Architectural Projects That Changed Beirut Skyline forever!

Architectural Projects in Beirut as Never Seen Before!

Maybe you haven’t yet got the opportunity to see the city of Beirut, the Capital of Lebanon, from above but if you were a bird you could!

And believe me, it is worth it!...

Yes, there is something you are missing about it, especially during those last few years.

Yes, and the truth be told, who can predict or visualize things to be as it is today: a totally "renovated skyline" for our dearest Beirut! The city which was a bunch of non-organized concrete blocks for years, and was abandoned for decades, has now new architectural projects, and a new modernized skyline like other nice cities around the globe.

In addition, and the most important thing is that it is now recognized in the world tourist cities list.

Again, Beirut tops the list of the most visited cities worldwide!

Trying to recall the period wasted during the war (around 17 years) the city was looking forward to new investments and architectural projects, which can help the economy survive the consequences of war. So the renovation and the workshop on the Beirut Hotels slogan is in its active and energetic birth state process and progress.

Just three or four skyscrapers on the front seaside which house a wide range of International Hotels chains plus a large green boulevard did make the entire difference to the whole scenery, previously devasted by war.

You can now choose from a wide list of famous worldwide hotel brand names such as the "Four Seasons", "Phoenicia Intercontinental", and many others. Most of those are five stars rated but... if you are looking for more economical stays or have a lesser budget to spend, don't give up; you can still find your quest as Beirut is a city for all!

➤ Read more: I am inviting you here, by the way, to read my related post on Emotional Facts about Architectural Projects in Hamra for more facts and information.

Today, you can book your favorite property online, from the comfort of your home! whereas the majority of those reserved their place already over hundreds of sites specialized in such services provident. Most of those sites as well offer the same room at less price than it is over the front desk!

➤ Read more: Check also my article Why Should You Value the Downtown Beirut Restoration Project? about how Beirut get its new shape after the war. As well, you can read this small review and have an idea about those two newly constructed projects inaugurated lately in Beirut, in this related-post: 2 Newest Architectural Projects in Beirut 

Tourism was the main sector that supplied the Lebanese treasury with the majority of financial resources, as it contributed about 20% of GDP during the two decades preceding the civil war (as featured on ar.wikipedia.org)

The capital was abandoned years ago to face its destiny and the long period of destructive war (1975- 1989) which costs the nation much more than it can support its consequences.

Few of its old buildings resisted the storm that destroys almost its classic and traditional architecture at that time. Therefore, the first stage of the rebuilding process was to restore the possibly rescued historical buildings, then came the execution stage of other main infrastructure and structures.

Good to know that the major historical buildings were restored to their original state with modernization according to the needs such as the municipality of Beirut, located in Waggan Street which is the home of numerous old constructions and most of them were restored as well.

In return to the new projects inaugurated recently in the major area of Beirut and not only in the central district, we also found a lot of those new skyscrapers hitting the sky of Beirut. Mostly the worldwide hotel chains such as "The Four Seasons", "The Phoenicia Intercontinental, and other towers like the "Platinum" building which is an Appartement Residence retail center, in addition to a hotel.

➤ Read more: I have been posted an article recently about some new projects inaugurated in Beirut that in some ways represent the contemporary Architecture in Lebanon today and its influence over the Lebanese traditional architecture. Among those, the Platinum Tower on the Beirut Sea Side (or Zeitounah Bay); You can read the article here.

Additionally, most of those enormous buildings are still empty and unoccupied a least till the publication of those lines. We have the right here to ask for whose those buildings are standing there and for whose they were built if they will stay unoccupied or almost?

This question will lead us to another question right away: Are the other skyscrapers in the world completely usable yet also?

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Let’s take a look at this article published by "The Guardian", the international edition, it says:

Take the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It’s impressive at 828 meters tall, but nearly a third of that (29%) is unoccupiable, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The Burj al Arab, also in Dubai, is much worse in this respect, with 39% of the entire building unusable. In fact, Dubai has five towers listed as the tallest buildings in “vanity height” – unusable height for the sake of it. Across these five, some 31% of total space is completely wasted.

So, from what precedes, we can conclude that we are in the face of a global issue and not only a local one that needs more studies to find solutions to resolve its consequential evidence.

In the final analysis, we can be sure of one single thing; whatever your opinion about Beirut's changeover during the recent period, you cannot be hostile all the way. Otherwise, we had to find a better solution for discussion, which was not possible at the time, no matter how many mistakes were made or not.

There is an old quote that we cannot ignore that says: “If you cannot do anything about it, just have a negatively biased opinion about it” or something similar…