transcend the limits

Project idea

As humans, can we still handle urban density? Can we breathe in increasingly saturated cities? And above all, what is our role as architects in this context?
This project emerges as a response to the overwhelming accumulation of architecture and the suffocation of urban space. It questions our tendency to build endlessly without rethinking how we inhabit and activate what already exists.
Set within the limit zone between Jounieh and Maameltein—a fragmented urban seam marked by social disconnection and cultural rupture—this intervention reimagines the role of architecture as a mediating force rather than an imposition.
Instead of adding more imposing structures, the project aims to stimulate the urban potential of what is already there. It calls for architecture that immerses itself in context—where the human conscious experience becomes the generator of space. Through this immersive lens, it seeks to rethink the “third space” in dense urban areas: not as a spectacle, but as a lived, evolving, and participatory environment.
Here, the Mediterranean Sea acts as a third party, helping merge divided identities and reconnect urban experience through a common natural horizon.

Project description

From a poorly used plaza to an immersive third place, this project reclaims a neglected urban space by transforming existing flows and latent dynamism into a vibrant socio-sportive platform.
Located precisely in the urban seam between Jounieh and Maameltein, where social and cultural disconnection has shaped both the landscape and everyday life, the project proposes a spatial and symbolic reconciliation.
Designed as an extension of the landmark of the Fouad Chehab Stadium, it becomes a place for learning, interaction, and cultural exchange. The public platform is fully accessible, multifunctional, and intergenerational, designed to accommodate a range of users, and functions that leads to underground programs, activating hidden spatial potential.
A key feature is a dynamic ramp that guides citizens from the dense urban fabric down toward a sustainable platform, reconnecting nature with the Mediterranean Sea through this transitional journey. In this process, the sea becomes a unifying force—a third entity in the dialogue between divided urban zones. The project addresses the challenge posed by a major vehicular road—which separates the urban platform from the sea and serves as the main connection between Beirut and Jbeil—by establishing a seamless, human-centered passage.
As citizens move along this immersive circulation, the experience culminates in a wellness and therapeutic center—a peaceful extension of the sports area—offering spaces for relaxation, reflection, and healing by the sea. This final moment of calm reinforces the project’s intent to support physical, social, and emotional well-being through design.

Technical information

The project is built on a reinforced concrete platform that supports a multifunctional and accessible public space. It includes one underground level housing sports, social, and cultural functions, and a walkable roof accessible via a continuous ramp system. The structure integrates strategic voids that allow for natural ventilation and daylight penetration, reducing energy consumption and enhancing user comfort.
To support environmental sustainability, the design incorporates rainwater harvesting systems, where collected water is reused for landscape irrigation and maintenance. The materials and layout were chosen to ensure long-term durability while adapting to the coastal climate, and the entire platform is designed to serve as a resilient and sustainable threshold between the city and the sea.

Documentation

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