Originally Posted 05 March 2010 on Architecturelab online magazine.
architecturelab.net
The building provides a striking entrance to the Place de L’etoile
“1458 Marfaa is a mixed use building on an historic site. Completed in October 2009 the building responds to the client’s request for a building of ‘timeless’ quality for a prominent corner site that marks an important medieval gateway into old Beirut.
The Bab Idriss gate of the city was said to have once sat on this site and marked the line of the rising sun on the day of the city’s foundation. The building design draws on this historic memory relating physically and symbolically to Beirut’s past. The building also acts as a formal entrance into the Place de L’etoile, created under the French mandate.
British architect Robert Adam cooperated with the Beirut architect and friend Fadlallah Dagher after his firm Dagher Hanna & Partners Architects won a competition to develop the site.
This building provides 5,840 m2 of retail and office space and eleven luxury apartments, plus additional levels below ground for car parking.
Decoration reinterprets traditional Ottoman and Islamic forms and uses different levels of embellishment across each façade, graded in detail from the simplified street elevations to the more elaborate classical detail on the corner as the most important element of this building. A modulation of three bays with recessed balconies and set backs creates a characteristic streetscape. A proportion of 1 to 1.8 is used for this building, which is consistent with the proportions of Ottoman period town house bays.
The rooftop beacon or lantern emphasises the corner along the axis of the Roman gateway and provides a focus between the junction of the old centre and the surrounding modern city. It is a contemporary lit structure that develops a Middle Eastern classicism with modern materials.”
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Simplified street elevations
Lantern develops Middle Eastern classicism
The elevations move smoothly from minimalist approach to full classical expression
Decoration reinterprets traditional Ottoman and Islamic forms
About the Architects
Robert Adam Architects
The Practice was founded in 1955 and became Robert Adam Architects in 1992. It has an international reputation in classical and traditional architecture and has become a world leader in progressive classical design, combining tradition with the latest technology.
As well as significant projects in the UK and the USA the practice works across Europe, the Middle East and Japan.
Its portfolio of award-winning projects includes exclusive town and country houses, public and commercial buildings, pioneering work in master planning, urban design and the conversion, restoration and extension of important historic buildings.
The work of Robert Adam Architects has been widely published, exhibited and broadcast. As widely acclaimed experts in classical design and progressive technology, its directors are consulted by government agencies and ministries on policy and design, and regularly invited to write, lecture and teach.
In addition, all five directors are trustees of many national interest groups and founders of international architectural and urban design organisations.”
UK Architect: Robert Adam at Robert Adam Architects
Client’s representative/Local Architect: Dagher Hanna & Partners Architects
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