Volume 26, Issue 2 (2020)
BAU President Message
A Call to retain Beirut Built Heritage
From the first moments following the Beirut Blast, it became one of the priorities for Beirut Arab University to engage in the process of removing the destruction and to mobilize its community to offer the people in the affected neighborhoods of Beirut the help and support they needed.
Through its students, employees, and the academic staff, the University formed groups of helpers that participated in the removal of rubble and in surveying the damage that had befallen the port area, including the archaeological buildings in the old neighborhoods. The real danger is that the rescue plan for the damaged historic buildings is not expedited. The plan requires the displacement of the residents who do not have the capacity to rehabilitate these buildings due to the sensitivity of the origin . Rescuing these buildings also needs expert interventions to preserve their identity and value. The Order of Engineers and Architects in Beirut has taken steps to develop a plan to survey and distinguish buildings of an archaeological nature, and to provide information to those concerned with cultural heritage in general and built heritage in particular. According to the third weekly report issued by the Order of Engineers and Architects dated on 9/9/2020, 14.1% of heritage buildings within the surveyed area are at high risk of collapse/damage, while 11.3% are at mid-risk of collapse/damage. This indicates that nearly a quarter of the surveyed historic buildings in the port vicinity were damaged by the blast.
The University spares no efforts, equipment and resources needed for the Urban Lab, such as a 3D scanning mechanism. Further, researchers in the field of preserving cultural heritage, including architects and engineers are brought together, to contribute with official and non-official bodies, such as the Beirut Municipality and the Ministry of Culture represented by the General Directorate of Antiquities, the Order of Engineers and Architects, and civil societies, in the development of the necessary engineering plans and the proposition of solutions to save historic buildings that are at risk while preserving the character of historic Beirut. In terms of resilience, the post-disaster urban and architectural reconstruction and rehabilitation of the cultural built heritage in Beirut should be included in any sustainable planning agenda of the city. For a traumatized society after disastrous events, such as the port blast, such urgent conservation practices will give a sense of localness and recreate the inhabitants’ collective memories concerning the image of their city, which promotes healing on a mid-term plan.
The interventions for the structural stabilization of heritage buildings that are at risk are among the priorities that necessitate the cooperation of all the different sectors in the Lebanese society. In addition, the partnership between the different sectors of society and civil organizations reflects community awareness and provides the best model for saving and preserving heritage. Keen on seeing all these plans realized as soon as possible, Beirut Arab University is keen on contributing to all the stages of the process, beginning with the damage assessment, through to the intervention phase.
دعوة للحفاظ على مباني بيروت التراثية
منذ اللحظات الأولى بعد الانفجار، كان من أولويات جامعة بيروت العربية الانخراط في عملية إزالة الدمار والمساعدة على إعادة الحياة لأحياء مدينة بيروت المتضررة. فساهمت الجامعة من خلال طلابها وموظفيها وهيئتها التعليمية التي شاركت على شكل مجموعات في إزالة الركام وعمليات مسح الأضرار بالتعاون مع الجهات المنظمة على الموقع.
وإيماناً منها بأن الخطر الحقيقي يكمن باندثار المباني ذات الطابع الأثري في الأحياء القديمة، في حال عدم الإسراع في تقديم خطة إنقاذية للمباني التاريخية المتضررة ـأكد جامعة بيروت العربية على أهمية وضع تلك الخطة التي تساهم في منع تهجير السكان الذين لا يملكون إمكانيات إعادة تأهيل مبانيهم التراثية التي تحتاج إلى تدخل خبراء ذوي اختصاص للحفاظ على هوية وقيمة هذه المباني.
وهنا تأتي أهمية الخطوة التي اتخذتها نقابة المهندسين في بيروت للكشف السريع على المباني المتضررة وخصوصا الأثرية منها ووضع خطة لإعادة تأهيل تلك المباني وإيلاء الاهتمام بها وتوفير المعلومات اللازمة عنها للجهات التي تعنى بالإرث الثقافي عامة والإرث المبني بشكل خاص. فوفقًا للتقرير الأسبوعي الثالث الصادر عن نقابة المهندسين والمعماريين الصادر بتاريخ 9/9/2020 وضمن المنطقة التي تم مسحها، تبين أن 14.1? من المباني التراثية معرضة لخطر الانهيار / التلف و11.3? متوسطة الخطورة من الانهيار/ الضرر أي أظهرت تضرر ما يقارب ربع المباني التاريخية الممسوحة.
من هنا فإن جامعة بيروت العربية تضع كل إمكانياتها من مختبرات كالمختبر الحضري مع كافة التجهيزات المختلفة الأخرى كآلية المسح الثلاثي الأبعاد كما أنها تضع كل الباحثين لديها في مجال الحفاظ على الإرث الثقافي من معماريين ومهندسين وذلك للعمل مع الجهات الرسمية والغير رسمية، كبلدية بيروت ووزارة الثقافة متمثلة بالمديرية العامة للآثار ونقابة المهندسين، والجمعيات الأهلية، وصولاً لوضع الخطط والحلول الهندسية الضرورية لإنقاذ المباني التاريخية المهددة بالانهيار وحفظ طابع بيروت التاريخية.
وللوصول إلى جعل بيروت مدينة قادرة على التكيف والصمود، يجب وإعادة تأهيل التراث الثقافي للمدينة من خلال دمج عمليات إعادة الترميم والإعمار الحضري والمعماري بعد الكارثة في أجندة التخطيط المستدام لبيروت. كما أن التمسك بالحفاظ على التراث يعطي الأهالي إحساسًا بالمحلية ويعيد تكوين الذكريات الجماعية لهم ولصورة مدينتهم مما يعزز الهوية المكانية للمدينة في مواجهة الصدمات النفسية بعد الأحداث الكارثية التي واجهتهم.
تعتبر التدخلات من أجل المعالجة الإنشائية للمباني التراثية المهددة بالانهيار من الأولويات التي يجب التعاون عليها مع كافة القطاعات المختلفة ف المجتمع اللبناني. كما أن الشراكة بين القطاعات المختلفة للمجتمع وتعاون الهيئات الأهلية يعكس الوعي المجتمعي ويعطي النموذج الأفضل لإنقاذ التراث وحفضه. وهذا ما تحرص عليه جامعة بيروت العربية من خلال مواكبتها اليومية لكافة مراحل المسح الأضرار وصولا إلى تقديم المعونة على مستوى كافة الاختصاصات.
Prof. Amr Galal Al-Adawi
President of Beirut Arab University, Lebanon
APJ Editor-in-Chief Welcome Message
In one of the most difficult circumstances facing the world, Volume 26 Issue 2 of APJ comes to light. From the womb of crises the most creative ideas can be genertated. This issue compiles diverse domains related to sustainable architecture, digital design, environmental control, performance of buildings, new applications in urban design to prevent the spread of viruses.
The pandemic crisis caused by COVID 19 has given rise to hundreds of inquiries and research questions that should be investigated on the spot. Consequences of this crisis obligate the community of architects, planners, urban designers, and researchers to conduct new research studies opening minds for new trends of architecture and urbanization after the spread of this epidemic. There is no doubt that the near future will witness radical change in the urban approaches, city planning, public spaces, building codes, laws and regulations, people circulation, and the design of buildings, especially the residential, medical, and educational facilities. Consequently, the architectural scientific research will inevitably need new experiments to be conducted to provide more healthy spaces achieving social distancing, to invent new hygienic building materials, and to produce certain medical precautions that are becoming a must in any public building. This pandemic has heralded a new shift to the future of architecture and the city planning.
The articles of this issue could be a launching platform to conduct deeper studies around architecture and human health, creating new relations between humans and the architectural space. More articles are needed to describe this new space, its features, its dimensions, number of uses, circulation of users, role of the indoor natural landscape, and so many aspects that will definitely reshape our behaviours, our homes, and our cities.
On the other hand, the Architecture and Planning Journal, APJ, celebrates its 26th volume, Issue 2 (2020), coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the foundation of Beirut Arab University in Lebanon. APJ is the bio-annual academic journal of the Faculty of Architecture-Design & Built Environment that hosts articles representing different topics in architecture. All the published articles are peer reviewed by regional and international well recognized referees in their domains or staff members from reputable universities in UK, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Lebanon. Since 2012, the year of RIBA accreditation, the Faculty has aimed to internationalise the APJ to be disseminated worldwide. In fact, the Faculty developed a strategic plan to internationalise the journal, which has recently resulted in the international reputable publisher ‘Elsevier Digital Commons’ hosting the APJ. Therefore, on behalf of the journal's editorial team, APJ calls all scholars, authors, architects and researchers from all around the world to publish articles in the following topics.
- Theories of architectural design
- Architectural education
- Building construction technology
- Digital architecture
- Planning, housing & urban design
- Conserving 'heritage & historical architecture'
- Architecture & environmental studies
- Landscape architecture
- Interior design
- Project Management and architecture
- Humanities in architecture
Finally, the team of APJ hopes that this volume becomes a useful source of data and a valuable reference.
Prof. Ibtihal Y. El-Bastawissi
APJ Editor-in-Chief Dean, Faculty of Architecture Design and Built Environment, Beirut Arab University, Lebanon
Guest Editor Message
No guest message to readers of Architecture & Planning Journal in the latter part of 2020 could commence without recognising the catastrophic explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4th and its social, economic and built environment consequences for the city and its residents. Although painfully inadequate at such a time of tragedy, however, it is difficult for those not immediately involved to go beyond a sense of solidarity, and to send to those involved in reconstruction efforts through their analytical, design and practice efforts a message of encouragement -- of ‘a bias towards optimism’ in the months and years ahead.
The contents of Issue Number 2 of Volume 26 of the Journal provide a diverse and stimulating collection of papers. The current global concern with the Covid-19 pandemic is taken up in Nabil Mohareb’s challenging general discussion paper on whether the idea of a ‘new normal’ will survive the more enduring influences of ‘old’ cultural and economic behaviours? A more general subject involving libraries, is provided by Kareem S. Galal, who explores the impact of changes in digital technology on the function and purpose of their interior spaces. For an observer the built environment often seems to change shape between daylight and night time, Maged Youssef contributes an interesting paper on design methods to emphasize the entrance of buildings at night through artificial light.
Vol. 26 (2) contains two papers by Yasmine K. Amkieh. Based on local studies in Tripoli in northern Lebanon, they cover very different but practical topics: how the social and economic benefit of shade trees can be optimized along pedestrianized commercial streets; and, how to assess odour pollution and sources more adequately and systematically. As Mohammed S. Ali notes ‘slums are a problem facing the whole world’. With these wider resonances, his paper analyses the difficulties experienced in slum upgrading in Egypt, caught between centralized policies and community partnership approaches. Another global issue is the spread of high-rise tower buildings and their inherent fire risks. Mohammad Abu Chakra’s paper reviews the relationships between legislation, design and fire safety and their expression in three celebrated case studies: Petronas Towers, Beirut’s Marina Tower and the Burj Khalifa. Finally, the paper of Louay Ghizzawi and Hiba Mohsen attempted to assess the impact of green roof on the building performance, investigating a detailed case study of outpatient paediatric clinics in Lebanon.
David Massey
Guest Editor,
Honorary Senior Fellow, The University of Liverpool, The United Kingdom
THE EVOLUTION OF THE FUNCTION AND DESIGN OF SPACES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES THROUGH THE DIGITAL ERA
Kareem S. Galal
ODOR POLLUTION ASSESSMENT IN RESIDENTIAL URBAN SPACES IN TRIPOLI CITY
Yasmine Khaled Amkieh
OPTIMUM TREE DISTRIBUTION FOR PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY OF COMMERCIAL STREET IN TRIPOLI CITY
Yasmine Khaled Amkieh
ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF GREEN ROOF ON THE BUILDING PERFORMANCE A CASE STUDY OF OUTPATIENT PEDIATRIC CLINICS IN LEBANON
Louay Ghezzawi and Hiba Mohsen
THE EVOLUTION OF THE FUNCTION AND DESIGN OF SPACES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES THROUGH THE DIGITAL ERA
Kareem S. Galal
ODOR POLLUTION ASSESSMENT IN RESIDENTIAL URBAN SPACES IN TRIPOLI CITY
Yasmine Khaled Amkieh
OPTIMUM TREE DISTRIBUTION FOR PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY OF COMMERCIAL STREET IN TRIPOLI CITY
Yasmine Khaled Amkieh
ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF GREEN ROOF ON THE BUILDING PERFORMANCE A CASE STUDY OF OUTPATIENT PEDIATRIC CLINICS IN LEBANON
Louay Ghezzawi and Hiba Mohsen
