Rabat, Morocco

The project is located on a sizeable rectangular urban block in a residential district in Rabat, Morocco. The challenge was to create a pleasant living environment in a very high density development with one narrow side opening up to a vast green space.  The massive volume is sculpted and molded in a way to provide most of the apartments with views to the forest, or to lush internal gardens. A sizable number of apartments benefit from the “hanging” gardens on different levels of the development. The 10% decrease from the area required proved to be a successful strategy where the extra breathing space provided for the apartments raises their market value. Commercial activity and townhouses on the ground floor, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments on the typical floors, and penthouses on the upper floors area seamlessly stacked and work around the urban openings, gardens and terraces, through an efficient circulation, transforming the development into an urban village.

Status
Project

Size
40 000 m²

Jisr el-Wati, Beirut, Lebanon

An industrial space of 26 wide x 40 deep x 4 meters high was converted into an office space. Challenges involved a tight time frame & budget for concept & execution and a restrictive 5.5 meters grid.
Two internal side patios, found on the west & east facade, maximize natural daylight in the architects’ main work studio. Sculptural metal planters and lounge areas allow for an indoor-outdoor feel. The studio’s worktops, placed between the columns, include custom designed cable trays and pcu units clearing the wood floor. Similarly, the ceiling’s hanging fabric, back lit with concealed fluorescent lights, provide a softer application & acoustical support.
Two 4 meter high library feature walls were incorporated on either side of the studio. One provides filing space for current ongoing projects and the other, referred to as ‘the wall of knowledge’, includes books, magazines & reference catalogs.
The few solid walls are punctuated with random square openings, providing light & uninterrupted views into the 1000 square meter space. Other unique facilities within the office include a large sample room for material storage & display and an architectural model-making shop.

Status
completed

Size
1300 m²

BCD, Beirut, Lebanon

The Beirut Marina building takes its shape from strata and layers in forking vectors.  Like the ancient beach that was once the site, the planar lapping waves of the sea inspire striated spaces in horizontal layers, as distinct from vertical objects. The horizontal and the planar become a geometric force shaping the new Harbor spaces. The form allows a striated organization of public and private spaces which include; restaurants and shops, public facilities, harbormaster, yacht club, and apartments above. The apartment building hinges to create a “y”. The form produces a high ratio of exterior surface area offering a maximum amount of views, rising to form a public observation roof to the sea. The building is situated along a new fabricated terrain that is extended from Beirut’s Corniche, the seaside promenade, to create an ‘urban beach’ of public spaces overlooking the Marina. Stairs and ramps are integrated to provide access to the waterfront level. The syncopated rhythm of platforms is achieved by constructing the overall curve of the Corniche in 5 angles related to the 5 reflection pools. Due to the variations in height along the Corniche, the platform levels and pools vary slightly in height allowing quiet, gravity-fed fountains to connect each pool level. Celebrating the sea horizon, the terraces are sculpted in local stone. The simple geometry of the upper platforms is in contrast to the colorful activity of restaurants below. The colored walls and fabrics below have their monochromatic and organic complement in awnings over the tables by the reflecting pools on the upper level. The building roof forms a public observation platform for the sea horizon.

Status
Under Completion

Size
plot 1: 15 000 m²

plot 2: 5 500 m²

BCD, Beirut, Lebanon

2010

On an infill block in Downtown Beirut, the Owner required the design of a residential program of 30 mid-sized apartments and lofts for rental and sale and a small office building on the Ring road. The scheme is organized into a family of five separate buildings with distinct characters surrounding a green heart. The interior spaces update the Lebanese central hall plan into a contemporary model with more flexibility (mobile partitions, open spaces, etc.). The project remains respectful of the early XXth century’s character of the neighborhood in terms of proportions, yet escaping the style as such, with the injection of contemporary solutions to the requirements of life in the urban “village”.

Size
12 000 m² + 4 basements
Team

BCD, Lebanon
2010

On an infill block in Downtown Beirut, the Owner required the design of a residential program of 30 mid-sized apartments and lofts for rental and sale and a small office building on the Ring road. The scheme is organized into a family of five separate buildings with distinct characters surrounding a green heart. The interior spaces update the Lebanese central hall plan into a contemporary model with more flexibility (mobile partitions, open spaces, etc.). The project remains respectful of the early XXth century’s character of the neighborhood in terms of proportions, yet escaping the style as such, with the injection of contemporary solutions to the requirements of life in the urban “village”.

Status
Project

Size

Area: 12 000 m² + 4 basements

Hazmieh, Lebanon
2011

Beirut Village . plots 3, 4, 5, 16

Highly visible at the outermost corner of the Beirut Village large-scale development, the project acts both as a gateway and as a trendsetter for architectural expression and identity. With its fertile mixed-use program – encompassing retail, fine eateries, spa, gym, supermarket, child care, flexible corporate space, a wide range of residential units, and multiple open public spaces and courtyards – the project aims at becoming a real catalyst for positive change and future growth.
The project features a seamless organizational logic. Two slender high-rise residential towers edge the lush communal park and offer all units unparalleled sweeping views. Two ribbons of cascading low-rise office buildings and bachelor residences that sensibly pick up the scale of the Hazmieh neighborhood edge the outer avenues and wrap around to create lively courtyards with a demarcated sense of place. The whole is tied together by an interactive pedestrian spine and a series of connecting terraces, covered passages, soft ramps, communal stairs, and overflowing water features.
Throughout the entire project the floor plates are designed to be fully flexible, and all spaces are kept virtually structure-free. The high flexibility ensures adaptability to future change, to fluctuating market demand, and to each user’s changing needs.
Underlying the project’s state-of-the-art modern design is a particularly sensitivity to the environment and to the quality of space indoors and out. Ground level terraces are intensively planted with native species, green atria are carved into the mass of the buildings, multi-layered skin systems provide thermal comfort and maximum sound insulation and privacy, and local as well as recyclable materials are used throughout.

Status
Project

Size

Gross area:    41,000m²
Basements:    34,000m²

Yarze, Lebanon
2010

The clients’ requirements were specific, with a detailed brief. Their move from an urban apartment to a landscaped house with a garden set a challenge of creating an overlap of functioning coupled with a need for compactness and added security. The challenge was to capitalize on the benefits of the site as well as economizing on the circulation spaces, creating as few corridors as possible.
The formal spaces, with high ceilings of 4.2m clear, move in and out along the main garden space on the ground floor enhancing the feeling of inside out as well as appropriating the garden in some instances. Service spaces are compactly tucked into the spaces behind the formal dining area.
Above, the volume housing the bedrooms and more intimate spaces of the program, bridges the width of the site, maximizing the views towards the landscaped gardens. The series of spaces sets a standard of private bedrooms connecting at times with more open family rooms. The simple volume is enclosed in a vertical system of louvers which functions as a living skin opening and closing where needed, shading from heat and acting as a barrier shielding it from the neighboring plots and the road.
The land is sloped with a ‘forest’ of trees located on both the upper and lower areas of the site. A large garden carved at the south eastern corner of the site acts an interstitial space mediating the dialogue of private and public.
Thick stone walls with deep openings and low e glazing and planted roofs work to stabilize the temperature inside and absorb the climate extremes, leading to an improved quality of life paired with a reduction in energy consumption. Sustainability is enhanced further through collecting the water that is filtered to be used domestically as well as for irrigation.

Status
Project

Size
1342 m2 + 1 basement floor

The project addresses the blandness of the urban context by creating its own microcosm: an introverted private park for the inhabitants of the project framed by harmonious apartment buildings, 30 storey tower and an underground mall. The 255mx 170m elliptical park is landscaped with cobbled paths, lush plants and thick trees, and provides shaded areas allowing for various activities.

It is the prime backdrop for life in the Ellipse. The Ellipse perimeter ring of 10 to 12 storey buildings addresses the scale of new developments in the vicinity, yet it creates a community-style atmosphere. The buildings’ skin is made of musharrabiyya-like perforated panels obstructing the sunrays and creating interesting architectural features on the elevations that reflect some of Qatar’s traditional material and character. The tower sets a landmark beacon in the skyline of Doha and complements the Ellipse. Its particular design takes into account the environmental aspects in the area. The tower’s double skin creates a gap between the low-e glass panels and the internal envelope and helps reduce the heat load on the exposed elevations. The mall and entertainment area are a unique experience of an underground city. While the urban scale cuts in the mass of the tower reduce its bulk and create spectacular sky atria that enhance natural ventilation and create cool shaded spaces and green backdrops to most apartments.

Status
Project

Size
470 000 m² over a 60 000 m² landscaped area.

Muscat, Oman
2009

Cityscape Awards 2009 Best Residential Project Future category

A family house laid out on a hilltop overlooking a mountainous region in Muscat and inspired from the Omani fortress typology, it is composed of two faces; a private face that rises from the landscape and is a visual continuation of the hill that includes the private bedroom areas and a public face expressed volumetrically as a clean pristine object with retractable louvers that allows a transition from complete openness to a closed ‘box’. This bar, inviting yet discrete, includes a series of living, dining and semi-outdoor gathering spaces. A modern interpretation of local vernacular Omani architecture infused with canals, reflective pools, a water wall, a palm tree forest and thick walls with minimal fenestration on its base reminiscent of traditional Omani fortresses, this house is rooted in its context and yet distinctive amid the arid desert landscape.

Status
Project

Size
3 000 m² house on 9 400 m² plot area
Team

Faqra, Lebanon
2009

Cityscape Awards 2010 Best Residential Project Future category

Tucked into the steep landscape of the Faqra Resort on the edge of a cliff, this single-family chalet is designed to provide all the comfort and amenities within a relatively compact space.
Access is gained from the planted roof at street level.
The inner house is free of structure and uses timber portioning throughout.
Each house is framed on one side by an “intelligent wall” that carries all the accessible technical conduits and natural ventilation shafts to the open floors and on the others, it opens up to the spectacular views of the valley and the Mediterranean beyond.

Status
Project

Size
1100 m2 + 1 basement floor