MIDORI

PAUL KALOUSTIAN

LEBANON

PROJECT DETAILS:

Project name: Midori Architect: Paul Kaloustian Completion year: 2020 Gross built area: 7500 m2 Project Location: Badaro, Beirut, Lebanon Lead Architect: Paul Kaloustian Design Team: Nathalie Fatte Client: Farah Khayat Developer: Farah Khayat Structure consultant: Nabil Hennaoui MEP consultant: Mangassarian Shoring consultant: Profond Bureau de controle: Qualiconsult Photo credits: Michele Aoun - Studio Paul Kaloustian

KNOW MORE ABOUT THE DESIGNERS:

Located on a corner lot on Park Street and facing the Beirut hippodrome, the proposed building is modeled on the shape of the ziggurat. The stepped design allows the integration of planters with metal mesh panels creating a "tree building"

The design was primary driven by a desire to create a tree building facing one of the very few forested areas in Beirut. The scheme borrows many aspects of the local Mediterranean lifestyle and architecture with spaces bathed with natural light, sunbrakers and vegetation.

Dominating the skyline, the building features floor to ceiling facades where divisions between interior and exterior are blurred. Imagined as a vertical “garden”, a generous variety of vegetation and trees are positioned throughout the residential units.

The building offers a comfortable and livable environment with a diverse spatial configurations, orientations and sizes ranging from small units with one bedroom to larger units with 3 bedrooms.

The design contains and embraces the complexity of nature through the conceptualization of the building with a simple idea ridding architecture of futility in order to achieve enchantment. The 50m high building is a vertical landscape offering a new design strategy rising in distinction and offering a new alternative to the existing buildings in Beirut.

GALLERY: