Lebanon

Built as one of the first major components of the lower campus regeneration project at the American University of Beirut, this building attempts to establish an exemplary model, in tune with AUB’s ambition to provide excellence in education. Composed of six storeys and two basement floors, the building has labs and classrooms contained in twin sculpted linear ribbons, wound around a circulation and technical spine. The structure-free floor plate provides complete flexibility of use and the building’s double skin, composed of a layer of double glass shielded by perforated aluminium sun screen panels, gives access to natural ventilation and light. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

AUB IOEC Engineering Lab

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This speculative development of a 16,500 m2 plot into 11 exclusive mountain homes with gardens at an altitude of 1700 meters in the mountains of Lebanon called for the creation of a straightforward but high density program in challenging terrain. Taking his cues from the terracing that has been used to adapt sloping sites for agricultural use for centuries in this region, the architect distributed the homes across three levels, in parallel but staggered rows, endowing each villa with clear views over the hills. The restraint shown in developing the site meant fewer homes were constructed but they are of a higher standard than would originally have been possible. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Clouds Private Villas

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This house tells a story of psychological resilience and architectural defiance. The site’s original 1930s building&nbsp;once the current owner’s grandfather’s home - had been damaged by gunfire and shelling during military occupation. Instead of wiping away history, the ruins were gutted then reinforced and reused as a historic shell into which a brand-new home could be inserted - like a hermit crab. The new "resident" is a series of stacked spartan Cor-ten steel-clad boxes which nestle in the embrace of the house’s two remaining sections but also project beyond them. The Cor-ten skin changes colour with time and is punctured with dots echoing patterns of trees. Sunk into the landscape through terracing, the house is designed to blend with its surroundings.&nbsp; Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

J House

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The programme called for an introverted house for a family of five. The design is a simple 16m by 16m monolith, with a layout conceived on the model of the Lebanese central hall house. The technical services of the house are absorbed in an 'intelligent wall', a double enclosure easily accessed from behind bookshelves and closets. The structure is cast in-situ reinforced concrete, the cladding is local yellow limestone. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture See also: Official Website of Nabil Gholam Architecture and Planning. <a href="http://www.ngarchitecture.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ngarchitecture.com/</a>. [Accessed January 22, 2007]

Sabbagh and Codsi House

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The primary intention of the country club, beyond offering a full array of recreational and health facilities, is to blend in with the surrounding pine forest. Hugging the slope, the low-rise building is divided into smaller units so to integrate the complex programme and give it a sense of intimacy. (The brief specified a 'large luxurious villa' as the image of the club.) The wide-span structure and high ceilings allow the interior spaces to flow freely into the trees, while landscaped courtyards bring light to the spa, hammam and saunas located underground. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture See also: Official Website of Nabil Gholam Architecture and Planning. <a href="http://www.ngarchitecture.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ngarchitecture.com/</a>. [Accessed January 22, 2007]

Country Lodge Club

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In designing a building for a site left by civil war destruction, the architects sought to heal the urban fabric by blending their work with its surroundings. Containing offices, a residential penthouse and ground-floor retail, it is clad in sandstone to match its neighbours, and finished with a hand-scratching technique used in early 20th-century Beirut. The deep external skin both acts as a thermal shield and houses mechanical and electrical shafts, enabling the interior to remain column-free. The three-floor atrium and office partitions are designed for easy modification according to future tenants’ needs. Motorised wooden shutters control sun and heat gain, and natural, resistant materials are used throughout the interiors. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Waqf Foch Building

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A small office building on a tight parcel with a limited budget (around half that of current 'high-end' office buildings in Beirut). Internal flexibility is achieved with a wall and post-tensioned slab structure. The external cladding is local yellow limestone. The rhythmic simple facade could be seen as an evolution of the turn-of-the-century language of some of the nearby structures, and as a nod towards its more horizontal 60s and 70s neighbours. Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture See also: Official Website of Nabil Gholam Architecture and Planning. <a href="http://www.ngarchitecture.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ngarchitecture.com/</a>. [Accessed January 22, 2007]

National Shipping Company

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The qualities of this project lie in the public spaces that are constructed along the water’s edge, recreating and reinterpreting the landscape of the former beach. Located in Downtown Beirut, the Marina and Town Quay creates an extension of the existing Corniche along the seashore forming an elevated deck which covers the mixed-use marina buildings that follow the curve of the harbour front. The Corniche is inflated into a series of overlapping platforms, striated like waves to create an ‘urban beach’, subtly articulated as public areas for artwork. The programme includes apartments, a yacht club, public facilities, a harbourmaster’s office, restaurants, and specialty stores. Source: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2011.

Beirut Marina and Town Quay

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Nabil Gholam Architects
Lebanon

Associated Sites

Nabil Gholam Architects

Associated Sites