Beirut, the political and economic capital of the Republic of Lebanon, is built on a plateau in the shape of a cape projecting nine km into the open sea; it is extended by a narrow, long coastal plain edged by a tormented mountain range which summits peak at more than 2,500m. This range is crossed by deep valleys in the shape of canyons. The eastern and western sides of the plateau abruptly slope towards the sea while its northern side has a gentler slope where the port and the old city were once located. The relief is more or less flat in the south. The city is surrounded by three hills: Moussaitbé, Koraitem, and Ashrafieh that was called the small mountain and stands at 95 m above the sea level.
Beirut has been influenced by different, and most often, conflicting powers. It owes its wealth and its survival to its capacity of accumulating and synthesizing different cultures.
Following the political "Taef Agreement", the dynamics of reconstruction started. The reconstruction of downtown Beirut is its major project. Entrusted to a private property company, SOLIDERE (Lebanese Society for the Development and the Reconstruction of Downtown Beirut) it covers an area of about 250 hectares. The emphasis is put on the mixed nature of use to ensure that the downtown would attract inhabitants, jobs, and clients. The town planning is conceived for 40,000 inhabitants and about 100,000 employees. The city planning proposals adopt drastic solutions in three main directions:
Establish new infrastructures to modernize the House and resolve transportation and functioning problems. Rebuild the downtown by replacing the old buildings deemed beyond repair. Finally, to reclaim an area by the sea, equaling 220 hectares, to build a district of towers dedicated to offices and hotels.
The Ghalghoul district where the project is located sits at the foothill of the Serail, in As-Sour square (the city wall square), currently Riad el Solh square, that marked till the middle of the 19th century the northeastern limit of the Ottoman city. The development of Beirut towards the south along the major communication roads (Damascus and Sidon roads) would gradually turn these into an urban landscape of suburbs. Starting from 1880, As Sour square was developed and endowed with a central fountain; the Ghalghoul district built right up against the Bachoura cemetery quickly became denser and constituted the natural extension of the historical city centre, close to the new markets developed in 1916.
Further to the opening of the « Ring » road, the high speed road raised above the ground level that connects the eastern districts of Beirut to the new modern House of Hamra, the Lebanese government launched, in 1964, a project of urban renovation that proposed the demolition of the whole area of Ghalghoul to build a monumental link with the Martyr's square and the Saifi area a little more to the east. Following the urban conceptions of that time, the project plans the construction of a group of 33-storey towers, with terrace gardens. However, because the owners and the tenants objected to this project, it never saw the light.
The Ghalghoul district was severely affected by the battles that have brought bloodshed to the Lebanese capital and was gradually abandoned by its occupants. It was entirely demolished in 1994 as a part of the reconstruction project of downtown Beirut launched by SOLIDERE.
The site of the project is located in a full expansion district, in what is left of the old Ghalghoul situated on the heights of the reconstructed downtown.
In the north, towards the sea, are situated the business districts, the banks street, the Parliament and the Municipality of Beirut. A little lower, the commercial area around the new souks of Beirut: a project run by Rafael Moneo. To the east, there is the axis of the Martyr's square sloping towards the sea along the archaeological zones between the Damascus Road and Bechara el Khoury Street.
Beirut has been influenced by different, and most often, conflicting powers. It owes its wealth and its survival to its capacity of accumulating and synthesizing different cultures.
Following the political "Taef Agreement", the dynamics of reconstruction started. The reconstruction of downtown Beirut is its major project. Entrusted to a private property company, SOLIDERE (Lebanese Society for the Development and the Reconstruction of Downtown Beirut) it covers an area of about 250 hectares. The emphasis is put on the mixed nature of use to ensure that the downtown would attract inhabitants, jobs, and clients. The town planning is conceived for 40,000 inhabitants and about 100,000 employees. The city planning proposals adopt drastic solutions in three main directions:
Establish new infrastructures to modernize the House and resolve transportation and functioning problems. Rebuild the downtown by replacing the old buildings deemed beyond repair. Finally, to reclaim an area by the sea, equaling 220 hectares, to build a district of towers dedicated to offices and hotels.
The Ghalghoul district where the project is located sits at the foothill of the Serail, in As-Sour square (the city wall square), currently Riad el Solh square, that marked till the middle of the 19th century the northeastern limit of the Ottoman city. The development of Beirut towards the south along the major communication roads (Damascus and Sidon roads) would gradually turn these into an urban landscape of suburbs. Starting from 1880, As Sour square was developed and endowed with a central fountain; the Ghalghoul district built right up against the Bachoura cemetery quickly became denser and constituted the natural extension of the historical city centre, close to the new markets developed in 1916.
Further to the opening of the « Ring » road, the high speed road raised above the ground level that connects the eastern districts of Beirut to the new modern House of Hamra, the Lebanese government launched, in 1964, a project of urban renovation that proposed the demolition of the whole area of Ghalghoul to build a monumental link with the Martyr's square and the Saifi area a little more to the east. Following the urban conceptions of that time, the project plans the construction of a group of 33-storey towers, with terrace gardens. However, because the owners and the tenants objected to this project, it never saw the light.
The Ghalghoul district was severely affected by the battles that have brought bloodshed to the Lebanese capital and was gradually abandoned by its occupants. It was entirely demolished in 1994 as a part of the reconstruction project of downtown Beirut launched by SOLIDERE.
The site of the project is located in a full expansion district, in what is left of the old Ghalghoul situated on the heights of the reconstructed downtown.
In the north, towards the sea, are situated the business districts, the banks street, the Parliament and the Municipality of Beirut. A little lower, the commercial area around the new souks of Beirut: a project run by Rafael Moneo. To the east, there is the axis of the Martyr's square sloping towards the sea along the archaeological zones between the Damascus Road and Bechara el Khoury Street.