Beirut : the absent vision
Date
2012
Authors
Daou, Dolly
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
thesis
Citation
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
The research project shows the profound impact that violence such as war and reconstruction has on architecture and urbanity as a whole. The thesis compares the war and reconstruction experience of Beirut to Sarajevo and Mostar, and the internal division of Beirut to Berlin; in particular, it explores the evolution of the traditional external architectonic wall (which fortified the city and formed its enclosure) into internal physical, virtual and temporal urban boundaries. The thesis focuses on the repetitive violent events that occurred in Beirut’s city centre, Sahat al-Borj, from the Palaeolithic period (600,000 B.C.-8,000 B.C.) until 2006. Sahat al-Borj is perceived as a public space with feminine and interior qualities, and is explored as an enclosure within an enclosure, a city centre contained within a city. The events that occurred within and around the city’s and the city centre’s enclosure led to the evolution of Sahat al-Borj from a cemetery to an abandoned field, a commercial hub, a Green Line, and a transitional Square awaiting reconstruction. Commonly known as “The Borj”, Sahat al-Borj symbolises Lebanon’s Golden Era during the 1950s and 60s, and was destroyed during the Lebanese Civil War when a Green Line passed through the Square dividing Beirut into East Beirut and West Beirut. This division eventually spread into the rest of Lebanon.
The project has two parts: the first part is the thesis and the second part is The Book of Maps. The Book of Maps contains two hundred cartographic maps documenting Beirut’s history chronologically from the Palaeolithic period to 2006. The Book of Maps includes twelve anecdotal maps of The Borj collected from the older Lebanese generation during a research trip to Lebanon in 2006. The cartographic maps were mostly collected from libraries and archives during a research trip to Paris in 2008-2009. As a collection, the maps reveal the creation and evolution of the fortified city of Beirut and its city centre Sahat al-Borj and the transformation of their urban boundaries, as triggered by war and other violent events.
School/Discipline
School of Art, Architecture and Design
Dissertation Note
Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2012.
Provenance
Copyright 2012 Dolly Daou.
Description
2 v.
ill. (some col.), maps (some col.)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 481-496).
ill. (some col.), maps (some col.)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 481-496).