The Green Line of Beirut: Urban Study and Architectural Interventions

Studio IX & X- Fall 2013 & Spring 2014

Lebanese American University/ Byblos Lebanon

This final year architectural design studio is given as a full-year architectural thesis, with the first phase consisting of an urban study of a significant area in the city, followed in the second phase by individual architectural interventions that build upon the urban analysis.

The studio is supervised by Dr. Elie Haddad, with the assistance of Alicia Denris [Phase I] and Tarek Zeidan [Phase II]. The studio was supplemented by a series of intensive workshops given by visiting critics Evan Chakroff, Nancy Hilal, Helena Casanova and Jesus Hernandez.

The theme of the 2012-13 investigation was the Green Line of Beirut, specifically in the zone where the war of 1975 erupted, i.e. the District of Chiah-Ain el Remmaneh. By doing field work in this zone, students were brought face to face with the various urban issues on both sides of the dividing line, which is still acting in a certain way as a psychological barrier between the two parts of what used to be one, largely agro-industrial, district.


The students involved in this studio were:

Husniya Annan
Aziz Barbar
Leen El-Dilbi
Aline El-Najjar
Ramzi Ghanem
Rima Harake
Abdul Rahman Hindawi
Rona Koubayssi
Ghadi Merheb
Elie Riachi
Michelle Rockwell
Anahid Simitian