Tripoli, Lebanon
This was a competition proposal for the regeneration of the Partially built – International Fair designed by Oscar Niemeyer in the city of Tripoli. The site’s construction was halted in mid-1970s with the start of Lebanon’s civil war, and abandoned ever since. The competition called for proposals in a specified site within the fair to create a tech and business hub to foster startups and entrepreneurs. Our design proposal of semi-translucent shell structures that blur the boundary between in and out for the given program and activities. These structures, and transitionaries of ‘semi’ was a response to the Mediterranean mild climate and culture. The introduction of three linear parks that latterly connect the programs creating an interactive campus environment is meant to create a spatial dialogue to the adjacent unfinished Niemeyer’s buildings. The ephemeral steel structures furthermore create a continuous narrative with the concrete architecture of Niemeyer, both architectures of exposition typologies but representing different times. The aluminum and polycarbonate cladding, are laid linearly across the site, parallel to the two existing Niemeyer buildings to be renovated. This configuration allows the proposal to assimilate, space, structure and landscape into a unified concept. The proposed structural frame can be economically and speedily built, offering maximum flexibility for current planning and any future re-planning.
