Unfolding Echoes: Woven Into The Urban Fabric

Project idea

Located on Damascus Road in Beirut—a former civil war demarcation line—the project site sits at the intersection of two socially and spatially disconnected neighborhoods: Bashoura and Ashrafieh. This modernist structure, heavily scarred by war and long abandoned, embodies the broader reality of Beirut’s fragmented urban fabric, shaped by decades of conflict, erasure of heritage, and imposed boundaries.

The project reclaims this damaged building not through restoration or beautification, but through strategic preservation and adaptive reuse. The core idea is to transform a site of trauma into a platform for urban and social reconnection. By retaining the physical scars and layering new functions—educational, cultural, and economic—the building becomes a living document of the city’s memory and a catalyst for cross-community engagement. It challenges Beirut’s trend of architectural amnesia and instead proposes a model where memory, identity, and interaction are interwoven into the future of the city.

Project description

The scope of this project extends beyond the architectural reactivation of a single abandoned building; it proposes a multi-layered urban intervention that addresses the spatial, social, and cultural consequences of post-war fragmentation in Beirut.

At the architectural level, the solution involves the adaptive reuse of a modernist war-scarred structure along Damascus Road, preserving its damaged envelope as a carrier of memory while introducing new, flexible interior programs. These include spaces for education, co-working, cultural exhibitions, and public markets—functions selected to attract a wide user base and foster cross-neighborhood interaction.

At the urban scale, the project aims to function as a connector between the historically divided neighborhoods of Bashoura and Ashrafieh. It introduces a public pedestrian corridor that cuts through the site, reestablishing lost circulation and social flow. The intervention acts as a catalyst within the broader urban fabric, stitching together disconnected zones through spatial porosity and open accessibility.

Socially and culturally, the project addresses the discontinuity of heritage by resisting demolition-driven urbanism and instead embracing the visible scars of conflict as part of Beirut’s identity. It proposes a model for contextual urban regeneration—one that values memory, inclusivity, and long-term communal benefit over commercial gain or aesthetic erasure.

Technical information

The project is a war-scarred modernist structure preserved in its existing state, including exposed concrete surfaces and bullet-marked façades. The intervention introduces new architectural elements using board-marked concrete and zinc panel cladding, inserted with minimal disruption to the original shell. The ground floor functions as a public marketplace, reception area, and open urban threshold. The second and third floors accommodate multipurpose spaces, including classrooms, exhibition areas, and semi-outdoor zones with integrated greenery. Upper levels host an auditorium, office spaces, and a library—each visually connected to the surrounding urban voids through intentional openings. The rooftop serves as an accessible terrace and observation platform, offering panoramic views and a civic conclusion to the vertical sequence of programs. The project operates as an adaptive reuse strategy that activates the site socially, programmatically, and spatially, while retaining the building’s historical and material integrity.

Documentation

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