AKTC / Cemal Emden
Issam Fares Institute, Beirut, Lebanon - The building emerges from the geometries of …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The IFI was established as a neutral, dynamic, civil, and open space where people …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
A ramp leads between the centenary aged Ficus and Cypress trees to connect the research …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Internal partitions are in ink-pigmented glass to enable communication and interaction - …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The design reduces the building's footprint by "floating" a reading room, a workshop …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Issam Fares Institute, Beirut, Lebanon. Auditorium capacity is 100 seats, an individual entry …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
In addition to the lounge, the auditorium itself also has very functional supporting spaces …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The exposed concrete roof terrace where impressive views can be found, it overlooks the …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The building emerges from the geometries of intersecting routes as a series of interlocking …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The lounge space, the lobby and the terrace promote an even greater interaction between the …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Some of the larger items of furniture, such as the big table in the conference room, were …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The IFI was established as a neutral, dynamic, civil, and open space where people …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Due to the mild weather in Beirut, the need for heating and cooling is very low throughout …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
A ramp leads between the trees to connect the research lounges on the second floor directly …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The project introduces a system of ramps within its site, enabling a connection with the …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
A ramp leads between the centenary aged ficus and cypress trees to connect the research …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
One of the main aims of the architect with the division of space by glass walls was to create …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Internal partitions are in ink-pigmented glass to enable communication and interaction - …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Interior view of the reading room - Issam Fares Institute, Beirut, Lebanon.
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The massing and volume distribution fits well in its topography and the building feels very …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
View of the eastern entrance created in the concrete structure - Issam Fares Institute, …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Passive design measures, high efficiency active systems and recycled water technologies …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Situated on the upper campus, together with four surrounding historic buildings, the Issam …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
View of the IFI at dusk.The fair-faced concrete used in the building is constructed to the …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The project is a great asset to the campus, AUB and Beirut. The professionals describe the …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The total surface of the fair-faced concrete in the building is 6,000 m2. Although the …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Issam Fares Institute, Beirut, Lebanon - The design reduces the building's footprint by "f…
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The windows throughout the building and in the office spaces provide sufficient light during …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
Routes, views and links within the campus converge to define the IFI as a three-dimensional …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
The glass wall on the western side of the building, on the fourth and fifth floors, gives to …
AKTC / Cemal Emden
This page is also available inIssam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs
Award Cycle: 2014-2016 Cycle
Status: Award Recipient
Country of origin: Lebanon
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Client: American University of Beirut
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
Design: 2007-2008
Size: Site area: 7'000 m2; Built area: 3’000 m2
Completed: 2014
A new building, radical in composition but respectful of its traditional context, “floats” above an exterior courtyard. The American University of Beirut (AUB) held an invited competition for the design of a structure to accommodate a modern-day think tank on its lush middle campus, one that was in harmony with the rest of the university, especially mindful of the surrounding greenery, and to preserve, as far as possible, existing sightlines to the Mediterranean. The building had to fit into another stage in the implementation of a master plan for AUB, whose upper campus overlooks the water, and whose lower campus is located on the seafront. The architect responded to the project brief by producing a design that significantly reduces the building's footprint by "floating" a reading room, a workshop conference room and research spaces above the entrance courtyard in the form of a 21-metre-long cantilever in order to preserve the existing landscape. The 3,000 square metre building is defined by the routes and connections within the university; the building emerges from the geometries of intersecting routes as a series of interlocking platforms and spaces for research and discourse. The massing and volume distribution fits very well with the topography, and the nearby Ficus and Cyprus trees are perfectly integrated with the project. The building’s construction is a continuation of the 20th century Lebanese construction culture of working with fair-faced concrete.