The Inspireli Competition to Renew the Port of Beirut has extended its duration – now the deadline is JULY 14th, 2022.
As universities around the world start their school year differently, this allows for more of them to imbed the topic as their summer semester works, bringing yet more global attention to the uneasy situation in the explosion-destructed port of city of Beirut.
The extension also helps students who are almost wrapped up with their winter semesters to fine tune their project for the competition, as professor Ibtihal Y. El-Bastawissi, dean of the faculty of Architecture, design and built environment at the Beirut Arab University told us about a group of about 100 students already workingseveral months on the topic at their design studios.
Inspireli held a panel discussion at the Live Talk No. 8 on Jan 13th, 2022, with 12professors from 7 different universities from Lebanon, Albania, Egypt, Czechia and Slovakia, who already incorporated the theme into their winter semester. We asked about the key problems that students faced and the overall experience.
“My students faced several key questions. The first is the size of the project and the absence of more specific parameters … this competition is an ideological task which is an advantage, but on the other side disadvantage. The advantage is for total freedom of design and the disadvantage is the absence of mantinels.” Pointed out doc. Jaroslav Dadˇa, Ph.D., deputy head of department of Architecture from Czech Technical University in Prague.
Dr. Charbel Maskineh, an Assistant professor at the Lebanese University talks about a cultural aspect. ”Something interesting was to sensibilize the students towards the port, what is the port for the city… In our society there is an unawareness about the importance of the port for the city… so it was an opportunity to work on a big scale like that and to rethink the relation between the city and the port.” Says Dr. Maskineh.
You can watch the Live Stream to hear all the teachers’ insights on https://www.inspireli.com/en/awards/news.
This competition is announced by Beirut Municipality (Lebanese republic Beirut city council) and OEA Beirut (Order of Engineers & Architects – Beirut) and organized by Inspireli Awards with an aim to call upon students who want to offer Beirut their help and design rebirth of this crucial part of the city.
As more questions and details raise, Inspireli is updating the competition website with the documentation, FAQ section, or current photos from the port.
Visit the Inspireli website https://www.inspireli.com/en/awards/beirut-documents to read more and to submit you competing designs!
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