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In the Name of Resilience: Crises, Care, and Civic Infrastructures in Beirut

Part 2 Project 2021
Philip Gharios
Architectural Association London | UK
The project is an urban response to the crises that are currently ravaging the city of Beirut. In a context where the population’s wellbeing is completely disregarded by the State, it rethinks the nature of infrastructures of care by building a network decentralised interventions on small 'inconstructible' parcels dispersed across the urban fabric. By providing care on a very local and human level it exposes the population to the possibility of an alternative Social Contract.

This project proposes an architectural paradigm focused on care rather than profit, centred on people rather than capital. Its is a collaboration with different actors of the dynamic civil society of Beirut, bringing different people, ideas, and resources together to propose a network of spaces catered for the civic, social, and humanitarian needs of the population.

The interventions explore design strategies to navigate through the 'inconstructibility' of the parcels, unlocking them for the rapid construction of structures that vary in function and size to support a variety of services—medical or legal consultations, economic or mental health support, cultural or political disruptions. By retaining a distinct architectural language that signals the presence of care throughout the city, architecture here becomes a key ingredient for change.

Philip Gharios

Tutor(s)
Stefan Laxness
Antoine Vaxelaire
2021
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