Kaslik, Beirut, LB
Evangelos Paxinos
Kaslik is a coastal suburb 17.7 km north of Beirut, created after the civil war to accommodate Lebanese people for their summer excursions. Today, the area is mainly occupied by many multistory buildings used either as offices or as residencies. The coastaline is covered by hotels, resorts, private clubs and marinas, constructions that configure the city’s form, and generated huge profit to their developers, a building activity that led to a result of poorly designed buildings with no interest and character. What is more, several artificial projections were also developed, triggering phenomena as topographic alteration and privatization of the shoreline, processes that opposes to lebanese law. Coastal properties’ owners took advantage of these new conditions and imposed οbligatory entry fees to the public, preventing the free use of the area.
How can the coast be recovered by the locals?
How is it possible to change the current manmade coastline ?
Evangelos Paxinos
Kaslik is a coastal suburb 17.7 km north of Beirut, created after the civil war to accommodate Lebanese people for their summer excursions. Today, the area is mainly occupied by many multistory buildings used either as offices or as residencies. The coastaline is covered by hotels, resorts, private clubs and marinas, constructions that configure the city’s form, and generated huge profit to their developers, a building activity that led to a result of poorly designed buildings with no interest and character. What is more, several artificial projections were also developed, triggering phenomena as topographic alteration and privatization of the shoreline, processes that opposes to lebanese law. Coastal properties’ owners took advantage of these new conditions and imposed οbligatory entry fees to the public, preventing the free use of the area.
How can the coast be recovered by the locals?
How is it possible to change the current manmade coastline ?
Seaborne Change
This proposal responds to the damage that happened to Kaslik’s coastline, firstly by demolishing all the private artificial reefs and their infrastructures, so that the areas’ reclamation will be achieved and be further repurposed as ground for public spaces and small businesses. In that way, an alteration of uses by the Lebanese people will be achieved and a new perspective of a possible coastline formation would be given. However, a footprint of the previous coast will intentionally beleft, to offer to the visitors to contemplate upon the transformation of the coastline through the ages. After reclaiming and recreating the territory, an artificial island will be created in parallel to the city, while one part of its coastline will be a reconstruction of Kaslik’s initial coast. Creating this big part of land not only ensures the existence of public domain, but also provokes a big contrast between the initial condition and the man-made situation that emerged by the outburst of private investments.
