KLF’s project for a cultural centre in downtown Beirut fashions anew familiar forms –the arched opening of Lebanese vernacular architecture and the amphitheatres of antiquity—are recast and rethought as thin shell concrete constructions of compressive tensile surfaces. A public domain is shaped through the combination of a great vaulted passage and an amphitheatre rooftop. The two great figured spaces are linked –choreographing a mix of shaded and sunlit spaces, formal and informal spaces, and spaces carved from below and above to produce a spectacular theatre of public life.
Liwan Bayrut looms large and monolithic, like a singular geological
event erupting in the city. Much like the Lebanese rocky landscape
whose physiognomy is shaped by the persistent action of natural and
human forces, Liwan Bayrut’s hard-edged constitution is carved out and
softened by the teaming forces of its urban context.
Liwan Bayrut occupies the entire block but more than 50% of the ground area is dedicated to open public space. The central souk-like space–the
Great Liwan–is the heart of Liwan Bayrut and a convergence point for multiple urban trajectories.
Entirely open and accessible to the public 24/7, it is conceived as a
seamless extension of the urban realm. It prolongs a major diagonal
axis into and through the bloc, culminating in an ascending link to General Fouad Shehab Avenue or tunneling further across to reach the neighborhood on the opposite side of the Ring–we propose to relocate
the projected tunnel to this site.
The building is also publicly accessible on the west side via a
staircase that leads to an open-air theatre–the Bowl. The theatre is
carved out the building mass, dedicating 30% of its volume to open
public space. Multiple paths can be picked up from the elevated
theatre, spiraling down into the Great Liwan or heading south toward
General Fouad Shehab Avenue leading to a foyer overlooking Ghalghoul
Street. Here a glazed tubular passage bridges across the Great Liwan to
land in the multi-purpose hall/gallery where a staircase reaches back
to the lobby thus completing the looping promenade.
The building adapts the familiar courtyard type to distribute the
program in separate but interlocking wings. However discretized and
differentiated the various functions come together as unified whole in
their intense and sustained rapport with the central figures: the Grand
Liwan and the Bowl. The performance-related program––theatre/congress
hall/cinema–is located in the southern and eastern wings. it is
orchestrated as a linear sequence that engages and showcases the
buildings most dramatic feature. It begins in the lobby under the
looming underbelly of the Bowl with a diagonal axis leading to the cinema and a grand staircase that climbs
twisting along the sloping vault of the Great Hall. The stair ascends
to a curvilinear Gallery that provides access to the two theaters and a
bar/terrace overlooking the lobby. the Gallery, along with a mezzanine
linking the theaters’ balconies, swing around the vortex-like
intersection of the Great Liwan and the Bowl, leading to a foyer
overlooking Ghalghoul Street. Here a glazed tubular passage bridges
across the Great Liwan to land in the multi-purpose hall/gallery where
a staircase reaches back to the lobby thus completing the looping promenade. The ascent to the
exhibition spaces moves in the opposite direction from the lobby
towards the northern wing. A straight-run stair leads to the
multi-purpose/exhibition hall. This large room is an amenity we propose
as a compliment to the programmed exhibition facility. It is a
versatile space that can accommodate more widely accessible or
non-ticketed exhibits and events. Both programmatically and physically,
as a site where theatre and exhibition path intersect, this is a space
that mediates between performance and exhibition functions. From here the upwards course become a tilting switchback
stair that follows the curvature of the Bowl. it reaches two floors of
workshops and training rooms before surfacing in the upper exhibition
hall that overlooks the entire sequence. form this vantage point the
two exhibition halls are joined vertically in the canyon-like gap
between the e sloping bowl and the floor plates to become one unified space.
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