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Status
Built

Date
2010

Location

Ras El Matn, Lebanon

Team
Fouad Samara
Celina Akar

An archetypical Lebanese village 

The archetypical Lebanese village is characterized by a series of red tiled pitched roofs atop stone houses dotted about the pine tree covered slopes in a seemingly arbitrary way.
The backdrop to this project is a village where such a picturesque image has been left to deteriorate and where the new construction is unenlightened at best.

 

A contemporary Lebanese house 

It is the aim of this project, to develop a contemporary version of the traditional Lebanese house as a prototype – just as the original was, and not just to design a house. This prototype, once repeated, should provide an equivalently relevant model as the old did.
A plan was developed where the building is divided into two volumes; each a square in plan with a pitched roof on top.

 

Spatial Configuration 

One of them is to have the living and dining area with a fire place at the centre – a reinterpretation of the central hearth. The other will have the kitchen and, on a slightly elevated level, bedrooms. A garage, service areas, and a multi-purpose room are located below.

 

Introducing natural light 

Natural light is introduced above the chimney and the landing between the bedrooms through skylights at the tip of each of the pitched roofs.
Separating the two volumes is a glazed entrance lobby opening up to the porch and landscape beyond.

 

Photography by Joe Lahdou