Beirut Shoreline Walk
Description
The "Shoreline Walk" is a sequence of connected spaces which form part of the reconstruction of the Beirut city center. Following the 1975–91 Civil War in Lebanon, the Beirut city center was left devastated, Avenue des Français and the coastline had become a dumping ground, extending the land by more than 600m to the north. The city was once known for its rocky shoreline Cornice, with its avenues of palms and cafés but during the war a rubbish mountain grew from daily waste tipped into the Mediterranean Sea. Areas have been both preserved and demolished by the new master plan, whilst the remediated landfill is set to become a new district, projecting out into the sea. Rather than leave the old coastline land-locked and redundant, it was decided to create a pedestrian route that straddled the old and new city boundaries. The ‘Shoreline Walk’ is placed between the natural topography and rationalized medieval street layout of the old city, and the engineered grid of the new land-filled area. Research revealed the evolution of Beirut's coastline. The first Phoenician settlers arrived in 1220 BC, followed by Romans in 64 BC, Mamluks in 1291 AD, Ottomans in 1516 and the French in 1918. Successive civilizations adjusted the coastline to create harbors that brought wealth to the city. Along the Shoreline Walk five squares provide areas to pause and relax: Harbour Square, All Saints Square, Shoreline Gardens, Zeytoune Square and Santiyeh Garden. Research into each space revealed remnants of the character of the pre-war city that had been forgotten or destroyed. Each "memory" generated the development of each square’s atmosphere, aligned with the facilities and functions required by a contemporary city to create a network of complimentary spaces
