new england would have lol.. cows, street cats, lizards, bugs hehehe

Leb-It: wat u said is mean wlooo! I'm a proud Tofu eater!

^^ Tofu doesn't work for me i need real food :P

I KNOW I KNOW its horrible .. but its ok im a vegetarian now ... and I used to only watch I never actually did it, the older kids did. lol
Beirut u've seriously never seen a cow?? WOW!!! its funny to think what a zoo in new england would have lol.. cows, street cats, lizards, bugs hehehe

Leb-It: wat u said is mean wlooo! I'm a proud Tofu eater!

how do make it? Oh I like tofu. Leb-it just try it out.

Not Another Martyr

By Raafat Majzoub,
Ya Libnan Volunteer

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/11/20/beirut%20city%20center%2011_s.jpg

The 1960s epoch, was Lebanon’s golden age. It was the time of modernity in economy, culture, art and architecture.

Now, and after a couple of wars, and dozens of economic, cultural, artistic, and architectural disasters, some monuments still stand, as shrines to these pulsating days.

One of those is the Beirut City Center, by Joseph Phillipe Karam, a prominent modernist Lebanese architect of the 60s. The Beirut City Center is an egg shaped theater / cinema in downtown Beirut. Its design is a symbol of modern design foresight and a testament to Lebanese talent and architecture.

Now, with the Beirut downtown area renovation and reconstruction, this milestone of Lebanese design is on death-row, making space for the new 600 million dollar Beirut Gate project.

It is very encouraging to see the trust in Lebanon, in terms of investment, but at the same time, the fact that everything is up for sale, even parts of our identity and culture is very depressing. Lebanon is not a virgin land, waiting to be land-marked with new culture; our culture is one of the richest in the world, and it is degrading for any Lebanese to accept such violations to our heritage.

It is our duty to save our City Center, the heart of our downtown area, and a commemorative plaque to our headway, an incentive to bring back the days when we exported knowledge, independent of anyone’s help or custody.

Act now - save the Beirut City Center!

looks like an overground bunker lol

I'm pro-bubble and am hoping it stays, its an icon for Beirut as well as a reminder of its Golden-age... any others agree??? i should push for a campaign!

^^ You have inspired me to add a poll to this thread.

EVERYONE PLEASE VOTE!!!

i say get rid of the ugly thing

if they leave it like this and dont do anything about it, then tear it down, but if they renovate it, i wouldn't mind because that building was significant back in the 60's, so ill say not sure

..'woohoo' no votes are catching up.. God Save the Bubble!

just renovate it, it needs to stay there. It really is an iconic structure in Beirut.

Now the opposition is using it to hang giant portraits of Aoun... now it MUST be demolished asap!

lol maybe they see the resemblance to his mother ship

^^ loooooooool hey it does have somewhat the shape of his bald head

Now the opposition is using it to hang giant portraits of Aoun... now it MUST be demolished asap!


AGREE

me 2 :)

^^ hello there your new ! welcome

Hi 14leb,welcome to the forum :)

welcome 14leb :D

City Center Building, Downtown

July 3, 2007


The City Center Building – also known as the bubble, the dome, or the egg – was originally designed in 1965 by Lebanese architect Joseph Philippe Karam. It housed a theater and an exhibition hall with six underground levels of shops and parking spaces. Today, the bullet-scarred and derelict building stands as a conspicuous pile of concrete ringed by opposition tents, Hezbollah and Aouni flags, and barbed wire. It’s ugly, but it’s also one of the few surviving relics of Beirut’s golden age.

Overlooking Martyrs’ Square, the 6,000 square meter lot bears serves for many as a symbol of identity and cultural heritage. And for a younger generation of Lebanese who don’t remember it as a theater and shopping mall, the “bubble” is well known as the venue for numerous raves and experimental productions since the end of the civil war.

In 2003, Solidere announced that the building was going to be demolished. But faced with loud appeals for the preservation and renovation of the building, Solidere commissioned celebrated local architect Bernard Khoury to come up with a rehabilitation plan that would preserve the building and integrate commercial space into the unique structure. But, Khoury’s final plan, which the public at large readily embraced, needed a third party to manage and fund it. Sadly, no one ever stepped up and Solidere sold the plot of land along with seven others to the Abu-Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) two years later.


ADIH then announced plans for Beirut Gate, a $600 million project covering around 20,000 square meters, which includes luxury apartments, office space, hotels and other buildings. But before Beirut Gate could even get started, opposition protests took over the downtown – including the very lots where ADIH was preparing to break ground – scaring off investors and leaving the project hanging in uncertainty. ADIH’s local partners, Erga Architects, told NOW Lebanon that the project is now on hold because of the sit-in downtown – and as for the “bubble,” they have yet to decide its future. The Beirut Gate design plans designate the area where the City Center Building stands simply as “residential and commercial.”

And when contacted this week, Solidere’s press officer Nabil Rachid didn’t have much new to share either. Rather ambiguously, he simply said, “It is either going to be renovated or demolished and rebuilt, but the opposition’s sit-in has caused the Beirut Gate to put the project on hold until the political conflict is resolved.”

City Center Building, Downtown

“It is either going to be renovated or demolished and rebuilt, but the opposition’s sit-in has caused the Beirut Gate to put the project on hold until the political conflict is resolved.”


I was just wondering, has anyone been able to contact solidere or ADIH or anyone to get some new information on whats happening to the bubble, especially since the beirut gate project is set to restart soon.

I would love some new info, but if its been addressed before, then sorry in advance.

thanks

Solidere 2007 report states that the dome will be partially included in the Beirut Gate project..

^^ yes,that's what the Renderings show.

One of the things that always captivated me in old pictures of Beirut was all the modernist architecture. Mid-century modern architecture is awaiting a revival, and I bet that it's imminent. The retro appeal coupled with all the tacky, Singapore/Dubai inspired glassy highrises gives '50s, '60s and '70s a latent appeal that would be a waste to demolish.

Keep it up! 15 years of fire didn't destroy it; it's clearly blessed. Why ruin it now?

^ That's another point of view,we will wait and see what would happen to it.

Location, location, location: Derelict Beirut landmark hosts joint show by Lebanese and Italian artists
Exhibition offers visitors rare look inside former movie house - and added exposure for local talents
By Anna Sussman
Daily Star staff
Saturday, January 03, 2009

Listen to the Article - Powered by




BEIRUT: By virtue of its location, an exhibition at Beirut's famous "Dome" building, literally tied together the political and the poetic, installing works by Lebanese and Italian artists at a site famously used by snipers during the Civil War. Also known as "the Egg," and formally known as the City Center Cinema, the bullet-riddled, history-laden, gray concrete box on stilts was the backdrop for "Hopes and Doubts," a group show of Lebanese and Italian artists held from December 20 to 23. In a way, the location was almost too symbolic, standing in for two of Beirut's several prominent cliches: its conflict-ridden past, and its reputation for having the region's most vibrant art scene.

Nonetheless, it was an uncommon chance to see inside a normally off-limits space. Costantino D'Orazio, AGE, the Italian curator and art historian who both curated and helped to organize the show, chose it after he and his friend, artist Zena al-Khalil, canvassed the city looking for the appropriate place.

Since his early days as a curator in Rome, D'Orazio said, he used art as a draw to get people off the beaten path, holding exhibits in out-of-the-way Roman suburbs. In this case the reverse seemed to be true - the space was the draw, as the more than 2,000 people who attended appeared to be just as captivated by their surroundings as by the works on display. For that opportunity at least - opening up an off-limits part of the city - D'Orazio and Solidere, which partly sponsored the show (Magrabi Optical, Banque Libano-Francaise and the Monroe Hotel were the other sponsors) should be thanked.

The space itself is as hulking and chilling inside as it appears from the outside: decrepit, structurally unsound, and haunted by the role it played in the city's past. Still, it boasts a raw beauty, a sense of the undisturbed in a city subject to constant change, demolition, and construction, and for the three days that the show was up, it was once again a place of recreation and entertainment, as it had been before the war, when it was a popular cinema.

For Lebanese artist Pascale Hachem, 29, whose piece "I'll race you," was a crowd favorite, the Dome provoked a discomfort that inspired his contribution to the show, six 4-kilogram hammers attached to a steel pole, which rotates slowly thanks to a generator at its left side. Small axles allow the hammers to lift and fall, painfully slowly, one at a time, landing at irregular intervals, and leaving visible dents in the wall.

"It's stupid, it's hitting a small area of a wall," Hachem said of his intervention. "But it gives the impression of erasing our memories."

It resonated instantly with anyone familiar with Beirut's landscape of demolition or its promise of reconstruction; anyone woken up by drilling and the shouts of workers at the construction site next door. The generator, a fixture of Beirut life with its daily power cuts, also seemed an appropriate gesture toward the capital's mechanical netherworld.


Hachem's piece was paired with a sound installation by Italian artist Elisabetta Benassi, which looped the sounds of a raven that had learned to imitate the noises of the garage where it lived. Both artists obliquely probed the aural facet of urban life, Hachem by isolating and slowing down the ubiquitous roar of construction, Benassi by refracting it through a bird.

D'Orazio made the pairings after meeting with more than 50 Lebanese artists, introduced to him by Khalil.

"It happened eight times," during this process, he said, that he was struck by connections between the Lebanese artists and the Italian artists he had already chosen. It wasn't a matter of medium, necessarily, but more the "attitude - which is the most important thing for contemporary art."

The link between the artists was not always immediately apparent, and according to Ginou Choueiri, one of the Lebanese participants, the artists themselves did not have too many opportunities to interact, although their relationships might evolve and deepen in late January, when the show moves to the Fondazione Merz in Turin.

Unfortunately, "Hopes and Doubts" also felt like a fairly superficial theme around which to organize the show.

The press material put out by the organizers attests that "Lebanon, one of the most exciting and interesting countries of the Mediterranean, today cannot enjoy the privilege of long-term projects and still lives in a condition of uncertainty. This situation, in which the 'doubt' is the most frequent feeling, relates Lebanon to a whole generation of artists, who share the same question on a global scale."

In plain English, the show appears to be saying that artists in general feel "doubt" a lot, as does Lebanon, and therefore its artists don't have the privilege of thinking long-term. Is that so? And is it a statement for an Italian curator to make?

Despite the sometimes-unconvincing links between the artists, and the vague theme, the work on display was largely very accomplished. While many of the Italian artists have been working for 10 to 15 years, are represented by galleries, and have shown at major institutions, the Lebanese, often much younger and lacking international exposure, held their own. The fact that one could not always tell whether a work was by a Lebanese or Italian artist spoke both of the universally high quality of the pieces and shared sensibilities, aesthetics and artistic practices. Indeed, many of the works would be at home in any major European or American institution, suggesting perhaps, more darkly, a certain homogeneity in contemporary art.


"Hopes and Doubts" will be up at the Fondazione Merz from January 22 to March 1. For more information, please check out http://fondazionemerz.org

of course its an eye sore at the moment. but if renovated it would be a beautifully nostagic landmark. i think they should use it as a theatre or museum. whatever they do with it, i hope it'll be somethign public for all the people. i'd hate if its turned to a private restaurant or club.

if renovated that thing could claim a page in architecture books. its a feat of mid-century modernist architecture.

Here are some photos of the event, by Luciana

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/3124937334_153bbf9c23_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/3124937524_fe66be262f_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3267/3124937704_355803b2b8_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3216/3124938474_87dedd1f6a_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3286/3124118167_54ac9f91cc_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3098/3124117493_4343d94df8_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/3124111577_cec04494e7_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/3124943900_d473962213_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/3124119087_785940c25c_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/3124115239_d1fa120736_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3234/3124116737_b81ddca493_o.jpg

its a feat of mid-century modernist architecture.

It'd be a shame to get rid of it. That shapeless, smooth tall ceiling looks pretty awesome. I fear Beirut will lose all its mid century architecture in the name of "rebuilding."

Hey all,

I'm trying to focus a project on this building (foolhardy, I know). Anyone have any idea what the current plan is? Is there a rendering? It would be great if I could throw it into my paper?

Thanks!

^^
the "Bubble Theater" (built in 1965) it was going to be demolished in May 2003 by Solidere because the land it is on is estimated to be worth around $40 million but was not because many notable architects wrote to Solidere pleading them not to because ""You can't tear this thing down." It's too precious, too odd, too cool, too much of an icon." , it is located on the southern part of Martyr's Square in the BCD (Beirut Central District) there are plans to lay a bold red ground in epoxy paint or asphalt, and build six floors below ground and raised skylights arranged like an ultra-modern French garden allowing natural light.

thanks. do you know if the renderings for those plans exist, or who the architect/developer is?

thanks. do you know if the renderings for those plans exist, or who the architect/developer is?

it was designed by Bernard khoury and no longer the plan

Lebanon: Dont Break the Egg!
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 @ 18:40 UTC
by Katharine Ganly

The Egg, the Blob, the Bubble, the Dome… In the heart of Beirut, the shell of the egg-shaped structure that once was the avant-garde cinema of the late City Center complex is soon to be demolished to be replaced by a section of the Beirut Gate project.

reports Maysa Phares, at Beirut Space.
Indeed, since Soldiere sold its land to the Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) as part of the Beirut Gate project, focused on the renovation and modernisation of downtown Beirut, the Egg has been constantly threatened with demolition.
Temporarily saved from demolition by the 2006 war -one of many it has survived, bearing more than a few scratches - and then again by the financial crisis, the Egg is now under immediate threat; and there are many campaigning to save it from its imminent destruction.

Lucie at C’est Beyrouth describes the landmark building as [FR]:

…un bâtiment des plus noircis et des plus imposants : un ancien cinéma, de forme ovale, à moitié détruit. Il fait un peu tâche, au milieu des immeubles lisses et clairs, fruits du travail controversé de Solidere, société de reconstruction du centre-ville de Beyrouth. Conçu en 1965, il est appelé le Blob, le champignon, le Dôme, l’Oeuf… A l’intérieur, des cendres, des impacts de balles, et à l’étage, un grand écran blanc.
Son vrai nom est le «Dôme City Center ». Des expositions et performances y ont lieu. Menacé d’être détruit par des promoteurs en quête de profit, des pétitions et groupes se mobilisent pour sauver ce vestige de la guerre qui fait partie du paysage beyrouthin.
… a most charred and impressive building: a former cinema, oval in form, half-destroyed. It makes its mark, in the midst of the surrounding smooth, clear buildings, the fruits of the controversial labour of Solidere, reconstruction company of downtown Beirut. Designed in 1965, it is called the Blob, the mushroom, the Dome, the Egg … Inside, ashes, bullet holes, and upstairs, a large white screen.
Its real name is the “City Center Dome”. Exhibitions and performances have been held here.. Threatened with destruction by developers in search of profit, petitions and groups are mobilizing to save what remains of the war and is part of the landscape Beirut.

It is more than just a building but a symbol of identity, something worth fighting for against what has been called the “Dubaification” of Beirut. It has spurred some emotional reactions from bloggers since word got out about the prospect of its destruction in 2006. Back in 2008, Raafat Majzoub appealed:

little people. big people. people and pets. as i published 30 seconds ago, the beirut city centre building is going to be demolished in less than a month
little people. big people. people and pets. since there is nothing tangible i can think of, to save the egg. consider this un-competition. any proposal anything, simply believe me anything that is related to the building, in any way or form : SEND IT TO ME, i will publish it here, if printable, will print it and flood it around
little people. big people. people and pets. i am not joking around. just go down, look at it, fight with the security guards, make a fuss..my fuss is fussing out (pfff) < < like this
little people. big people. people and pets. look how cute it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While it managed to survive longer than the month Raafat predicted, it is under renewed threat now.
Fluctuat.net describes it as “the last of its kind” [FR] in an ever-evolving central Beirut:

… L'œuf, sobriquet de l'ancien cinéma du centre-ville ruiné par les effets de la guerre civile, fait parti de ces bâtiments de caractère qui hantent encore le cœur de Beyrouth. En fait, c'est le dernier dans son genre au centre-ville, après que le projet urbain ait décidé de raser le souk Ayyas et les autres cinémas historiques. Aujourd'hui les étudiants…s'attachent à “The Egg” comme seul témoin architectural du passé tortueux oublié dans la nouvelle Beyrouth sauce Solidere.
… The egg, nickname of the former cinema city ruined by the effects of civil war, is part of the buildings of character that still haunt the heart of Beirut. In fact, it is the last of its kind downtown since the urban project decided to demolish Souk Ayyas and other historic theatres. Today students…see “The Egg” as the only architectural witness of the tortuous past which is forgotten in the sauce of the new Solidere-flavoured Beirut.

Deensharp at Al-Bayt Baytak describes the reconstruction of downtown Beirut as both a symbol of Lebanese resilience and a gesture against the destruction of the civil war. Sadly, it's renovation also has led to a downtown that caters almost exclusively to European and Gulf tourists- with many Lebanese not being able to afford to buy or rent in their own central district.
He explores the relationship between Architecture and Politics in Lebanon in this piece, saying:

The intellectual prowess of the Lebanese also shines through in the built environment but also the nihilism. Only Egypt can compete in the nearby states to Lebanon’s recent architectural heritage. The Egg is one such example of this substantial contribution; designed by Lebanese architect Joseph-Philippe Karam, who also trained in Lebanon, this unique example of Lebanese modernist architecture lays in tatters with the threat destruction for another tower that tells of another side to Lebanon. Although many Lebanese want to save the Egg and see it as a battle of what they rightly call the Dubaification of Lebanon, Solidere effectively sold away to Abu Dhabi Investment House the chance for the Lebanese to have a say in the preservation or destruction of the Egg.

But not everybody has given up hope in saving the Egg. The “Save the Egg” campaign started with a Facebook group established by student Dania Bdeir. Within five days it had over 5,000 members from all locations and professions passionate to try and stop the demolition of the landmark building. Group founder Dania was interviewed by iloubnan in the article “Save The Egg campaigner says that Lebanon is not like a desert where there is nothing and you can just build“and says “If we work together, we can do this”. She has found the support for the campaign surprising and encouraging.

After it surpassed 5,000 members, the group moved to a Facebook cause here, whose statement reads:

• The egg is an icon of 1960s avant-gardiste modern architecture, a time when the west looked at Lebanon with respect and admiration
• We do not want the egg simply as a reminder of civil war. We are not against evolving but not at the expense of our past accomplishments and identity
• Lebanon is not a virgin land, waiting to be land-marked with new culture; we cannot accept such violations to our heritage

The campaign has the backing of the league of independent activists Indyact and Collective 34, an advocacy platform for public space and citizenship in Lebanon, who describe the Egg as “an urban edifice symbolic of collective and individual memory and significant of Modern formal aesthetics.

Some Egg-celent pictures can be viewed on the Facebook cause page, and there is a beautiful photo by Sarah Haddad here.

Take a look at them, and then visit the online petition here.

After all, as Flavie describes here, it is simply “too precious, too odd, too cool, too much of an icon to tear it down.”

They're going to demolish it! I though it was going to be integrated in the Beirut Gate's design!
I don't know how to feel about this, I've never seen "the bubble" in the Beirut hay days yet it feels wrong to replace architecture that is part of our national heritage.

I think they SHOULD demolish it. I don't know how you guys feel about it, but it's just ugly.

^^ It is a serious eyesore and certainly not part of the national heritage!

They were probably unable to intergrate it into the tower easily...

The only reason why I'm against its demolition is because it is the only place in DT that holds public gatherings such as art shows. With it gone DT is basically luxury apartments.

^^^
The beirut house of arts will quickly overshadow that. And the bubble/egg wasn't going to remain a place for public gatherings once incorporated into Beirut Gate.

However, I am against the demo, it is one of the last remnants of any continuity between old beirut and new beirut. It is one of the landmarks of downtown and I just can't see that space without it. Integrating it into Beirut Gate was Beirut Gate's one last saving grace.

I love that Beirut Gate fills that empty space to the main entrance BCD, but Beirut Gate has such a bland generic design. The tower isn't even Iconic or well designed, the bubble was its only hope of being interesting.

Check this link:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20695488/The-Shell-of-the-City-Center-Complex-in-Downtown-Beirut

^^ Interesting... I didnt know there was a tower attached to the bubble. So Solidere demolished the tower back in the 90s but kept the dome?

According to Samer Karam (bloggingbeirut.com) 's twitter, as of this week they approved saving the Bubble and will not be demolishing it.

http://i48.tinypic.com/ip12zt.jpg
Courtesy of Jens (taken Jan 13)

Hello,

Only my second post.

In this "bubble", I saw Disney's "Aristocats", Disney's "Now you see him, Now you don't" and Disney's "The World's Greatest Athlete" as well as Nagla Fathi's "Dami wa Dumui wa ibtisamati" (my mom dragged me to that one) all from 1971 - 1974. They used to show all the 1st run Disney movies at that theater.

I am against the demo due to obvious sentimental reasons. I do think if properly restored, it would be an architectural gem. It is certainly unique. That's my personal opinion.

Mike

i found this in one of the blogs

The original projected plans for the Beirut City Center by famed Lebanese architect Joseph Philippe Karam

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SLEmarmr7Cc/S-ke1TRW8nI/AAAAAAAACZs/YjqhpIacuME/s1600/City_Center.jpg

THAT IS BEAUTIFUL :(

Thanks Hassoun!

Do you know if there is a way to get a larger size copy of this drawing? I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

Mike

^^I am afraid That was the biggest one i could find,Mark.
but i'll keep looking.

Only one tower got built unfortunatly

SO any photos of the thing back in the 60's?

"BY Popular demand. The Dome will be retained as a landmark cultural venue"

Solidere 2009 Annual Report

:dance::carrot::pepper::applause::banana::lock::kiss::hug:

Thats fantastic!!!!!!!!!! woooooooooooooooooooooo

looks like a huge tumor, i hope they do something about it

YES YES YES!!!

Will it get renovated?

it can't stay like this

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4930328847_930ae0988a.jpg

"BY Popular demand. The Dome will be retained as a landmark cultural venue"

Solidere 2009 Annual Report


I'm not too thrilled about this unless there is an amazing restoration...but at least we know that Solidere checked our poll!

O it would have to get renovated, even if its not usably restored.. just aesthetically. I cant see solidere being okay with a semi broken down sphere amongst their buildings lol

Mabrooook :banana::banana::kiss::okay:

Despite what Solidere is publicly announcing, I think the bubble will be demolished or renovated in the best case. Now that it has a Solidere security guard on its entrance (entering and taking pictures of the interior is prohibited-unless provided with an official Solidere permission..) months ago it had no security what so ever.. and according to him, the demolition will start very soon.

Courtsey of me, taken today.

http://i53.tinypic.com/v6t34j.jpg

and according to him, the demolition will start very soon.

According to who? The security guard?!

yea the guy who says come visit us again after every freaking sentence. lol

lol!!! I wouldn't consider him a "trusted source" if I were you. I bet he was trying to impress a pretty lady by his "very soon" claim! (As if he has access to classified information...)

Despite what Solidere is publicly announcing, I think the bubble will be demolished or renovated in the best case. Now that it has a Solidere security guard on its entrance (entering and taking pictures of the interior is prohibited-unless provided with an official Solidere permission..) months ago it had no security what so ever.. and according to him, the demolition will start very soon.


popsi there has been a security guard in front of the bubble since ever! i know this because i have to pass by him to get to the buss stop to go back to my uni! and i think that solidere in their last report mentioned that after a meeting between the board and the share holders and city officials everyone agreed to preserve the bubble... so it is very unlikely that they will change their minds secretly and just like that! and of course it's gonna get renovated, there's noway that it's gonna stay like that!

lol!!! I wouldn't consider him a "trusted source" if I were you. I bet he was trying to impress a pretty lady by his "very soon" claim! (As if he has access to classified information...)

hehe no I don't think so. why would he say that if there aren't at least talkings about it?

popsi there has been a security guard in front of the bubble since ever! i know this because i have to pass by him to get to the buss stop to go back to my uni! and i think that solidere in their last report mentioned that after a meeting between the board and the share holders and city officials everyone agreed to preserve the bubble... so it is very unlikely that they will change their minds secretly and just like that! and of course it's gonna get renovated*, there's noway that it's gonna stay like that!

I used to go there very often and enter it without being stopped by anyone. Usually Solidrere tightens security once the zone is active(set for demolition/ renovation) and especially if it is controversial. Plus, SBH is saying the same- meaning that Solidere officials say something in private and then deny it in public. If its demilition is out of the question as Solidere say in public, there shouldn't be this daya3 l tase.

* it should be renovated bass as SOLIDERE is announcing, it will remain intact..hence the question mark.

well, by "intact" i think they mean "not demolished", this will definitely get renovated, hopefully according to bernard khoury's proposal:

http://www.bernardkhoury.com/HeaderPictures/2004BCD05.jpg

and i honestly think that it is all just rumors, especially about the bubble getting demolished. The grand theater thing seemed more credible to me and that turned out to be a rumor even though we already knew solidere's plan to demolish a section of it. So this seems to be just another rumor!

*edit* this post's number is 2012 :tongue2:

why would he say that if there aren't at least talkings about it?

Why would people say that Wael Kfoury has died in a car accident? (and they kept believing and spreading the word until he got live with LBC news denying the story).

It's called rumors, started and spread by bored people, like our "security" guy here and his friends who were having those "talkings".

People like dramatic endings, and rumors usually give them exactly that.

Anyway, I would rather believe "The Daily Star", but who knows where the truth is...

Solidere denies rumors of Downtown ‘egg’ demolition
July 28, 2011 01:46 AM (Last updated: July 28, 2011 02:55 PM)
By Emma Gatten, Olivia Alabaster
The Daily Star


BEIRUT: Reports that the city center’s iconic “egg” building was to be demolished turned out to be false Wednesday, as heritage activists demanded better communication from developers on the future of the city center.

A campaign was launched Wednesday morning after the Save Beirut Heritage group said that the “egg” was to be demolished in the coming days, citing anonymous sources within Solidere, a private development company responsible for the reconstruction of Beirut’s city center.

But Solidere denied the rumors. Amira Solh, from the Urban Planning Department at Solidere, said, “Solidere is against the demolition of the Dome and design is under way to integrate the Dome in the new design … with an attempt to create a cultural use for it.”

The egg or “bubble” was built in 1966 by modernist Lebanese architect Joseph Philip Karam and has gained notoriety for its quirky and distinct shape and the fact that it remains perhaps the last pre-war structure within the Martyrs Square center.

Giorgio Tarraf, of Save Beirut Heritage, was pleased with the response but demanded better communication from the city center’s developers in the future, and an explicit commitment to preserve the egg, originally known as the Beirut City Center, in Solidere’s next annual report.

Karl Sharro, a Lebanese-Iraqi architect based in London, who has worked on three Solidere projects, and is the author of “Manifesto: Towards a New Humanism in Architecture,” said that there was definitely an issue of miscommunication surrounding the work Solidere is doing.

“I know it’s a private company, but it started with a public remit as it was started by the government … It needs to be more transparent. They need to communicate to the public and the press what is happening.

“This doesn’t reflect well on them even though I do believe a lot of the work that they do is positive.”

However Sharro also said there was an issue with the origin of rumors such as the one circulated Wednesday.

“I think Save Beirut Heritage is being intentionally malicious and putting rumors out there. They are using a very emotive argument instead of using a more rational argument … which I don’t think makes for a very constructive debate.”

It was also worth remembering, he said, that “when the egg was built it was very modernist and many even older buildings were destroyed to build it and people were not happy about that then. But then people grew to love it. It is part of the process of change.”

Clarification: The original article said Karl Sharro had worked for Solidere. This is not the case, although he has worked on Solidere projects for a private architecture firm.



Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Jul-28/Solidere-denies-rumors-of-Downtown-egg-demolition.ashx#ixzz1ThT5GWQ8
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Either ways, thanx for sharing your finding with us Popsi, and thanx Martyr for the renders although they're quite old (2007), but it's good to see them here...

I read that article before..and hopefully ..but I still have my doubts. Is there any logical explanation why it is NOW prohibited to enter the building?