Project Entry 2014 for Africa Middle East
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Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
An exterior view of the project seen from the site limit, along the neighborhood access point. Merging with the landscape, the project provides easy accessibility for the locals to interact with the public spaces, provided through rooftop terraces and cafeteria. The two forms of the journey meet to create a cycle of awareness and public interaction.
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Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
An overall diagram showing building access and the journey along the two incorporated programs: the thermal treatment plant and the designer’s workshop spaces. The first journey acts as a museum and is guided by the incineration process. It then links to the second journey along the studio workshop spaces, which aims to provide exposure to the many local skilled laborers in the nearby industrial region.
Last updated: March 31, 2014 Beirut, Lebanon
The Bouchrieh industrial quarter located on the outskirts of Beirut currently suffers from an overflow of waste, recurrent power outages, and a lack of skilled labor.The city’s overflowing landfill is in dire need of an emergency waste plan. Addressing the problem at hand, the project offers a set of sustainable solutions for reactivating the area, transforming waste into energy, and reinstating local craftsmanship.
The project combines a waste-to-energy plant with public facilities – workshop and exhibition spaces – aimed at raising public awareness regarding Beirut’s unsustainable condition. Making the problem an integral part of the solution, the plant is conceived as a pioneering model that can be implemented in other parts of the country.
The premise: As a new proposal to an ever-existing problem, a waste-to-energy plant redefines what is considered waste by providing much needed electricity to 200,000 industries and households. Making the problem an integral part of the solution, the plant is conceived as a pioneering model that can be implemented in other parts of the country that are suffering from a lack of basic energy amenities.
Giving back to the community: Bouchrieh’s manual laborers are known for their skills in creating high-tech products with basic machinery. Studio and exhibition spaces for designers in their proximity reintegrate their role within the social fabric while providing them with an added layer of exposure. Shedding the light on these endangered know-how practices by incorporated the designer’s trends of reuse.
A message of awareness: Decreasing product lifecycles continue to induce a large amount of waste while the resources of the planet are being depleted. The aim is to introduce a waste-awareness campaign revolving around the idea of extending life cycles. Architecturally, this is translated into a journey alongside the process of converting waste into energy. The path through the plant leads to the final thinking tube where the visitor becomes aware of his own procured waste.
Growing from social emergency: The zero-impact plant reprises the solution for waste in an economically and environmentally sustainable way. The project proposes an NGO investment for initial implementation into a viable solution for the community energy crisis. The use of local materials for construction reduces transportation pollution while promoting local resources: concrete is locally produced, sustainably.
The neighborhood hub: Accessible roofs acting as a continuation of the urban landscape allow for communal spaces that provide informal reading and resting spaces. As one of the few leftover plots in the city, the project aims to reactivate the public space for the local residents while giving importance to the remaining open space as a social hub within the neighborhood.