Dar El Mouna
Batroun is a city known to attract the youth from
all around Lebanon. It is characterized by its sea,
clubs and restaurants. It is a city full of life but
lacking the calm its inhabitants sometime look
for. The youth living in Batroun have nowhere to
go studying or have a quiet meeting or even
more a place to go out for a drink with their friends while enjoying some calm.
I also found that the city also lacks a public library and exhibition
spaces. In general, the city is in desperate need of a cultural center.
Dar El Mouna was initially a hub for the arts. In terms of structure, the space
is constituted of the main building
which was originally a typical Lebanese house made up of a main hall housing
arches typically found in such old
architecture, serving as a separation of spaces. The location also includes a
garage and a garden that surrounds the
entire space until the main road.
In order to maximize the use of the space, I decided to refurbish the
underground space for it to serve as a speakeasy.
I left the arches on the 1st floor in order to maintain the authenticity of the
space. I created a library that extends
on a ramp that goes through the entirety of the space up until a mezzanine on
which I created silent workspaces as well
as a meeting room. In parallel I enlarged the garage space to become an
additional building that will house on the
ground floor a workspace/cafe, on the first floor a waiting area as well as the
bathrooms, and on the third floor an
open exhibition space.
The circulation throughout the center is meant to allow the visitor to go
through all the spaces continuously while also
giving them the option to exit the building at any point.
