u/MelkartMagazine

Situated on the length of Avenue Fouad Chehab in Tripoli, this brutalist building dominates its surroundings, perhaps less by its height than by the highly inventive composition of its facades. In order to distinguish a building that was condemned to anonymity by a very sharp triangular site, the designer, Selim Sabouneh, scattered round and oval bays along the flanks of the rectangular cells. The effects of projections and protrusions are multiplied to create an irrefutably brutalist division of the space. In parallel with a more formal trend inspired by Victor Bisharat, following the example of the Obeid Al-Mazru'i Building, built in AbuDhabi in the late 1970s and which presents itself as a simple artistic exercise, the structure of the Tripolitan building is avantgarde and constitutes an eloquent statement of Metabolism and as much of a triumph as the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo.

Text by Guillaume Excoffier

Picture 1: By Nathan Lopez

Picture 2: Unknown

Printed by Imprimerie Catholique Beyrouth, 1949

Dimensions: 64 × 100 cm

Pierre Bressoud was a prominent French poster artist and graphic designer, active mainly in the mid-20th century. He is renowned for his travel posters that promoted Mediterranean tourism, reflecting the influence of the modernist movement through bold colors and geometric shapes.

Bressoud's "The Lebanese Way" poster is characterized by strong colors, simplified forms, and dynamic compositions, resulting in a visually striking presentation. His talent for capturing the essence of a location with minimalistic yet evocative imagery is a hallmark of his artistic style.

The papacy is often imagined as an institution rooted almost exclusively in Italy and Western Europe. Yet in the early centuries of Christianity, the leadership of the Church in Rome was far more diverse. Several popes came from the eastern Mediterranean, which in antiquity encompassed much of what is today Lebanon, Syria, and southern Turkey.

Photograph by Achilleas Zavallis.

This new campus takes a contextual approach, integrating physically, culturally, and historically with Beirut’s urban tissue. Conceptually an urban block with sculpted voids, the building’s hollow spaces define six autonomous blocks and construct multiple viewpoints across Beirut, connecting students to their dynamic setting. The voids also generate a street-level meeting space, which flows fluidly to the top floor in the form of a massive staircase. It concludes at a landscaped terrace overlooking the city. Light is a vital element in oriental architecture and one that shapes its style and identity; the campus exposes alternate light qualities through Moucharabieh-inspired perforations and a polycarbonate volume. Such manipulation presents a striking contrast in filtered light and luminescence. A stylized random-opening treatment is a snapshot of the Lebanese War, lending a poetic glimpse into the reality of destruction and violence.

Text description provided by the architects. Images from ArchDaily.

Photographs by Elie Aramouny and Karim Andary.

The below article was written by Friedrich Ragette and appeared on pages 7-13 of the July/August 1971 print edition of Saudi Aramco World.

American Life Insurance Building

To Irving and Jones, the Beirut architects who won the contract to design a Middle East heading quarters for the American Life Insurance Company, the problem of weaving Arab themes into contemporary structures was less pressing; Beirut is increasingly as much a showcase for international architecture as for Arab buildings. The result in this case, nevertheless, is markedly eastern.

Irving and Jones, working with Arkbuild, Beirut architects and engineers, had to create a structure that would have dignity, would suggest a discreet prosperity and would look well in a setting of pines just off the boulevard to the Beirut International Airport.

But the primary need was functional. The building had to incorporate the latest in climate control, illumination, sound-conditioning and communications, and offer unobstructed inferior space for flexible portioning.

The design that the architects eventually worked out has given Beirut one of its most handsome buildings. It is quietly elegant, impressive, attractive, yet very functional.

In order to avoid unnecessary internal columns, the peripheral supports were turned into a colonnade encompassing the whole building. But in bracing the top the architects seized the chance to introduce an emphatic eastern flavor by inserting a series of graceful pointed arches at the top and suspending a closely woven metal screen between the columns to shield the three upper floors from excessive sunlight. Executed in aluminum but tinted like bronze, the screen is clearly derived from the mashrabieh screens which long ago hid harem beauties from sight yet permitted them to see out and get fresh air.