[M II A II R II K]

Dynamic vertical village, Beirut Terraces, unveiled yesterday


July 16, 2010



Read More: http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZA...ed%20yesterday

Beirut Terraces, an urban residential development situated in the heart of the Lebanese capital, was unveiled yesterday, in a ceremony which celebrated the commencement of the project's construction. Benchmark, the pioneering development firm behind Beirut Terraces, has commissioned and assembled a distinctive team of firms, to contribute to the making of the dynamic vertical village. Leading the design of the project are world-renowned architects Herzog & de Meuron who have a rich portfolio of projects such as the Beijing National Stadium and the Tate Modern museum in London.

Beirut Terraces, located in the prestigious Beirut Central District, is expected to raise the bar in architecture and design, both on the national and regional level. It is in fact the first residential development by Herzog & de Meuron in the region, founded on the concept of reviving the Beirut urban lifestyle by extending the village living experience from horizontal to vertical, blending the indoor and outdoor, views and privacy, landscape with architecture.

Speaking of their first residential project in the Middle East, the architects said: "Beirut's moderate climate is certainly one of the city's biggest assets, making outdoor life not only an additional, but an integral part of its urban life. Each of our projects is unique and defined by its immediate cultural and climatic conditions; we take it upon ourselves as architects to take maximum advantage of these inherent potentials and bring them forward through the design. The consequence of air conditioning has meant that the inherent climatic conditions have been forgotten in architecture since its introduction in the sixties, whereas the assets of climatic conditions especially in the case of Beirut, lead to a more natural and less technically dependent way of living. We are seizing this potential and creating apartments that enable a flexible living between inside and outside."