saifi 86
beirut, lebanon
2018
Just minutes away from Beirut’s Central District, this residential development rises gracefully above a neighborhood rich in character and history. The building’s massing is divided into three segments, with a louvered circulation element inserted between two stone-clad volumes. These angled limestone strips alternate with continuous glazed surfaces, culminating in a green roof with a long infinity pool. Open, column-free floor plates provide full flexibility in accommodating the one, two, and three-bedroom apartments required by the program, and can be changed at will.
Marked linear slabs, combined with wooden rolling shutters, aid in shading the building in Beirut’s Mediterranean climate. This dominant horizontality contrasts with the vertical partitions of gray travertine that separate the apartments, creating a regular geometry punctuated by stainless-steel detailing. The balconies deepen along the East and West façades to prevent excessive heat in the morning and afternoon, their shadows generating angular accents on the façade.
At street level, the transparent ground floor opens into a landscaped courtyard, connecting to the adjacent street where an old traditional stone house with a red pitched roof has been preserved and rehabilitated as a stand-alone villa amidst the greenery. The tower’s slender structure, set back from the old house and streets below, offers views of both the mountains and the sea as it rises over the neighborhood.