MASRI MIKATI BECHTEL / AUB / LEBANON

Area Approx. 8000 m²
Competition 2015
Status Concept
Client American University of Beirut
Architect, Landscape Architect, interior Architect Nizar Sabbagh Architects

The RFP was to remove an existing building at the corner and build instead the Masri institute of energy. The second part was to refurbish the facade of Bechtel building, redesign the interior areas and add labs and workshops at the basement level. The 3rd part was the Mikati library, that required us to refurbish the existing structure and add on top a building to complete the program. 

AUB master plan revealed many interventions in the campus, and we noticed that every faculty has its outdoor area except for the engineering and architecture, whose outdoor area is only the street. Part one of the project is a very strategic location overlooking the green field and located at the corner of 3 streets in the campus. The Mikati library is located between Bechtel, Dar el Handasa and Irani building, so we lifted the Masri building and we turned the Mikati building on the top of Bechtel and merged it with the institute of energy, creating a monolith volume with patios between the conference and lecture rooms allowing us to project the faculty news on the facade of the upper campus. The location of Masri institute will house indoor and outdoor amphitheaters, and will act like an interactive spot. At the same time, the circulation will cater the institute, Bechtel, lecture halls and amphitheaters and will be animated by the superb view to the piazza that we created and to the green field and the sea.

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