Lebanon is a country naturally endowed with plenty of clean water. But unregulated industry, farming, garbage disposal along other activity has rendered the water undrinkable and in some areas, dangerous to people’s health, making Lebanon among the most water vulnerable countries in the world.
A textile artist from Beirut explores the local sheep as culture and identity that he weaves into his creations
Lebanese designers from the much-loved embroidery collective Bokja in Beirut have offered to suture and repair home furnishings damaged in the Beirut explosion on August 4.
Years after the Notre Dame fire in Paris Parisians are still feeling the health effects whether they know it or not. According to a recent study reported in the Smithsonian local urban honeybees in Paris were collecting pollen with unhealthy amounts of lead in it. Imagine then how those suffering from the explosion in Beirut might deal with the immediate catastrophe.
From San Francisco, to Amsterdam to Tel Aviv to Cairo, and now Beirut. Rooftop gardens are growing everywhere. Fueled by a desire to suck greenhouse gases, create heat sinks, beautify the city and even grow food, rooftop gardens may be the only way to feed our planet’s 7 billion mouths. While today many of the gardens are […]
In this day and age, with the superpower of Google, you can locate any recipe, and find infinite recipe ideas, online. So what’s the point of owning a cookbook? Aren’t cookbooks a little outdated? The answer, in my opinion, is no. An analogy could be made comparing “real books” to “E-books,” such as those purchased […]
Bernard Khoury is one of Lebanon’s most sought after architects, and now he has built his own home – a rooftop penthouse bam smack in the middle of Beirut.
Remember the old days in Beirut when you could actually see the Mediterranean Sea? The crew over at Najjar & Najjar Architects remember, and they want it back! Their Kinematic IRIS sea pods are designed to not only provide refuge for residents living in the shadow of urban regurgitation, but to generate energy as well.
I did the best part of my growing up in Toronto, a cold and somewhat bike-crazed city. It’s there where I met a champion bike courier from Berlin and had my first long-distance love affair when he moved back to Germany. Joern, god bless his heart, used to deliver love letters by international courier!
A provocative installation by Lebanese graphic designer Wael Kodeih aims to challenge cyber censorship. Part of the fifth annual Exposure exhibition now at the Beirut Art Center (BAC), is it art or gimmick?
Beirut residents are fed up: everywhere they look there are cranes and bulldozers turning their city into a giant concrete mess and even the smallest efforts to beautify the city are destroyed. This time they are saying no to a municipal plan to demolish the iconic Massad stairs.
The London Design Festival is well underway with some exciting new projects on display – including an intriguing new installation from Beirut’s Najila El Zein: The Wind Portal.
As part of a larger master plan to rejuvenate the downtown Beirut area, Swiss Architects Herzog & De Meuron have designed “The Terraces,” a green waterfront apartment tower in Beirut lush with vegetation and hanging gardens.
In a Middle Eastern city with paltry green space, residents gather to object to new development that will destroy one of their few public parks. Sound familiar? Spin the globe, but this time stop at Beirut in Lebanon.
Activists warn that a planned highway in Beirut will ruin what little is left of the city’s remaining green and historic spaces at the same time that tens of thousands of people are swarming streets throughout Turkey following a violent government crackdown on Gezi Park protestors.
Imagine for a second that Washington D.C., London, Brussels or Denmark ran out of power for up to nine hours every single day for the last week or so. And then imagine (if it will stretch that far)that most of the country has been experiencing such cuts for the last eight years. This is Lebanon’s […]
It was only a matter of time: the 3D printing revolution has officially arrived in Lebanon, where artists, architects, and designers are eager to keep pace with Europe and the United States. French Architect Guillaume Crédoz has founded the region’s first 3D printing shop in the Mar Mikhayel neighborhood of Beirut, a bustling hive of […]
If we only listened to mainstream media, we would know Beirut as a city full of bullet holes, terrorists and Syrian refugees – all of which are unfortunate realities in the densely populated capital of Lebanon, which borders both Israel and Syria. But it is also home to some of the world’s most interesting artists, designers, […]
Middle East city heads want to make their cities more sustainable. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is 60 percent urbanized compared to the global average of 52 percent and is home to one of the world’s most rapidly expanding populations. By 2030, a 45 percent increase of MENA’s urban population will add […]
At the heart of Beirut, Zakaria counters corporate cafe culture with art and heritage As larger coffee and restaurant chains take over the streets of Beirut and other Lebanese cities, smaller, local cafes are abandoning their businesses as they are faced with too much competition. Walking away from the scene is not only a coffee shop […]
Students from the American University of Beirut have worked with the Forum for Environment and Development to create a documentary on the environmental challenges facing the Arab world The youth of the Arab world have had a particularly inspiring – if turbulent – last couple of years. Protests, revolutions and taste of real empowerment has […]
With so many reports of tainted, rotten food hitting the market, Lebanese consumers are desperate to source organic, pesticide-free food from responsible suppliers. And their options to do so are growing alongside their burgeoning demand. Our friends from Green Traveler Guides sent over a fabulous overview of the top cafes, markets and restaurants leading Lebanon’s […]
Imagine the famous pyramids under water? Alexandria, Egypt holds top risk, followed by Istanbul, Turkey. Think “Mediterranean” and most Westerners conjure up Monte Carlo or Mykonos, Cannes or Nice, often overlooking the southern coastline cities that lie in Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Fourteen Mediterranean port cities are at risk of extreme and […]
More than 200 cyclists took over the streets of Beirut Sunday demanding a sustainable public transportation system for Lebanon. Haunted by the pollution poisoning their city’s car-clogged roads, more than 200 cyclists took over Beirut last week Sunday in an effort to demand a revival of its once-decent public transportation system. The seven kilometer (5 […]
Laurie escaped from the Trade Towers 11 years ago and as a building expert looks critically at standards in the Middle East. Building codes ensure that a properly constructed building will safely stand up to predictable wear and tear. Codes specify fire-resistant performance for materials and prescribe safe exiting requirements for occupants. But what guides […]