We interview urban designer Wassim Melki who envisions a sustainable future for Beirut’s skyline.
Beirut is almost completely bereft of public green spaces. Satellite images show expanses of grey apartment and office blocks and a depressing lack of trees or any other kind of greenery. But architect and urban designer Wassim Melki has a plan to radically change all of this. Whilst finding space to create public parks, or even planting trees alongside roads is practically impossible, he suggests that the solution lies on rooftops.
“The idea of having a rooftop garden is not something new,” he told Green Prophet, “[but] the approach we took is a little bit different.”
Conjuring images of the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Melki’s company StudioInvisible propose to apply their project on an enormous scale. They plan to make everyone, “by force, if necessary”, plant a couple of trees on their rooftops, in a way that is “accessible, cheap and easily maintained.”
How green roofs could work in Beirut
Whilst most conventional rooftop gardens encounter many difficulties, such as issues of drainage and insulation, and the danger of rooftop trees being toppled in high winds, planting them in pots seems to be the most effective solution.
This method, combined with the use of steel wires for stability, would be especially appropriate for Beirut as there are numerous trees that could grow in pots in its climate such as the olive tree, the Schinum Molle, Morus Alba, etc. The list goes on.
Aside from the aesthetic benefits, and the improvements to the quality of living the residents of Beirut would enjoy were this initiative to be implemented, oxygen levels would be better, and a small but valuable crop could even be harvested depending on the types of trees planted.
StudioInvisible plans to implement this project by way of a “municipal decree”, mandating all residents to grow a few trees on their roofs, or through some other form of authority. This is necessary, Melki explains, lest the project be doomed to failure, something he laments is “very common” in Lebanon.
The studio suggests offering “tax reductions” or other benefits to those buildings that have well-maintained rooftop gardens. It urges politicians to have the foresight to see the possible political advantages they could glean from implementing this initiative, being able to say that they literally “turned Beirut green”.
The initiative has been circulated on the internet at a rate that StudioInvisible “never expected”, Wassim Melki said, already clocking up over 8000 views between their own website and archileb.com.
But despite this enormously encouraging support, the project faces a number of significant challenges as it now seeks to gain the interest of individuals and groups from different fields, financial support and, at least, “moral support” from the municipality of Beirut and the Ministry of Environment.
The simplicity, feasibility and potential of the initiative make its attractiveness undeniable. As StudioInvisible boldly suggest, if this plan were to work, “Beirut could become a rooftop wonder forest, the whole city as a landmark.”
this has been my moto in my very short landscaping career.i wish i could join forces to make this project come tru
Under ground parking, roof top gardens, many walking streets and 50%tax relief for roof gardens as long as they are well maintained(One tree per appartment)!?
http://spatiallyjustenvironmentsbeirut.blogspot.com/2011/10/get-me-out-of-this-traffic-jam.html
a car free Beirut with public linear parks instead of parking space might be the answer
I discussed widely this subject in my MS in Environmental Engineering. If i can contibute some help, kindly contact me
That was my MS environmental engineering thesis
Can you tell us more?
all the best for your endeavor to reduce co2 pollution of the atmosphere in your country through extensive greenroofing of beirut!what a pity not to be able to cooperate in similar projects we do in israel…
Thanks for the support all,
We are currently organizing ourselves with a couple of other NGOs to try to push this proposal forward, hopefully we can manage to get things done. If you have any suggestions or feedback you would like to share with us please do no hesitate to contact me on [email protected] or even join our newly created facebook page (Beirut Wonder Forest).
Thanks again and Thumbs up for the green prophet!
Wassim: keep us updated!
how to be a volunteer? i like this projects
Great piece, Will! I really hope they manage to get the support they need to get this project launched.
Arwa
My word. That’s utterly depressing.
Sadly, yes. I think that photo was taken from Google Earth – I just had a look and it’s exactly the same.
Is the middle picture of a grey Beirut, a true photo? Is it really that grey?