SAHAT EL SHOHADA, THE UNDERWATER VENICE OF BEIRUT
Beirut 2004
Lebanon
PROGRAM : Urban planning
LOCATION : Martyrs’Square and the Grand Axis of Beirut
COMPETITION PROMOTER : Solidere s.a.l. / U.I.A.
At the heart of Beirut' s city centre, it is a huge landscape which opens on the sea. It is a public space of a great national and historical value which celebrates the memory of the people after the destruction due to the war and represents a historical identity of the Martyrs' Square itself. The Martyrs' Square, originates from the execution there in 1918 national of heroes who strove for independence from Ottoman yoke, is put underwater by the sea thus creating a vast and quiet artificial lagoon with two steps of the souks. It is a Master Plan with visionary urbanistic rules articulating the haussmannian grid of streets formed by Nijmeh Square of "The Etoile" and the grid of the Official Master Plan. On the mode of the absence, the project "The Underwater Venice of Beirut" rises from the landscape. The buildings are erased thus in front of the historical force of the site while being inserted in the depths of the ground. Water invades interstitial spaces.
The site is sufficed for itself!
1. The Venetian lagoon :
The grid of the Official Master Plans is maintained in plan. On the other hand, in section, the roof of the buildings becomes their principal ground. Indeed, constructions are inserted under the sea level thus opening broad prospects on the site. The surface of water penetrate in the city centre and seems scarified by glares of glass. In fact currently the large canopies illuminate naturally subaqueous patios arranged in palm plantations.
All the site is under the water and the quiet architecture symbolizes the prints of History. The only visible sign of this absent is a long wood footbridge outlining the popular memory. Around this one, many artificial islands float like some vestiges of the architecture of pre-war period.
2. The Time Axis :
The sea enters the city centre along the large Axis of Beirut. The district was transformed into an artificial lagoon on which flaots a large axis telling stories and collective memories of the country. It is thus a long walk, a linear public space of meditation connected to the surrounding districts by light footbridges. Those constitute new streets along the existing souks. The History seems to have to express its prints on the site. The stategy for the public field is now extended to link historical Martyrs’ Square to the waterfront.
The Time Axis is a new social arena and meeting point for all the people responsible to connect lifestyle and cultural traditions. It is a contemporary communications hub that reconnects Beirut in the Information Age!
3. The 12 Memory's Lighthouses :
The Time Axis is punctuated over its length by 12 Lighthouses telling each one period of the Lebanese history since Canaanite until independence while passing by the Byzantine, Umayyad and Ottoman. It is thus the life of a country which is held like a red carpet, connecting the sea and the ground and also mixing all the cultures and the different period of the Capital. Along the Time Axis, the objective is to preserve, integrate and enhance for public the major archeological sites that have been unearthed, by incorporating the most important within and around this linear site museum and linking this with other key archeological sites and historical buildings along a Heritage Trail.
4. The 2 Mirrors of Infinity :
Along the Time Axis, being thrown on Mediterranean sea, two parallel mirrors multiply ad infinitum the horizon for possible futures. There are two giant plans of light like two screens floating on water. They project and reflect ad infinitum the unstable images of the sky and the sea. It is a true palate of magic mirrors and infinite. In the north-eastern part of the sector, these mirrors are the end of the coastal highway corridor and gateway entrance to the city centre.
After almost 30-year absence from the international scene, the main goal is thus to establish a fresh identity for Martyrs’Square and the New Grand Axis, a vibrant, mixed-use character, with many original activities that appeal to, and are accessible to the general public including active retail, cultural and tourist-related uses.
The Underwater Venice of Beirut is a quiet scenography, a symbolic project of communication system without end.
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