rana haddad . PIERRE HAGE BOUTROS x alba . LES QUATRES BATTANTS . l’alba marque l’espace du ccf . beirut | lebanon . 1997

How to mark an extraterritorial space such as the compound of the French cultural centre, the CCF.

This project was about making a statement about architecture.

The first idea was to mark the threshold on the pathway that used to lead from the parking lot to the main building. We started by drawing a line, something that would be a sort of door then a second line, a third and a fourth. It became a tower, the dream of the architect, but a tower that can be deconstructed, in the meaning of exposing its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions and subverting its apparent significance or unity.

The project was meant to last 15 days, so we needed to come up with a light, reusable, structure.

Inspired from masts, we finalize the drawings with Mr Valuis a steel structure engineer. Each panel was of 3,4m in width, the width of the pathway, and of 11m high from the ground, hinged on a 14cm pole, with a pile foundation base.

It became a place of hide and seek during the day, and at night, a place for performances and a giant projection screen device.