Revisiting Dalieh: Calling for Alternative Visions along Beirut’s Coast
In an effort to prevent the transformation of Dalieh – the last of the natural headlands overlooking Beirut’s emblematic Sakhret el-Raouche (Pigeon’s Rock)–to another private beach resort, the “Civil Campaign to Protect the Dalieh of Raouche” is launching this Ideas Competition to solicit visions for safeguarding Dalieh as a unique natural site and a shared open space.
The Competition is an open call for architects, landscape architects, urbanists, planners, and other related environmental design disciplines. Participants are invited to articulate creative, sensitive, and environmentally sustainable design proposals for the conservation and future development of Dalieh.
Competitors’ entries will provide a platform to open a public debate about open-access shared spaces and how these spaces can be designed, managed and sustained in ways that provide viable design alternatives to current practices along the coast of Lebanon. We urge multidisciplinary professionals and/or students, particularly those concerned with the public realm and the preservation of the natural environment, to participate in the competition. Competitors’ visions are anticipated to broaden the collective understanding of the meaning of place within a highly individualized market-driven urban geography in Lebanon.
The Competition is organized under the patronage of the Ministry of Environment. Other key supporters are: The Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship and the Nature Conservation Center at the American University of Beirut (AUB).
Members of the Jury are:
- Jad Chaaban – Assistant Professor of Economics at the American University of Beirut
- Habib Debs – Architect and Urban Planner
- Marwan Ghandour – Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Iowa State University
- Rabih Jaber – Writer (to be confirmed)
- Hans Kilne – Professor of Landscape Design
- Jala Makhzoumi – Professor of Landscape Architecture
- Katherine Moore – President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects
- Nizar Saghieh – Lawyer and Executive Director of the Legal Agenda
- JadTabet – Designer / Planner
Award
Jury members would select a number of entries that will be part of an open touring exhibition, starting with the Beirut Design Week, and will be posted on the website. In recognition of their achievements, these shortlisted entries will be included in a publication for advocacy and will be publicly announced in a press release and during the exhibition opening event.
Schedule and Milestones:
March 24, 2015: Launching of Competition / Start of Registration
April 4 & 8, 2015: Guided Site Visit (Optional)
May 5, 2015: End of Registration
April 28, 2015: End of the Question Period
May 5, 2015: Reply to Questions
May 26, 2015: Deadline for Submission of Proposals
May 30, 2015: Jury Deliberations
June 1, 2015: Announcement of Finalists
June, First Week, 2015: Exhibition Opening as Part of Beirut Design Week
June 7 - Onwards, 2015: Touring Exhibition Period
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