Mohammad Berry / May Khalifeh - Conservatoire Nationale

            Conceptualizing an urban intervention in an aged area like Mar Mikhael does not signify a reinterpretation of past shadows. One could easily fall into the trap of recreating what was once there, neglecting what the area now starves for. The main design approach should be sensitive to certain elements of the site such as parameters on the micro and macro scales; a program that reflects the needs of Mar Mikhael which are elsewhere available within Beirut. Mar Mikhael became the receptor of young artisans who have a lot to give. 

3 main elements: cars / souk / commercial uses

           

            From this perspective, we are designing as to point out the dynamism of an area full of memories. From kids laying down stones on an empty lot to make their own football court to activists settling down creating a base to send out their message, the area is interactive on many levels, this is why we decided to create an "Urban Stage". Here you are always seeing and being seen, the ambiance is amiable, generations merge together creating harmony within the beat of the city.

            Someone once said "you can't learn music from Books, it's out there". Extending the flow of people into the site is eliminating boundaries on various directions. The need to open up to the port and break the monotonous agglomeration of Mar Mikhael's city fabric seemed almost inescapable.

            Through the intertwining of circulatory pathways, both pedestrian

and vehicular flows start blending and revive the urban fabric related to the city of Beirut; instead of only being concerned with the ephemeral

nature of the local diverse building typologies.

“ Architecture will change but people will never stop moving ”

park view

circulation + public spaces

programmatic distribution

mass plan

ground floor plan

first floor plan

second floor plan

the "worm" at night and day time

the library