Competition //
Beirut’s Eco-Station: A Tribute to Historical Advancement
Competition: Beirut International Train Station // Open Idea Competition for Zero Energy Architecture
Organizer: Dar[e]
Award: 3rd Prize
Architect: B.Arch Mohamad Alamin Younis @Archi.Collage
Concept: A unique research-based project that bases its narrative on old songs, post-war nostalgia, the complex relationship between memory and sustainability, and the possibility for Beirut’s international train station, in particular, to take advantage of Lebanon’s losing environmental battle: the problem of waste management.
Aerial night shot
How could Beirut’s international train station bring back images of the powerful tramway passing through Bliss Street in the 1950s, and sing Marcel Khalife’s “Toot toot ala Beirut” nostalgic song of 1980, in such a way that architecture stands as a tribute for the memorial technical advancements through sustainable design?
This is a project that bases its narrative on old songs, post-war nostalgia, the complex relationship between memory and sustainability, and the possibility for Beirut’s international train station, in particular, to take advantage of Lebanon’s losing environmental battle: the problem of waste management. The project proposes to conceive 3 layers for the station: a mini waste recovery plant, the train station facility and its services, and a community and housing program. The idea here is that it is through time that the former participates in physically nurturing and building the two latter, which makes the program interconnected in the making and also in their operation. To promote this narrative of time and memory, the program is distributed in a linear fashion, blending memory and sustainability from start to finish. Aside from giving visitors and dwellers the luxury of freedom of walking through the entire station and living space inside units, the VR technology is will also grant them access to unlock the station’s collective memory and stories.
Plan + Section
Exploded view of the generative strategy
Station of the metaverse
Section A-A + Axonometry (collage)
Physical model
Physical model
By simply scanning the QR code available to them, they can jump back in time anywhere in the station in perfect sync. The station operates in the Metaverse. Occupying minimum footprint and maximum to total energy regain, the overall massing of the station features a gradually degrading shape that adapts with iconic residential and office buildings in the context.
The materiality of the walls, floors, and roof is entirely giving the station a nature-like feeling, which sets it to be environmentally friendly, yet seems like a memorial place.
Thank you very much !
