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Abstract:
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Beirut is a city that lacks public spaces. More so, Beirut is a Mediterranean city that
is losing day by day its relationship with the sea. Inaccessible sites, private
properties, denied perspectives towards the sea… The city is in desperate need of
a redefinition of its connection with the water. On the other hand, the waterfront
promenade is a place that booms with life and public space. It is a place where
people, with the pass of time, have redefined over and over again: jumping over
handrails to reach inaccessible sites, appropriating private lands, reaching the
water and practicing different types of activities that have shaped the people’s
relationship with the Mediterranean sea. Beirut’s waterfront is a complex element,
where contradictory realities coexist in almost perfect harmony, defining a part of
the identity of the city. With 80% of private properties along the coast, the
waterfront showcases a juxtaposition of different layers, from inaccessible sites, to
appropriated lands turned into public spaces, to archeological, geological,
ecological and touristic values painting its fragments of territories.
Taking into account that the right to access the sea is a fundamental right, the
work wants the citizen of the city to reach the water through these different
fragments of territories, each one dealing with different layers and characteristics,
defining the intervention and the intermediate space between land and water. The
work therefore intents to dissolve the boundaries between water and the city of
Beirut. Each fragment of territory tells you a different story, and allows you to have
to reach the water in a way that connects you to the sites, its uses and its values. |
