WORKSHOP – PUBLIC SPACE?
Public space; why does it matter so much in Lebanon?
Lebanon is one of those places in the world where everyday reality is stipulated by history colliding with geography. The whole country is a reservoir of minorities (religious and ethnic) coexisting in one of today’s most bitter spaces of conflict i.e. the Middle East.
Years of war followed by years of occupation have led to a situation where the country functions in a very peculiar way: The citizen-state relationship is loose to a point where the economy, the juridical status, the urban status, the ecological status, the social status and the political discourse are all in shambles causing a series of malfunctions in various activities and aspects of life.
Public space in Lebanon is to a great extent at the heart of this crisis.
Beirut, a city with a rich history of dialogue, had mythical public spaces such as Martyr’s square
(a transportation hub and a major trading and meeting place) in the old central district and a fast growing pedestrian culture in newly developed districts like Hamra in the early seventies. The 1975 war annihilated most of these spaces and turned most public squares and sidewalk into sniper corridors and brutally violent spaces. The war aftermath continued to shut off and prevent the creation and the use of public spaces. These spaces were deemed uncontrollable because they could serve as platforms for reconciliation and national dialogue that could have possibly lead to the rejection of foreign control.
People’s reacted by looking elsewhere for a minimum of breathing space. This lead to the spontaneous development of undersigned public spaces like the sea-side corniche in Ain El Mreisseh and the Joseph Khoury’s Marina in Dbayeh. Those spaces were and still are compensating for the lack of organized and centralized public space although they suffer a severe handicap being their lack of proximity and of centrality. Given that the need for public space is not only recreational, the Ain El Mreisseh corniche and the Marina suffer from remote geographical situation which makes them mostly accessible by cars and inhibits them becoming centralized platforms for the now critical dialogue after the newly emerged situation following the 2005 spring uprising.
The 2005 mass demonstrations temporarily reclaimed the role of central public space and lead to a political earthquake locally. This new dynamic came to an abrupt end as soon as there was no longer a common physical platform for interaction. This brief interlude in thirty years of downward spiral but the movement itself is no longer sustainable without the necessary tools, of which a highly important one is public space.
Is public space is a matter of urban locations where people can park their cars, stroll along the seaside and get the occasional cup of coffee or is it a space where “significant events” like economical, social and political discussions may occur? Space itself being a problem along Lebanon’s costal strip (one of the world’s most densely populated areas), we set the old railway tracks and stations along the coastline as a possible focal point for our coring and exploration in hopes it might lead to new conclusions about local public spaces.
This workshop’s aim is both analyzing the status of public space in Lebanon, as it exists, and outlining and projecting future needs by creating the potential to intervene where necessary.
“The Studio Beirut Team”
WORKSHOP – PUBLIC SPACE?
Investigation into the potential to
reinvent public space as a concept and as a physical fact in a city
where its current existence is ambiguous
Beirut, August 17- August 31, 2007
An initiative of: Studio Beirut and the Dutch organizations Archis, Partizan Publik and Pearl
Friday, August 17: Arrival and meeting with party – Studio Beirut
Daytime: move into and equip residences
20:00: Dinner and drinks at Studio Beirut
Invited are: participants, directors, lecturers, critics
PUBLIC EVENT:
Saturday, August 18: Introduction, lectures and opening debate
Invited are: participants, directors, lecturers, critics, sponsors and the public
10:00 Welcome and opening by Sany Jamal
10:10 Word by the president of the municipality of Beirut, Abed El Mounim Al Ariss
10:15 Coffee break
11:15 Michael Stanton: “Public space?: ideal and absence”
11:35 Bernard Mallat: “Politics and religion as public space”
12:00 Nabil Menhem: “Co+Operative Public Space”
12:25 Leon Telvizian: “Boundaries and public spaces of the city”
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Andrew Herscher/Partizan Publik: "Collective memory: the museum as a public space”
14:25 Rani el Rajji & Michael Hagigeorgiou:
“When
history meets geography/Lebanon phase III/a brief geopolitical
survey of a railway”
15:00 Debate led by Sany Jamal including audience on the topic of "Public space?”
17:30 Presentation of first assignment by directors:
A visual
analysis and documentation exercise in the form of a ‘treasure hunt’
with precise
criteria and related to the next day’s activities.
Location: The Order of Engineers and Architects
Sunday, August 19: Explore the city and research
TOUR led by the Studio Beirut team and Tony Chakar
09:30 Gather in Studio Beirut
10:00 Start (leave by bus)
10:30 City Mall
11:30 Leave to Bourj Hammoud (the Armenian quarter)
11:45 Bourj Hammoud
13:00 Lunch in Bourj Hammoud
13:45 Leave to Souk el Ahad (sunday market)
14:00 Souk el Ahad
15:00 Leave to national museum where the former green line starts.
Start the walk from Rue de Damas to the new city center:
18:00 City centre tour by Tony Chakar
20:00 End on the Corniche with sunset
Monday, August 20: Work, present, listen
09:00 Morning: work with directors and critics
15:00 Afternoon: review and results of first assignment with directors and critics
Formation of participant teams (5 to 6 teams)
19:00 Evening: lecture/debate – L.E.F.T. Architects and Ole Moystad:
“The collapse of public space - a study based on urban analyses of spatial practices in wartime Beirut”
Tuesday, August 21: Presentation and new assignment
09:00 Morning: “Pirates of the Mediterranean”, presentation/event by
Studio Beirut team
15:00 Afternoon:
presentation of new assignment by directors:
A project to locate,
critically analyze and make preliminary proposals for interventions on
specific sites in greater Beirut. With symposium including critics and some experts.
17:30 Brainstorm “Practical challenges in creating an instant public
space” led by Kamal
Mouzawak, Souk el Tayeb: with producers,
consumers and participants
18:30 Departure by bus for:
“Infrastructure as a public space”, on
the road lecture by L.E.F.T Architects and Ole Moystad, followed by
“Meet King Leonidas” by Rani el Rajji
Wednesday, August 22: Research and work
09:00 Morning: research and work with directors and critics
15:00 Afternoon: research and work with directors and critics
Thursday, August 23: Research and work
09:00 Morning: new directions seminar with participants and critics
15:00 Afternoon: research and work with directors and critics
19:00 Evening: lecture/debate – Jihad Farah and Leon Telvizian:
“Public space in a fragmented city” (location to be confirmed)
Friday, August 24: Presentation of first week’s work
09:00 Morning: work with directors and critics
15:00 Afternoon: presentation and review, with invited critics
20:00 Evening: tour – Hassan Choubassi: “Hamra, the lost centrality”
(start in front of the former 'Wimpy' cafe in the middle of Hamra street)
Saturday, August 25: North Lebanon
Tour led by Michael Stanton, Mousbah Rajab and Leon Telvizian including the addition of Kamal Mouzawak
(due to certain constraints this tour might be modified)
09:00 Departure from Studio Beirut by bus
09:30 Morning: breakfast at Souk el Tayeb
10:00 Leave for Tripoli, stops to uncover train line & other anomalies
Afternoon: visit to Rachid Karami fairgrounds by Oscar Niemeyer and souks
17:00 Dinner at Kamal Mouzawaks house in Batroun
Sunday, August 26: South Lebanon
Tour guided by Leon Telvizian, with a presentation by Sany Jamal: Omran project at the beach
09:00 Morning: leave for Sour by bus
11:00 Arrival, start tour
13:00 Lunch in Fanar, restaurant/hotel, old town, near the port, Sour
14:30 Afternoon: tour Sour
The tour will be also attended and assisted by Ali Osseiran, Timur Goksel and others
Presentation of final assignment by directors: A critical public space,
with programmatic,
political and formal implications on several sites
in Beirut and along the north/south railway
right-of-way.
Monday, August 27: Free day
11:00 Optional tutorial with Jaap Graber
20:00 Evening: Optional lecture/debate - Partizan Publik "Engineering memory: the lost room of the Lebanese National Museum"
Tuesday, August 28: Research and work
09:00 Morning: “Public Space Invaders”, event/workshop with Partizan Publik: “Reclaiming
History”
15:00 Afternoon: research and work with directors and critics; including the addition of Lilet
Breddels and Jaap Graber
19:00 Evening: lecture – Jaap Graber: “Public space in the Netherlands and the work of Claus en Kaan”
Wednesday, August 29: Research and work
09:00 Morning: research and work with directors and critics: including the addition of Ole
Bouman
15:00 Afternoon: research and work with directors and critics
19:00 Evening: lecture – Tony Chakar: “Catastrophic space”
Thursday, August 30: Work
09:00 Morning: work with directors and critics
15:00 Afternoon: work with directors and critics
19:00 Evening: lecture – Ole Bouman: “The idea of power and the power of ideas?”
Friday, August 31: Presentation of final projects, final debate and Pearls in Lebanon
09:00 Presentation of final projects in OEA, with critics
PUBLIC EVENTS:
Final debate and Pearls in Lebanon
Invited are: all participants, critics, lecturers, sponsors and everyone who is interested
16:00 Final debate, Pearls in Lebanon, moderated by Ole Bouman
Location: The Order of Engineers and Architects
21:00 Celebration in Studio Beirut
Invited are: participants, directors, lecturers, critics, sponsors and everyone who is interested
Everyone who is interested is invited for:
UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED – ALL EVENTS OCCUR AT STUDIO BEIRUT, RUE GOURAUD, PURPLE HOUSE WITH RED WINDOWS, FIRST FLOOR, FACING PATISSERIE KASSAB, GEMMAYZE, BEIRUT
Directors:
Bernard Mallat (architect, AUB)
Nabil Menhem (architect, urban planner)
Michael Stanton (architect)
With the additional contribution of :
Hani Asfour (systems navigator, architect)
Ole Bouman (Dutch Architectural Institute)
Lilet Breddels (Archis/Volume)
Steve Campbell: (AUB, project coordinator/urbanist)
Tony Chakar (architect, ALBA)
Antoine Charbel (UL)
Maroun el Daccache (architect, LAU)
Hassan Choubassi (visual artist, LIU)
Timur Goksel (AUB)
Jaap Graber: (architect, Claus en Kaan)
Mohammad Hajj (UL)
Pierre Hajj Boutros (USEK)
Michel Hajji Georgiou
Andrew Herscher (University of Michigan)
Joumana al Jabri: (architect)
Sany Jamal (OEA: President of the architects section, AUB, Omran)
Joy Kanaan (architect, AUB)
Kamal Mouzawak (Souk el Tayeb)
Ole Moystad/L.E.F.T. Architects (architects, Norwegian University of Science and Technology/ Yale school of architecture, Penn design at UPenn)
Partizan Publik
Pearl
Mousbah Rajab (UL)
Jan Rothuizen (artist)
Robert Saliba (AUB)
Studio Beirut
Leon Telvizian (UL)
Martijn van Tol (University of Amsterdam/Amsterdam Centre for Conflictstudies)
In collaboration with:
The Order of Engineers and Architects, Beirut
With a financial contribution of:
Fonds Werken aan Wonen (financial support programme for social housing)
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beirut
Claus en Kaan Architecten
ARGUS, studentsassociation, Architectural faculty, TU Delft
For more information about the initiators and organizers see also:
www.studiobeirut.org (with live stream broadcasting in the second week of the workshop)
www.archis.org
www.partizanpublik.nl
Appendix A.
Questions:
1. Is Public Space a radical concept in Lebanon?
1a. What traditional uses or concepts exist in Lebanese society about Public Space?
1b. How urban is Beirut?
1c.What about the post civil war generation? How do internet, globalisation and satellite television influence the city?
2. Is living and growing up in Lebanon a sectarian experience? How do the social corridors function in Beirut?
2a. How does Lebanon influence personal attitudes and behaviour?
2b. How does this interact with the physical make up of the city?
3. What are the political and economical opportunities for creating public space?
3a. Are public space and identity politics social protagonists?
3b. In what way is real estate politics intervening with the development of Public Space?
3c. How does Public Space work as a binding factor inside communities
and as a integrating factor in between neighborhoods? Is the latter
present? The difference between Lebanese public space and community space.
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