BEIRUT DIGITAL DISTRICT / BEIRUT / LEBANON
Type: Urban
Program: Mixed Use
Gross Built-up Area: 150,000 sqm. (1,620,000 sqft.)
Status: Ongoing
The presence of historical buildings on site constituted an added value to the development, acting as a celebration of the glorious and rich architectural heritage.
Used as focal points around which the Masterplan was developed, virtual lines are projected from their façade, defining open areas, and generating public spaces while creating attraction points. The remaining areas of the site were filled with masses following the existing city fabric.
The Masterplan is connected through 3 green piazzas of different scales: the open plan is part of a healing process that attempts to stitch back the city, making it a space for convergence rather than one of segregation.
Verticality as an urban form was employed to maximize the open areas in a city that lacks them, generating a sustainable and a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood within the city, while fulfilling the feasibility of the development.
It also symbolizes the rising by reaching out to the sky, reflecting BDD ambitions. Conceived as “slab and glass”, the transparency of the towers is intended to blur the line that split the city throughout the years.
The public space expands on the top of the buildings, doubling the green areas: the roof gardens offer additional gathering spaces that are semipublic, while offering sight lines of the development and views of the city, the Mediterranean and the mountains.
