The Last Facade of Martyrs Square "Addressing the possibilities of the last facade on the Martyrs Square in Downtown Beirut"


Area of Study : Downtown Beirut


Martyrs Square in Beirut Central District has been masively destroyed during the fifteen years Lebanese civil war. In 1990, the Lebanese civil war came to an end. Lebanon faced the problem of how to rebuild its once-flourishing capital. The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District S.A.L., better known by its French acronym Solidère, proposed a master plan for the reconstruction of Beirut central district. The masterplan consists of multiple phases. Ideally the whole project should be completed by 2025.


Martyr’s Square is one of the main areas in Downtown Beirut, where it used to act as a public square prior to the war. Most of the buildings around it were either restored or totally demolished. The project proposed is on one of the sites that was totally demolished. Its main facade is on the Martyre square and its other facade overlooks on one of the oldest archiological sites in Beirut. The function of the project proposed act as an archiological meuseum, but the project itself aim to reconsider multiple issues around the site like the pedestrian networks in downtown Beirut, the public functions lost in martyrs square after the war, and how an architectural project can go beyond it funtion and act as a major generator of the urban structure.


The main topic chosen for the urban analysis is “Urban Network.” The analysis leads to the design proposal and justify the design decisions taken.

© 2017 Jana Shamseddine. All rights reserved.
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