The Foch-Allenby and Etoile area of Beirut epitomizes the civic and business identity of the city, both as a national capital and as a port. Evolving from the traditional heart of intramural Beirut in the mid-nineteenth century to be the showcase of the French Mandate in the Levant, it became the symbol of the city's reconstruction following the 1975-1990 Lebanese War. Archival, survey, planning and design materials generated during the recovery of the city center and its conservation area reveal how urban design policies formulated in the 1920s and 1930s (the transition period between tradition and early modernity) were finally brought to their full potential. We see how international experience in urban and architectural conservation was adapted to local materials and know-how. The need to modernize infrastructure and upgrade public spaces was reconciled with the equally present need to preserve the cultural identity of place through the reuse of conserved structures, made possible due to the adoption of specific stone masonry repair techniques. Proceeding according to a pre-approved but flexible master plan, the recovery of the Beirut city center is a major postwar reconstruction and urban regeneration project.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In the 1980s, "downtown Beirut" became synonymous with bombed-out urban devastation, reflecting the destruction wrought by the Lebanese civil war on its capital. However, under a determined and strictly implemented restoration plan, Beirut's Foch-Allenby and Etoile areas, originally "destined to be the showcase of France in the Levant," have re-emerged as vibrant and active urban centers, with some resumption of Beirut's complicated emotional heritage as a major Mediterranean port. This impressive civic rebirth, as recorded by scholar Saliba (Beirut: 1920–1940) in this dense 9.5"×13" architectural history, was undertaken by the Soldiere company, according to strict historical, archeological and architectural preservationist standards. Despite the overly dry, jargonish and repetitive text ("interface" is one word that the reader will hope to never see again), the book is filled with 313 color and 86 b&w photographs and architectural survey. In addition, transparent overlays document the various archeological strata and cultural/historical sites of Beirut. An overwhelming number of streets and buildings gutted by bombs, and recorded in harrowing yet strangely beautiful "before" photographs, have been reconstructed exactly. The lines of the Foch-Allenby and Etoile's elegant buildings, with French architectural influences married to traditional structures such as the "riwaq," trace Lebanon's complex history.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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