So, I admit, I'm terrible. I officially got home August 12 but have been so ridiculously driving all over the East Coast (admittedly I actually
enjoyed seeing the familiar SUVs hogging the highway that I so previously detested) that I have this morning is
officially the first morning I have been in a coffee shop to catch up on my travels. Apologies.
Mom left Beirut after the construction site adventures. A 3 am flight home left her wondering what day it was when she got home. Oh, lovely jet lag. Though I would miss dinner conversations, I was excited to set off in the city doing pure research and attempting to enter the places she made me promise not to explore. Safety?! So overrated.
The day after she left I had an early morning meeting with my professor who is from Lebanon and back for the summer to oversee his project in the new marina. It is the same project we got such an intimate tour with the day before and he was shocked to see my photographs (I mean, seriously.
I was shocked to have them!). It was wonderful seeing him; he had a million things for me to do. I only wish that he had answered my plethora of emails from earlier that summer so I could have met him earlier. I only had two days left to check of everything on his "must see" list!
As stated before, there is one development company, Solidere (http://www.solidere.com), that is re-doing all of downtown Beirut. It is very controversial because they basically bought everyone that owned war torn buildings out, gave them shares that were worth a lot less than their original properties, and have totally reinvented the look and feel of the downtown. To be fair, there was not much left to salvage after the war, but the financial perfidy mixed with the utterly new appearance of the downtown has left conflicting opinions with the locals. Solidere has hired so many world-renowned architects (seriously the list makes one have to wipe the drool from her chin) that it is hard not to be excited about the city plans. Argh! I am so confused! Normally I hate such historical destruction and mass architectural capitalism. Buuuuut, here comes that salivation again...
My professors's firms is one of those chosen by Solidere to complete a project. They designed it with Steven Holl (He's worth looking up. I promise!) and have designed a marina club beautifully built into the the shore line. He actually has about eight commissions currently in Lebanon and are expanding their New York office and establishing one in Beirut. The meeting definitely had hints of their desire to hire outside architects and bring them to Lebanon. Not going to lie, sounded perfect and worth considering.
Anyway, he insisted that I meet with some of the head guys from Solidere, called them up on the spot and told me to be at their office in two hours. Just like that. Done and done. So, off I went, hurriedly reading up on the Solidere project and familiarizing myself with all they were doing so as not to look like a complete idiot once I arrived.
Of course I got lost on the way to the office. Being cheap and liking to think I am oh, so "green", I insisted on walking the 2 miles downtown, giving myself an hour to do so. Should be plenty of time! The only maps I had at this point were sections of the city that did not show the whole thing at one time. Of course they are all different scales so my attempt to glue them together failed miserably. There I was, sweating, wandering through the city, sweating, recognizing landmarks but not knowing how they knit together, sweating, and pretty much looking like an idiot. So much for my plan of arriving looking clean, spiffy and smart.
I had to hire a cab for the last half mile since I was already 10 minutes late. He got lost (stupid security guards blocking off roads) and our typical argument about payment for services resulted in my simply throwing lira at him and running off to salvage the reputation of a Yale student-- or at least what one
should be.
I got into the office, went to the wrong floor, finally found it, and shook the Solidere's business man's hand, huffing a dramatic apology. (Never caught the man's name, or, more likely, I didn't understand it so he therefore shall be referred to as Bob for the remaining of the story.) Bob was gracious about my tardiness and anxious to walk me to their marketing office and through their finished projects.
We crossed the street and entered into their second office who's lobby was
full of models of the master plan, buildings and demonstrative models of how things would work. The site plan model was over 12'x12' and took up the entire lobby. Projects by Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, Steven Holl, Jean Nouvel and so many others were there and fit perfectly into the city fabric. It was truly amazing. I am definitely going to have to plan a trip back in 15 years when it will all be finished.
Bob took me upstairs and saw larger scale models of each individual building and I got the corporate scoop on each project. The
very corporate scoop. Still, it impressed me and I am excited to watch how the whole thing plays out.
We walked over to their most recently finished project, the Souks, a project designed by five separate international architects as a comprehensive program of pedestrian zones for shopping, restaurants, a theater, underground car parks and gardens featuring Roman ruins uncovered during the excavation. It was very cool, very modern and made me even more embarrassed of my sad "city" of New Haven.
As much as I hate the corporate take over of the city center, and the Disney-like way that everything looks so perfectly re-done, Solidere is doing a great job of incorporating gardens, historic ruins, cultural events and sculpture into the project and have been successful in bringing life into the city in general. All the stores in the Souks are way out of the average American grad student's budget, featuring designers such as Gucci, Prada and more diamond stores than one can imagine, but the place is busy with patrons that can actually afford such luxuries.
The rest of my day was spent exploring the new construction and pouring over the gorgeous book Bob gave me showing all future development. Hardcover, 10"x16", matte finish images and thick paper, it definitely seduced even a snob like me. Why do books beguile me so? Sheesh. I am so cheap and easy.
I was tempted to go to the Sky Bar later that night, Beirut's hottest night club and the only place to be if you are in your 20s (http://www.sky-bar.com), but then I remembered that I hate crowds, hate being alone with drunk people, hate paying for cabs and, unlike my sociable sister, hate being hit on. I am much more comfortable in dilapidated cities than among swanky and chic young urbanites. It would have been a good story though...
Tomorrow it was off to the southern suburbs controlled by Hezbollah, the militant group who has a complicated history with the Lebanese government. The 34-day war with Isreal in 2006 left their part of the city in complete ruins and, like downtown Beirut, they are in the process of rebuilding it. I have been dying to get over there but the wimpy taxi drivers wouldn't take me. Pansies! More on that later...
Spoiler: I did get over there and it was well worth the bribe I offered.
