LEBANON)

Real estateBeirut jn an eggshell

Bulldozers of development loom for one the city's last iconic buildings

n the heart of Beirut is the dis-tinctive shell of what was once acomplex called the "City Cen-ter," also affectionately knownas the "Egg."

The Egg, with its nosechopped off and deep scars on itsonce smooth concrete exterior skin,has passed through dramatic changesin its nearly 50 years of existence.Ever since Solidere in 2005 sold theland to Abu Dhabi InvestmentHouse (ADIH) as part of the BeirutGate project, the Egg has been con-stantly threatened with demolition.

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Solidere sold the land withoutany legal protection or financial in-centive to save the Egg, meaning itsdestruction is almost inevitable. Fornow, the July 2006 war stopped itsimminent demolition and the finan-cial crisis delayed the bulldozers fur-ther. However, the end appears to benear for one of the last iconic, mod-ernist architectural structures in thecenter of Beirut that also carrieswith it the physical manifestationsof the civil war years.

The Egg was built between 1965and 1968 as a multi-use shopping

center, mOVIe theater. and officebuilding. The dev"elopers, Samaand Salha, had ambitious plans fothis development; and wanted tomake it the biggest multi-use centerin the Middle Ea~t" The egg-shape'cinema was designed to hold 1,000.. "'"seats and is 24 meters wide and 11meters high. It was to be accompa-nied by two towers, of which onlyone was built and has since been de-stroyed. George Arbid, professor 0-

architecture at the American Uni-versity of Beirut (AUB), explainethat the distinctive shape of the Egcame about through unintendeconsequences.

"The building code at this timewas very strict about building movietheaters for structural safety," Arbiesaid. "So the architect, Joseph-Philippe Karam, convinced the au-thorities that the law did not forbidthe use of the space below the movietheater, so he created a retail spaceunderneath. Once the movie theaterwas raised and visible, he was forceto give it a distinguished shape.hence the concrete egg shell."

11"1

The architect and the eggJoseph-Philippe Karam was one

of Lebanon's most distinguishedmodernist architects who trained inLebanon and designed buildingsthroughout the region.

"The Beirut City Center was oneof several examples of his innovativecontriqutions to architecture," saidJoseph-Philippe Karam's son, SamiKaram. "The surviving cinema [orEgg] has become an icon of avant-gar de Lebanese modernism."

Many of Karam's buildings weredestroyed in the civil war and thefew that remain are being demol-ished to make way for high-rise de-velopments, most notably the Build-ing Condole, in Rouche, that wasdemolished in 2004.

The architectural importance of(he Egg is contested despite manyrap-notch international architectsadmiring the structure.

"Architecturally speaking theEgg does not have architectural val-ue," said architect Bernard Khoury."There are many more importantbuildings in Beirut that are, architec-rurally speaking, more important.The attraction [to the Egg] is the cu-riosity of the building in terms of its

"WE ARE STARTING TO LOOK SO MUCH LIKE DUBAI ANDWE ARE NOT, WE ARE LIKE THE EGG. THE EGG IS VERY

IMPORTANT IN LEBANESE HISTORY"

role with the war and the fascina-tion that it creates."

Residents of Lebanon confirmthis enchantmen~ with the Egg andthe history it represents in its currentappearance.

Marie-Louise Ramy, who grewup during Lebanon's civil war, ex-plained the fascination.

"When we came down from themountains to Beirut, the whole ofBeirut used to look like the Egg doesnow," she said. "So the structure

acts as a reminder."Arbid disagreed with the idea put

forth by Khoury that the Egg doesnot have any architectural value.

"It is one of the rare free-formstructures in the city [and] it was adifficult task to execute such a form.It is also important because it is oneof the rare cinema halls raised abovea freed ground floor," he said.

While the architectural impor-tance of the building is contested,the debate over whether to demolishthe structure or not has certainly

stirred puqlic interest. Dania Bdier, astudent at AUB, started a Facebook

- group to 'Save the Egg' at the begin-ning of 2009.

"Wii:Qln four days 3,000 peoplehad joined-up to the group," she said.

Th~ g~up now has more than5,000 members and-had to move to'Save the Egg Cause' due to havingso many members in the group.Much of the debate of the groupdoes not center on the architecturalintricacies of the building, but in-

stead on the role the Egg plays III

Lebanese identity.

The battle for identityFor many the Egg is becoming a

centerpiece in the battle for the iden-tity, not just of the downtown area,but the whole of Lebanon. Bdierwas very clear about her reason forstarting up the Facebook group.

"We are starting to look so muchlike Dubai and we are not, we arelike the Egg. The Egg is very impor-tant in Lebanese history," she said.

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Many of those on the Facebookgroup who support preserving theEgg do so,.because they want to stopwhat they call the 'Dubai-ification'of Leb~mo~. This allegation is par-ticularly sensitive given that the landwhere the Egg is located is nowowned by the ADIH and the deci-sion as to whether the Egg stays orgoes rests not in Lebanon but in AbuDhabi. This point has not been loston those who argue for preservingthe Egg. As Jack Samaha, on theFacebook group proclaimed, "Ouridentity and culture as Lebanese isnot for sale [tal Gulf millionaires."

Not all agree with this notionthat the destruction of the Egg willmake Lebanon more like the Gulf,and many posts support the demoli-tion of the Egg.

"I saw the Beirut Gate projectand I have to say it's very nice,"wrote Patrick Saab on the Facebookgroup. "The Egg is a mess, and itcan be replaced or rebuilt anywhereelse. Put culture aside, think modern

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look for Lebanon ... How do we ex-pect to get more exposure if we keepour old, almost destroyed buildingsstanding?"

The ADIH would not speak toEXECUTIVEbut in an interview withBdier, in January, an unnamed repre-sentative stated: "Solidere wishes usto keep the soul of this dome by ei-ther reshaping it or doing somethingsimilar. We took it into considera-tion and we are considering it, be-cause it also has to financially makesense for us to do it. For this plot,we bought and paid [for] 39,000meters squared of built up area, andthe dome is only taking up 6,000 or7,000 meters squared. The developerwho is going to buy it is looking at it."

French architect Christian dePortzamparc was commissioned toproduce a study for the site, and ac-cording to the local architectural

consultant ERGA Group, producedtwo designs for the site.

"One of the proposals keeps theshell of the Egg and the other de-molishes it and no decision by thedevelopers has been made as towhich one will be built," said EliAbu Ghazaly, chief operating officerof ERGA.

With no legal obligation to keepthe Egg it is highly unlikely that thedeveloper will wish to keep thestructure, as it reduces the built uparea of the site and thus significant-ly reduces its profitability. AbuGhazaly said that because no deci-sion has been made as to which pro-posal would be accepted, no imagesof the proposals could be released.

The project that never wasOne project proposal for the ren-

ovation of the Egg was Khoury'S

2004 commiSSIOn by Solidere. Inprevious statements, Solid ere Chair-man and CEO Nasser Chamma, inThe Wall Street Journal in 2004, ad-mitted that Solidere wanted to de-molish the structure straight away.But many of the star architectsbrought to Lebanon by Solidere,such as Philippe Stark and JeanNouvelle, were struck by the Eggand Solidere decided to think again.It was then that they approachedKhoury to propose a scheme to re-develop the Egg.

"There was deadlock over thissite for a while and Solidere did notknow what to do with it," Khourysaid. "Then in 2004, they called meto develop a temporary structure thatwould last five or six years while theyfigured out what to do with the land.But then with the assassination of[former Prime Minister] Rafiq Hariri

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everything changed. There was ahuge change in Solidere with big in-terest in the real estate and many bigtransactions were made," he said.

"It all occurred much faster thanSolidereever thought it would happen ...The land where the Egg is was sold inone pf the biggest deals and so myproject was stopped," Khouryadoed.

'The role of Solidere in the Egg'ssale has also been highly controver-sial,. primarily because of the waythe company parceled up the landand sold it. When Solidere sold thelan4 they expressed a "wish" for thedorile to be kept, but they made nolegal stipulations enforcing it. AbuGhazaly defended Solidere by stat-ing that "to make it illegal, thereneeds to be a government decree."

But as Arbid explained, "the

WHEN SOLIDERE SOLDTHE LAND THEY

EXPRESSED A "WISH"FOR THE DOME TO BE

KEPT, BUT THEY MADE NOLEGAL STIPULATIONS

ENFORCING ITway Solidere sold the land makes itimpPsslble to save the Egg."

The manner in which the landwas sold, with a total amount ofbuilt up area, including the areawhere the Egg is situated, did notleave any real possibility for savingthe structure. Despite having alreadysold the right to make any assertionas to the future of the Egg, Soliderestill maintains the structure is goingto be preserved.

As another of Lebanon's histor-ical sites is destroyed many will befrustrated by the lack of trans-parency and debate over these ar-chitecturally significant sites.There is a clear lack of will to en-gage by Solidere or the ADIH inany sort of debate over whetherthese buildings are worth saving ornot. Those who want to preserveLebanon's built environment facean uphill struggle. [I]