Built
Status
Date
2024
Location
Bikfaya, Lebanon
Team
Fouad Samara
Lara Alam
Caren Abou Samra
Maya Hobeika
Riky Fakhry
Nestled into the edge of an Oak forest in Bikfaya, overlooking Lebanon’s coast and Mediterranean Sea below, two relatively large A Frames disrupt the existing terrain as little as possible; each rising above it on six slanted steel columns that vary in length depending on the terrain below.
Each A Frame consists of a kit of parts, prefabricated and assembled on site, with that process celebrated in the tectonics of the architecture itself.
A wood clad interior, inserted within the steel structure, provides warmth. A reflective rain screen, on the other hand, draws in the surrounding forest and sky. Glazed gable ends provide immediate connection to the forest on one side and views out to Bikfaya, the coast, and the Mediterranean on the other. A delicate staircase suspended from the soffit of each A Frame and hovering slightly above the terrain allows people in.
Spaces created within, below, around, and on top of each A Frame invite a variety of possible uses, at different times of the day, or in different seasons.