Foster & Partners broke ground on their first project in Lebanon. This new tower will also be the first in Beirut to have green roofs.
The 3Beirut tower in Lebanon will be the first Foster & Partners development in that country. As fans of something a little more earthy, like the mud brick building entrusted to house Timbuktu’s sacred Islamic texts, we don’t always agree that what F&P does is sustainble. But they are certainly making their mark in the Middle East. The designers behind Masdar City, this beautiful bank in Morocco, and scores of other projects in the region, they have just broken ground on Beirut’s very first green-roofed mixed use development.
Set in the heart of the historic district and around a series of walkways, the retail slash residential tower is designed to be pedestrian-friendly. The podium level will feature a series of shops and cafes, as well as public gardens, that should fill up Lebanon’s brown spaces quite nicely.
The building’s north face will overlook the Mediterranean Sea harbor, and the interior rooms will have a smaller carboon footprint than standard towers as they will be naturally lit and ventilated. A paragon of the next generation of mixed-use development projects that keep eating, sleeping, shopping and confined to one central place, 3Beirut does succeed as a more sustainable project than standard towers.
all images courtesy of Foster & Partners
More Foster & Partners Projects in the Middle East:
Foster & Partners Finish Gorgeous Green Building in Morocco
Exclusive: Masdar City Open House Photos
Earth Architecture All the Way to Timbuktu
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
