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Niemeyer Guest House

Project Description

Aga Khan Award for Architecture Winner 2022

Master Jury Citation

‘The project has been carried out with great precision, its high quality revealing the exhaustive research the architects undertook. A sensitive understanding of the fair’s specific architectural language is carefully deployed to revive this important architectural and urban heritage. The architects’ particular concern for self-containment as well as success in crafting custom details that can be removed is admirable in ensuring reversibility of use for the structure in the future.’

Amale Andraos and Sibel Bozdogan (co-chairs), Nada Al Hassan, Kazi Khaleed Ashraf, Kader Attia, Lina Ghotmeh, Francis Kéré, Anne Lacaton, Nader Tehrani.

Built on Tripoli’s long history of artisanal trade and architectural reinvention, the renovation of Oscar Niemeyer’s historic Guest House into an active carpentry workshop gives hope to a 60-year dream.

Completed in 2018, the renovation is as much an act of perseverance as it is preservation. Originally designed as part of the Rashid Karami International Fair of 1964, the building was meant to present the ambition of a young, hopeful nation but was limited by civil war, social and economic crisis and foreign occupation.

The Guest House restoration project, in partnership with the international initiative Minjara, revives Niemeyer’s iconic modernist structure and the region’s historic carpentry trade.

The 1,900sqm building now offers a series of expansive studio spaces, each lined with the original ridged ceilings, that follow the wood treatment process around a bright central courtyard, criss-crossed with concrete struts. The entrance is dedicated to the reception of raw materials, followed then by design studios, in turn giving way to a materials library, manufacturing workshops, and a large exhibition space.

All new architectural elements including the glass windows and doors are designed to be removable, without damaging the original restored structure. Persevering through difficult times during Lebanon’s history, this reversibility represents the longstanding adaptability and durability of the Tripolitan people.

 

 

Project Data

Program
Wood Industry Platform & Design Hub

Build-Up Area
1,900 sqm

Location
Rachid Karami International Fair, Tripoli, Lebanon

Status
Built

Year
2018

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