BAYT K

Future project: House Bayt K–Handle with care Location: Beirut Project: Architecture and restructuring of a traditional Lebanese house Built area: 1000 m2 Design and reconstruction year: 2017-2019 in progress Built in the 19th century for a prominent Lebanese family in the final decades of the Ottoman Empire, arranged over 3 floors, the property has 1000 m2 floor space, with an enclosed 700 m2 garden to the rear. The ground floor is comprised of open-fronted shops, which would traditionally have been rented out to merchants, with the family residing in the two spacious stories overlooking the street and gardens below. The architectural interventions consist of three main elements of works: 1- Consolidation As the most urgent action to be taken in order to save the remains of this architectural heritage especially after the collapse of the southern façade called LIWAN directly propped with its pitched roof by a dense scaffolding. 2- Architecture – Reconstruction This scaffolding has led the architect to rethink the reconstruction of that fallen volume. Traditionally, the noble façade was on the northern side overlooking the sea and the merchant street of Beirut while the southern one was the back yard with no architectural attention. Nowadays, the street has become very noisy and overbuilt with no sea view. Therefore, the inhabitants of today prefer the southern, sunnier and calmer side animated by the newly added elements (in red): like the rooftop workshop, the golden fire escape stairwell and the footbridge emerging from the LIWAN leading to the Roman pool which runs all along the neighboring stone wall. The architect has rebuilt the LIWAN as a full glass volume opening onto the rear garden and revealing the traditional triple arcade hidden once behind the old stone southern façade. In order to join the two separate floors of olden times internally, the architect has created a void filled with a bookstair installation. 3- Conservation / Restoration Ornamented ceilings, walls and floors of this big house are the subject of this third element finding a balance between a full restoration and conservation. The original fabric should be clearly identified without damaging the legibility of the new architectural composition.