Hello everyone,

I am an architecture student from Iowa State University in the United States and our professor was born and raised in Beirut, so he knows the city well. Our site for the project is the Corniche from between the American University beach and the plaza where Rue Graham meets. The project is to study the corniche and design a promenade that factors in all the different social groups that use this area. I know they are currently updating the corniche with new railing, paving, etc, but our project will not take the current updates into account.

My question for those who live there or know the area is how well does the corniche work as a public space? What changes need to be made and what things don't work? It seems to be a space where many people fish, street vendors sell items, and people in general just hang out. Is there anything that the new upgrades didn't address? Also, what types of people use this area...a wide variety of ethnicities and income groups from all over the city or is it more limited to the American University students and people living adjacent to the corniche in the residential towers? Finally, are there any interesting historical facts about the area or other tidbits of interesting info?

Thanks all in advance for your help; the focus of this studio is to use any resource we can find to get as much information about our site without actually being able to visit it, and I figured this would be a great source to hear from people that actually live there.

Thanks again!

^^ The corniche is a very popular public space. The typical crowd is made up of occasional tourists and students here and there, locals having their daily exercise, etc. Then there are people that cant really afford to go to the cafes, so they come here and bring with them their water-pipes, chairs, etc.

One thing the corniche is always lacking is more benches! (nice ones) People are always bringing their own chairs because there is never enough seating. Also, they should have benches facing out to the sea and not just the street.

Thanks for the info. Could you explain the water-pipes? Are they for drinking out of or is it something else?

I noticed on a map from 1980 that the American Embassy was over on the site that now appears to be a high-rise residential tower (I think it's either Corniche Garden or the Horizon). Was it moved from that site?

Also, from pictures I noticed a lot of people fishing. I'm assuming it's just for recreation and not for commercial purposes. There seems to be a lot of different street vendors at the site, selling from both cars and push carts / bicycles. How do the people get down onto the rocks below since the sea wall appears to be about 5 meters high?

Seasonally, I'm assuming there is a flux in the amount of people there, especially during the winter storm season. But what about during the day? Do people gather over lunch hour and the evening with dead times before and in between, or is it fairly busy throughout the day and into the night? Also, how severe do your storms get there? I've seen pictures of waves crashing against the corniche and they looked pretty strong, so any built constructions would have to be able to withstand that force.

Sorry for all the questions...I appreciate your help!

ok I'll try to answer your questions one by one :)
1- water pipes or 'shisha' or 'argileh' is typical of the region and it's used to smoking different flavored tobbacos, and no the water is not for drinking! hehe
2- The american embassy is now located outside Beirut in a suburb called Awkar, after it was bombed in 1982 or 1985 (not sure)
3- Fishing there is done as a hobby usually by old people
4- Vendors there usually sell corn and other types of foods for the people walking by
5- I think there are stairs that lead you down to the rocks every couple of hundred meters or so
6- Obviously I'm guessing there are more people there in the summer (as to I used to go rollerblading there in the summers some years ago) but there are still people who jog/walk there early in the morning in the summer and winter as well.
7- Storms get pretty rough over there since it's the first 'defense' of the city against waves and the water sometimes reaches the street but that rarely happens

Hope I was helpful!

Smoking water-pipes:

(courtesy of SF Emperor's)
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2356/215492480082ae2624b0bpd3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I noticed on a map from 1980 that the American Embassy was over on the site that now appears to be a high-rise residential tower (I think it's either Corniche Garden or the Horizon). Was it moved from that site?


The old American Embassy was located near the current plot of Horizon Tower (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=350184).

Hi again,

I'm the one last week who posted questions about Beirut's corniche for my architecture project. For a little refresher, this is supposed to be a project where we take societal factors into consideration, such as the type of people that will use the site and how the design language expresses some social aspect of Beirut or Lebanon.

For the concept of my project, I studied the history of Beirut and how rule over the area has changed hands many times over the last 5,000 years, from the Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, etc. The key to this project is that it does not exclude anyone from using the corniche; that all income levels, ethnic groups, and nationalities feel welcome.

So I started thinking of how to represent these periods of turmoil and peace through form, and came up with a series of intersection spaces where people will come together and face each other as they pass through. The forms are deconstructed to represent these periods of turmoil. A book I was reading on Beirut talked about buildings that were bombed and how exposed "stairs that lead to nowhere" can be seen in these neighborhoods that were affected the most. I incorporated this idea into the design to represent this while also allowing discovery (see picture)...people may sit on the steps or climb them to see beyond toward the sea.

In the "periods of peace" part of the project, you have long stretches of space that would cater to different functions, such as space for carts and vendors, a raise platform for watching the sea and more intimate space, ramps that lead down closer to the sea for people who want to fish or swim, and a series of plazas where large gatherings can happen.

This is just the first part of the project and things will change, but I thought I would show some pictures and see if anyone had comments. Keep in mind that this is from the perspective of an American student who has never been to Beirut, so maybe you guys who live there / have been there can offer some insight or other ideas.

One of the comments at my first critique was that there was too much element of surprise with the forms (and while some liked the stark contrast of the metal panels, others thought it was a little too much), so adding more cutouts or making them translucent might make them a little safer at night (and so that you don't run right into someone). This is only a small part of the project and just throwing ideas out there...it will eventually be a series and span the entire corniche. Our due date is next Friday; I'll keep you guys updated with the progress if you're interested.

Thanks again for your time!

Early sketch showing plan with series of these spaces
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4428/drawing01csb1.jpg

The "turmoil" area where people pass through at meet face-to-face...the transition from the more segregated functions to the open plaza (left)
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5328/corniche01nw6.jpg

View showing the deconstructed stairs and people passing through
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/469/corniche02wc5.jpg

In-progress image showing benches and forms that let people sit and people-watch or pass through from the ramps / seating areas
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/4703/corniche03kn2.jpg

^^ it's exiting really, i like it kind a bizar thou (not a bad thing :))
i liked ur attention to details but didn't really get the perpous of the white stairs
i liked the benches facing the see but the lack of railing is kind of dangerous i think
and are the walls like granite or what?
and one more thing: u should try to put lighting of some kind it's too dark at night without it believe me............

Thanks for the comments! If anyone else has comments, I would greatly appreciate it.

but didn't really get the perpous of the white stairsThe idea came from that book I was reading, but the real purpose of them is merely something that people can climb on, sit on, etc. Maybe someone approaching them from the other side (where the woman is talking on her cell phone in the picture) might see a head sticking out and looking down at her or out toward the sea. They're supposed to invoke curiosity; people are naturally curious and I'm hoping that if many saw these stairs, they would climb them to see what was beyond the panels. It's also building on the idea of people of all ethnicities, ages, income levels, etc interacting with one another. At least that's the idea I'm trying to get across. :)

Here's an update of what I have been working on. The project is due this Friday and I still have a lot of work ahead, but I have a digital site model in the works and have done some more sketching of ideas. Tonight I will be working on the overall plan of the project and how these ideas come together into one comprehensive design.

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9475/cornichesketch02yt6.jpg
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/6537/cornichesketch01he1.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/7256/site001us3.jpg
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8585/site002io3.jpg

^^ i think i got it :)
and the green touch in the middle is great