Martyrs Square

The space has changed its name (Burj, Martyrs, etc.) but not its designation as a square. It started out as a maidan but over the 19th and 20th century it has kept some of the functional and social openness while losing its spatial breadth as it tightened around a square. The postwar plan only maintained the symbolic maidan, not its functions nor its spatial character. The new maidan, however, operates at the functional, spatial, and symbolic levels. It contains the pieces of the area, the Grand Axis, the square, the archaeology park, the waterfront, and the surrounding buildings without compromising any of them. The project proposes that this common ground and the infrastructure and buildings that define it could be realized with the instruments available (Dar al-Handasah plan, the Lebanese building code, existing development culture), suggesting ways for regulating new development, ways for articulating spaces and buildings that require controlled design, and when necessary, ways for modifying some of the available instruments and introducing new ones.

Credits

Project Team: Hashim Sarkis, Pars Kibarer, Evy Pappas, Michael Beaman, Tomomi Itakura, Timothy Wong, Aziza Chaouni, Joseph Chartouni, Elena Kohl, Bassam Komati, Mark Dwyer, Gjergji Bakallbashi, Maki Kawaguchi