opposite: north face of theatre shell and second floor this page clockwise from left: rendering of Centre Urbain by Joseph P. Karam, Al Mouhandess , no.11 April 1968 (courtesy of Bernard Khoury) Beirut City Centre Building taken during the second half of the war. The patina of the shell’s surface is due to weathering, direct exposure to fire and bullets.
Karam’s vision was never completed; only part of his original proposal had been built when the war broke out in 1975 — two floors of the base in Block 2, the cinema and one tower. The CCB’s adjacency to the Place des Martyrs, as well as its unique shape, made it a prime target for heavy shelling during the war. After 17 years and many failed renovation proposals, today’s CCB sits vacant, guarded and inaccessible.
Lebanese architect Joseph Philippe Karam designed the CCB in 1965. The urban complex was planned as three blocks: Block 1 would contain five underground floors (total 22,500 m 2 ) for car parking and a taxi service station; Block 2 would be three floors with 144 retail shops, a 1000 m 2 supermarket, a 900-seat cinema, a restaurant and a snack bar; and Block 3 was to be three mixed- use towers with eight, twelve, and 21 floors respectively — a wide range of commercial services under one roof.
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archives and museums: On Site review 20
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